Advice-how to pay for wedding?

To all of you out there who are paying for your wedding by yourselves...

WHERE DID YOU COME UP WITH THE MONEY?!

Have you been saving for awhile? Picked up extra jobs? Somehow cut back in other areas of your life? Going into and/or adding to debt?

When we first started talking about a DW (which, will definitely be cheaper then if we stayed home, well, the way we're going to do it anyway) we figured we could swing it for next summer. But now that we've looked into it more seriously, it's still going to cost some money that we don't have. I think we're going to have to wait an extra year in order to save the money

Anyone have any advice or tips? How are all of you swinging it? Money doesn't grow on trees *sigh*

I started with a wedding budget of $5,000. I already had that saved. But, i went over budget when I learned more about photography & realized I couldn't skrimp on that area.

just do not borrow from a 401(k)

Yeah, I'd never want to tap into that resource.

Maybe the money issue is why long engagements are so popular these days.

We paid for ours ourself.

We gave ourselves a small budget and just stuck with it. We didn't cut back anywhere and we were super lucky because for about 4 months, my husband worked in Alaska and made double the amount he normally does so we just used that money for the wedding.

We saved, saved, saved!!! We sold a few toys (quads, dirtbikes, my Yamaha Rhino!) because we wanted to pay cash for everything. And we stuck to our word, we've paid cash for everything! It's been a struggle (because we were also saving for a downpayment on a second home), but we've saved up enough for it. We were lucky because my dad paid for our photographer as a gift and his parents paid for a mariachi. So, those were two big expensives we didn't have to worry about.

Some how, you will find a way. You just need to prioritize what is important to you and what you are willing to spend on because you can easily get carried away with wedding expenses.

Good luck!

Oh, Morgan, your $5000 budget...that was only for the wedding itself, right? That didn't include your hotel?

We each contributed to an online account at HSBC for a year. The interest rates are better online and money is easily withdrawn. We also set our budget and then decided where to scrimp and where to splurge. I did alot of DIY to save costs and tons of research online and at BDW.

jamisoncollette-thanks for the HSBC idea. I'm definitely going to look into that!

Thanks, I'll go check it out. I did so many searches and never thought to use the word "budget"! I don't know where my head is!lol