Am i Overthinking This?

No. My wedding is not huge 100 people. We are doing ceromony and reception same spot. I got my bridal party nice but enexpensive gifts. We got DJ and photographer for 5 ours. It is sill about $,12,000

Same as Colleen and ours is about $10,000-$12,000 as well.

There is less to it than you think. The only things necessary for a wedding are:

1. A partner.

2. A marriage license.

3. An officiant.

4. Witnesses.

Literally everything else (dress, flowers, music, photographer, decorations, etc.) is optional. One of the most critical things you can do is to think carefully about what is important to you and your guests, and spend money only on that, rather than thinking you need everything shown on Platinum Weddings or Pinterest.

It is entirely possible to plan a wedding in less than a year. The only issue would be your venue. You mention wanting to have everything in one place; do you have the place in mind? If so, you might want to check with them to see how early you need to book. Some places do book early, and you don't want to miss out if the venue is important to you.

Other than that, you can focus on saving for the next couple of years, and only start planning after that.

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much, that was very helpful! We do have some ideas on what we really want for our wedding, like a photographer and catering services, but your tips will definitely help us out.

We are in Ga so your location will make a huge difference. We are keeping it small as well, less than 100 people, no bridal party or showers etc. Our budget is $3500 and we have almost everything done and still money left.

And this is why we decided on a DW.. less stress... I don’t have to plan anything, a lot of the wedding packages already come with set stuff like the flowers, DJ, photography and so on.. we are doing a DW to Cancún with only 50 ppl.. just close friends and family.. we budgeted for 10K, but right now it’s looking at about 13K.. he’s not wearing a suit, I will only pay about $500 tops (probably less) for my dress, no bridesmaids or groomsmen.. just my MOH and his bestman.. my make up and hair is included already.. anyway, many options out there, I saw 2 ppl posted they’re budget is 12K same as mine..

I think you're going about it the smart way. You can always start a budget and just write down what you know as you go to know how much to save.

Venue - I'd ask when their off season is (usually cheaper) and how far in advance do they normally book up

Catering

Photographer

DJ

Invites/RSVP/Stamps

Dress

Flowers

Signs/Decor/Centerpieces

Wedding party gifts

We are having an outdoor wedding/Reception at a family members house. We are having about 75-100 people. We just got done booking all of our vendors and we are looking at $12,000 for everything. Wedding can be as simple or elaborate as you want to make them. Do you and your FH want, not what others expect you to.

It really depends on how you want to do it. I started off small and have ended up at about a $20,000 wedding lol. My best friend however had a $5,000 budget and that was final and she really pulled it off. She had her wedding at the zoo. (Sounds weird but it was beautiful lol.) she hired a smaller company to cater the event. It wasn’t a wedding caterer but his food was great and no one cared. She did hire a DJ and we all helped her decorate ourselves. (She did buy / rent everything we needed to do so though) She didn’t hire a hair stylist but did hire a professional make up artist.

Oh! I forgot. One of our best friends officiated the wedding after he went online to pay to be able to do so and she ordered her flowers online.

It is not unreasonable to save and plan for that long. Plus anything you save and don't use for the wedding is savings for you and your FH now. A lot can change in 4 years though- who you invite, what kind of wedding you want, etc.

It’s not unreasonable but do keep in mind that many things change in three years! If I had started planning three years ago and had a wedding party, most of them no longer live within my same state today.

So my date is Nov 2020. My FH and I are so lucky to have jobs where our bonuses and tax returns will basically cover the wedding. However, even without we could save the money needed between our engagement date and Oct 2020. We are planning a wedding for less than 50 people, no bridal party, no shower, and no bachelorette/bachelor party either. We are pouring all the money into food for the receptions and photography. A wedding is whatever you want it to be. Think of what you want and from there figure our how you want to make it happen.

You want a simple ceremony with reception at the same place? Well you'll need a venue. Does that venue provide catering? If not you'll need a caterer. Stuff like that til you get to details like attire, table settings, invitations, cake, timing, transportation, favors, and don't forget officiant/marriage license.

Think about how much you can reasonable save in the time you have for your wedding. From there prioritize whats important and get some preliminary numbers on big ticket items: venue, food, and photography. You have to leave some wiggle room for inflation and be willing to adjust items in your budget accordingly. Like if the venue you want goes from $2000 to $4000 over the the next few years what are items you can eliminate to adjust for the increase if you cannot increase the budget.

You are being incredibly smart! Save as much as you can now so you have less stress later!