Advice-how to pay for wedding?

1. Save - every month, put some money aside for wedding only and only use that money for wedding stuff

2. DIY - don't get too caught up on too much detail, only the ones that really matter.. guests will have fun either way and they're not going to notice the minor details

3. Instead of regular gift registries, maybe set up a honeymoon registry

4. Shop around and negotiate

I didn't know about the honeymoon registry until it was to late. I asked people not to bring gifts because we just wanted them to be there. Now, I have about 10 extra guests which is cutting into our honeymoon fund because we have to pay for their plate at the reception. I wish I had done a honeymoon registry. Or I should have killed the FI for inviting everyone he knew! LOL

I have been married for 25 years. For our vow renewal, I still had to save and plan out what I wanted. I went over what I wanted to spend, but fortunately, we had the extra money to spend. We paid everything for 6 people and then when we went to dinners we paid for 8 people. If we didn't have a budget, then we would have been in trouble.

What I am getting at is, set a budget and stick to it as much as you can. Put away money every pay period that is just for the wedding. Research this site as much as possible. YOu will get so many ideas on ways to save money and do it yourself.

I guess I got side tracked. I would try to save money before going into debt. You don't want to start your marriage in debt before you even get married.

My FI and I are paying for everything for our wedding including my mother's airfare. We are paying cash for everything, no exceptions. When we got engaged we both said we would not at all go into debt...even if that meant holding off on the wedding.

We opened a high interest savings acount and every paycheck we both put in a specific amount. I have had a second job as a event manager for several years. I work alot of weekends, it's great extra money and I put every paycheck into that account. Also any extra money we have received; tax return, birthday, holiday, etc. we have added to this account.

We saved saved saved! We decided not to spend more than $XXX and stuck to it. In fact, ended up spending less than we had anticipated. I didn't have my dream dress (although I loooved the dress I bought) and didn't have that many flowers, but it was worth it to not be in any debt and not use up all our savings. We still had an amazing wedding and didn't feel like we deprived ourselves of anything. I think just the fact that you're having a DW makes it feel like a million dollar wedding because the beach backdrop is priceless. Surprisingly, there are many ways to save money here and there. For example, I bought a bridesmaid's dress in ivory, which cost $200. There's no way I could have bought a bridal dress for that amount! I was surprised at how many bridesmaid's dresses had trains too. Also got a second dress from ebay for $40. I got my invitations and thank you cards from Vistaprint (thank you cards ended up being free due to a promotion!). I got my shoes on sale for less than $30. Veil from ebay for $20. Ummm, what else....FI wore a suit he had just bought for work. I avoided buying anything (aside from dress) from a bridal or wedding store, where the markups are quite high. Ebay was my best friend. Instead of DJ we put our music on our laptop and hooked it up to the sound system. Oh yea, and we chose to get married in low season, when accomodation was the cheapest. I'm sure there were other areas as well, I can't think of, but it's definately possible to not break the bank while having an incredible (and debt free) wedding. Honeymoon fund sounds like a great idea too!

If you're having trouble saving the money, the easiest thing to do is open an account just for your wedding and have a certain amount put in to it as soon as you get each paycheck. That way, you don't even see the money and can't spend it. ING has a pretty good interest rate and they do automatic withdrawals from your bank account. You may need to cut back in other areas of daily life, such as clothes, entertainment, coffees, etc (it's the little things that add up), but it is worth it to not go into debt! If you're motivated enough to stick to a plan, then anything is possible. Good luck!!

My FI and I are also paying for the wedding ourselves. Chris opened a money market account through our bank the week after we got engaged. Every month we each put in $500. That plus a 2 year engagement gave me my dream budget plus extra left over for a nice little saving account towards our honeymoon in Europe.

I also found a lot of ways to save money (read the book Bridal Bargains plus lots of online research). Here is what I am saving on:

1.) I am doing a lot of things myself.

• Invitations
• STD's
• Thank You Cards
• Programs
• Menus
• Favors
• All AHR decorations - including table linens and wall hangings
• Petal Cones
• Place Cards
• OOT bag/package personalization
• Veil

2.) Travel during the off season and also using a good TA. By doing this we going to be getting a great discount on rooms.

3.) Buying my dress online/import from China. With the dress I am looking at now it will be close to a $500 or more savings.

4.) Having AHR at park in the afternoon and having cocktails only. We live in MI so our parks are just beautiful plus standard rental rates are $50 for the day. That along with only doing cocktails is going to cost us just a couple dollars per person.

I think these are probably my biggest savings so far. If I come across more I will make sure to add them. Carla

There is definitely a lot of great advice here.

Yes, save, save, save! And do what you can yourself. And go somewhere that will be within your budget.

I'm traveling during the off season (so that helps for others that want to join us), making my own Save The Dates and Message in the bottle formal in invites (and wil be doing all the OOt bags, thank you cards, etc myself too). I don't have to save a lot, I get a yearly incentitive package from a work... so next year's package is paying for the entire wedding costs (and half the costs for my parents, his parents, his sister, my MOH, and his BBM).. So I'm lucky that way that we can do what we want to do.

Buying stuff on sale helps too. Search online for the best deals. If I find something I like, I search specifically for that item to find the cheapest price.

Setting a budget helps keeps things in line.

And cutting back in certain areas in daily life things will help. Throw all your change/small bills daily into a container, any cash gifts you receive save it, etc. Every little bit helps.

I was just discussing this with a friend last night. Since our wedding is 2 years away we do have the luxury of time to save, however my FI just went back to school so we are saving with just my income.

One thing we are going to try and do is select a resort that is in the Starwood Resorts program. (Sheratons, Westins, W hotels, Le Meridien, St. Regis) My FI and I plus our family members all have the Starwood Preferred Guest mastercards. Just for using it you get points. So I put everything I spend on it and then at the end of the month pay it off. In the last year I accumulated about 50,000 points, which is enough for a two nights stay at one of the really nice luxury Starwood resorts. Plus my FI has tons of points from his previous job. So we hope to actually have enough for our entire 10 day stay! That will save a lot, and it isn't costing anything extra since it is just my normal spending that I am doing anyway. Also if you pay for a night's stay at a starwood you can also accumulate points that way.

We have gone on several vacations and stayed at the Westin in PV, Le Meridien in Cancun, the W in Times Square, and a luxurious Sheraton in the Algarve of Portugal, and the Sheraton in Lisbon, all using these points so didn't pay a cent for accomodation!

Anyway, just an idea...Hyatts, Mariotts and Hiltons all have points programs as well so might be worth looking into if you are staying at a hotel with points!

I used to think it was a waste of time, but I have realized that they add up!

While we are not paying for the *entire* wedding ourselves, we are paying for at least half - which equals to about $15,000 just for our part. I'm not a good saver, so of course I don't have anywhere near that just laying around. So while most people warn against going into debt for a wedding...for me it was the only way. We took out a HUGE loan, and we are using that plus a one year no interest credit card. Although it sucks to be $15K in debt already, it was really the only way for us - we only have a 10 month engagement, and I would never be able to save that kind of money in time. Yes, it is going to take us a few years to pay it off, but I seriously think it is totally worth it - you only get to do it once, so splurge and don't have any regrets! Another thing we are trying to do is pay as we go, in cash. This makes the overeall hit of the final payments seem not as bad.