Does anyone else have a secret stash of cash for the wedding?

[karyan]

We're buying a house right now so my secret stash has just bought me a new washer, fridge,oven and stove. I'm super excited over those things, but I'm hoping that after that I can save enough for extras like OOT bags and table stuff.

[AfricanVenus]

Well, we opened up a joint account for the wedding and know how much each is to put in. That account is like for the major things: venue, flights, hotel, photogs, videographer, etc. However, I'm paying for the incidentals out of my own account: makeup, hair, bridal accessories. We're going to be over budget, but it's within the amount that was acceptable for us to do so. I think secret stashes are necessary for things that may pop up that you didn't budget for.

[helen9]

Haven't got that far into planning yet but hopefully will try to organise a stash of cash. Would rather this than have to use our credit cards at the end

[schmizer]

We started an account just for our wedding fund, but I have a second savings that I am putting a little bit away in each paycheck.  My FH and I want to have the wedding and honeymoon paid off before hand, so we are living frugally this next year.  

 

I totally get what you are saying about wanting to have the things you want that seem silly from a guy's perspective.  The OOT bags were originally a point of contention for us.  I hope to have about $3K in my savings by the wedding to account for things like that.

[mochamakes3]

I've worked a ton of overtime the last three months, and most of that money has gone towards the DW. FI is kind of upset that the only he's paid for is the deposit for photographers. Otherwise, the major items are booked and paid in full by my wedding stash. I figure this way, I can track all the spending and make sure we stay under budget. Plus, we still need to arrange our AHR which he can pay for.

[bmadzia1]

No secret stash.  Before we decided to book, we had a VERY LONG discussion about the finances, and what is what. How much can we add, or what should we not even consider.  We have a budget that we put together, and EVERYTHING must fit in that number.  We have allowed 1,000-2,000 $ extra in case we REALLY needed. 

 

I do have a secret stash for EMS situations in life .... but this will not be taken out for the wedding.  Wedding is OUR day, and I will not start our lives as husband and wife by 'hiding' wedding cash.

[sxcT]

I have always had a secret stash long before wedding planning.  It is usually my vacation money each year...love it. 

 

We are doing the same as others - paying equal portions into an account every month and we will have enough for the wedding before it even happens.  We wrote out the budget and even though I modify it slightly from time to time we will have plenty beforehand so we will not go into debt since we are paying for it all ourselves.  Since my wedding next year will also be my vacation for that year I will be using my stash for any of the extras I need for the wedding as well as spending money for when we are down there.

 

Great thread!!

[clgriffi7]

So my secret stash is no longer a secret - but it is still my stash :-)  My fiance was starting to really worry about paying for the wedding (we refuse to go into debt for this event) if all of his huge family were to book and show up for the wedding.  (Dreams includes 20 ppl in their package price, but above that the price is either >$60pp w/o cocktail hour or >$90pp w/ cocktail hour.)

 

In order to calm him down I pulled out my budget spreadsheet.  (I am an engineer so everything has to be in a spreadsheet.)  My spreadsheet included my secret stash money, but it also included all of those extras that I want.  I am not sure if he even noticed though because he was fixated on how high the total cost was.  He kept saying "I thought we could do it for so much less..."  Of course when you add in the cost of the trip for the two of us ($3K), I put in a line item for a chartered catamaran for everyone ($1500, as I would really like to be able to do this for all of the guests), and an At Home Party ($3K) then the total does start to add up!  The part that I kept trying to point out to him was that we would still have money left over in our wedding savings account when we were done - but he is a boy and he just kept staring at that one big number.  Oh well.

 

Because I am the one in this relationship that is better with money, he trusts me at least.  He learned the following from a movie:  "It is our marriage, but it is her wedding."

[schmizer]

clgriffi7- Sounds like we are getting married to the same man;)  

 

I also did an excel spreadsheet and my fiancee insisted on his own.  When we compared side by side, he definately freaked out a little as it was almost double his.  Understand that my spreadsheet is EVERYTHING that we could possibly spend on, including our honeymoon, gas, activities, etc.  I wanted to figure out what the highest number we could spend was, so I could budget correctly and not have to worry about those extras that creep up on people.  We are paying for our own wedding.

 

Over time he has definately softened.  Especially when he realized that I had a plan to take care of everything.

[Ginger1961]

I have the secret stash of cash but fiancee and I play a little game with it.  He knows I have it and to some extent I think he expects it.  I do it for vacation planning as well.  lol  Works for us.  He doesn't ask what I do with the extra money and I don't tell him till I need to pull it out.