Anyone Else Overwhelmed With Cost?

[tygrrlily]

Kristy, I definitely feel you on the costs adding up! My FI keeps pointing out that ironically if we had had the wedding at home, we possibly would have MADE money haha (cultural/social circle thing - everyone gives money!). We keep adding things too, and we haven't revisited the budget in a while, but we should probably do that soon eek. Our parents are both helping out with certain things though which is awesome - my parents paid for my dress and are paying for our videographer. His parents are paying for his suit and our photographer! So this has given us some money to spend on our guests. I haven't thought about a gift at all for them... we'll probably give them albums and a copy of our video after, but I don't think we're going to give them a gift at the wedding unless I can think of something or see something appropriate.

 

My plan is to keep the OOT bags pretty simple, and get A LOT from the dollar store. I'm also really good at finding sales. so I've been keeping track of prices of things to grab them when I see them on sale. i'm also going to try and get stuff that people will actually use. so I've thought about things I'd want to receive. And while some things are nice, stuff like sunscreen I'm sure everyone is going to bring. We're going to do the dollarama tumbler w/ davet sticker (and sippy cups w/ the same sticker for the kids), the wedding chicks bag, a simple hangover/emergency kit (advil, vitamin c packs, immodium, bandaids and some things like bobby pins, hair tiers and safety pins), a bath pouf and some type of snack. And a "getting lucky" kit for the singles haha. My maybes are fun things like chapstick, deck of cards, water guns. My mom can also order things like pashminas, hats or sunglasses at wholesale prices, so we might do something like that too. We also are bringing some stuff down that we are just going to share with the group instead of getting individuals. I got 2 boogey boards from Michaels for under $10 total which I think will be fun, and some floating things for the pool. We're also going to do fun stuff for the kids like colouring books, stickers,beach toys, etc. but these will all be from the dollar store.

 

We are going to do programs (probably program fans) and welcome booklets. A tip for a lot of you ladies that are good at the DIY is that you can find a lot of free templates for things online. I've found templates for program fans, menus,table numbers, signage, etc. So if you're not too picky on design, you can use the template and just pay for the printing costs which is pretty cheap. I'm the least DIY person, but I'm going to attempt it for these these things

 

For me, the big cost eater is decor. I am very picky and particular, and I want our wedding to be beautiful. Argh haha... pinterest effect. But I know this is something I need for myself to be nice. So I've been sourcing things online, and I'm going to bring a lot of stuff down myself. I'm shipping a ton to Buffalo, and will drive down one day to get everything at once and save on shipping 

[kcole123]

I am sooo glad I am not along on this. It's true what you girls are saying. that it will cost much more to have it at home. Because instead of 40 people going to the wedding which is roughly what I am having at the destination wedding, we would probably have around 200. And paying for 200 meals, favors, décor for a bigger place, and all other things would be much more expensive to have it at home. It eases my mind a little knowing that I am not the only person thinking this. I am trying to keep it simple and my main plan is to minimize the décor.

 

I really can't wait for this day. My FI says "screw it Kristy, we are getting what we want and it's going to be great." He says "I want us and our guests to have a great time. And he says we won't regret a thing."

[tygrrlily]

@@kcole123 - Your fiance always sounds so nice and supportive!! 

[kcole123]

He is one of a kind that's for sure.

 

It took him while to understand I was getting people wedding favors. He said "what are wedding favors and why do we need them?"  I said "you have been to a wedding before Nathan and they have had wedding favors." He said "no" I never got any. I said "cause you probably left it there and didn't take it with you." He said "see they must not be that important."haha

[Sabes44]

ha ha thats cute, boys will be boys and they just don't get certain things!  One good thing about marrying someone who has already been married and a bit older (and wiser) he doesn't protest about much that I suggest

[tygrrlily]

@@kcole123 haha yeah, tony is like that too. He's pretty oblivious about wedding stuff, but he's easy going so he just let's me do and get whatever i want. His main focus is making sure it's a good party. He also wants things like a cigar roller and he likes the passport booklets, so we're going to do that.

 

He laughs when he sees me posting on this forum too, but I told him it saves him from having to hear about constant wedding stuff from me

[beckys98]

Funny to see everyone's actual budget numbers! Originally I had $8k in my head...my fiance said $20K! We're now adjusting to somewhere between $10k-$15k, and $15k is probably more realistic.

 

My one challenge with him so far is photography. He doesn't want to hire a photographer at all. He thinks we could just buy a fancy camera and have a friend take pictures. I am NOT making a friend be responsible for capturing our wedding memories - that is a lot of pressure and I want them to have fun! And no one knows how to do editing. We didn't do engagement photos or anything and I think it is important to capture such a happy moment in time.  I'm hoping if I can keep the photographer under $2k (maybe under $1,500) he'll relax

 

Anyone else's fiance disagree about photography?

[MissJen3]

I am fortunate enough to have my FI friend who is taking our photos, for free. She enjoys taking photos as a hobby, and we recently had an engagement session with her and loved her style. Although she wont take money for the photos, we are finding creative ways to say thank you (we bought her a family pass to the local zoo for the engagement photos). 

Other ways we are cutting down is the OOT bags. We are working on ways to include a cute survival kit style bag. I know everyone thinks that sunscreen is a staple for people who travel, and most people bring it themselves (and I agree), but I found packets of sunscreen for cheap, so I am going to include those. 

I also found an app on my phone to track my budget, that seems to help! 

[Sabes44]

I love pictures but can't stomach shelling out thousands of dollars for them.  So I am the one who is trying to spend less on that area.  We are also getting married before we leave (at a courthouse just the 2 of us) and having a photographer be there for that.  And we have 2 photographers in the group, although they won't be taking the "professional" pictures.  We hope to enlist them to take pictures all weekend.  I want to make sure the whole weekend is captured not just the few hours of the wedding.

[kcole123]

@@beckys98

 

My FI had the same issue at first. He couldn't understand why they were so expensive. He also suggested the same thing, to buy a nice camera or get someone with a nice camera to take the pictures. He thinks pictures were going to cost like $200. I laughed and tried to tell him different but he figured I should shop around to get the lowest price. I told him that most photographers will charge roughly the same. They are out to make the money if they are good at what they do. We are paying for a service and that industry isn't cheap if you want good pictures. As soon as they find out it's a wedding for anything boom we are paying more it seems.

 

My friend got married recently and he asked her how much she paid for photography and she said around $2500 and he told her she was crazy. She said that she shopped around and when she found someone that was cheap, then their pictures weren't that good when she checked online.  So you get what you paid for basically. Then he kind of understood then. Although he still thinks it's ridiculous what they charge.

 

@@tygrrlily,

My FI basically wants a good party too. He wants to make sure that this is going to be a good time for everyone. He just doesn't think it should involve giving our guests favors and things...haha just booze and party.