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Elizabeth
Devoted September 2021

Are you over/under budget? Same or diff plan? 44 days to go!

Elizabeth, on August 13, 2021 at 8:37 AM Posted in Planning 2 14
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So I set myself a really low budget for just the wedding and was going to diy almost the entire thing. Then we were going to do a backyard bonfire diy reception. Wedding of 20 people. Then I found a gorgeous venue who offered "pop up weddings" starting at 1200 just outside the city. With food and the outdoor wedding, indoor ceremony and food the whole 3 hour ordeal is costing 1600. Then we accidentally got our tux free. Bank error in my favor! Yay! And I got my dream dress brand with alterations professionally done for $300! And our honeymoon cabin for 420. With photographer and small stuff we are around 3k. Way above budget, but considering how much people usually spend I'm pretty proud of myself! I didn't think we were going to be able to afford a real deal wedding and we really pulled it off. Every detail is done and I have lots of gorgeous, pro looking details from my Cricut Maker 3 (paid for itself with just my wedding, not to mention what I've made off it business wise lol) and my freshly gardened dahlias and roses for the bouquet and flowers are already looking amazing! I'm so excited! 44 days! Woo-hoo!

What's happened with your budgets so far? Where did you save and splurge? Did you stay with your budget/plan?

14 Comments

Latest activity by Ingrid, on August 15, 2021 at 3:20 PM
  • Yasmine
    Master October 2020
    Yasmine ·
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    OMG 3K? That's an amazing budget, I wouldn't be able to do it for that amount lol but good for you!

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  • Elizabeth
    Devoted September 2021
    Elizabeth ·
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    It's been a lot of work to find things in budget and these pop up wedding ideas are so awesome. They are called micro weddings too I think. You still get great venues and they do all the important stuff! And I'm really loving that all the decor and flowers are made by me. It makes it really personal. It's been stressful at times for sure. It just showed me I'd be freaking if I ever had a big wedding. Trusting all of those people to get important things done? No way. I'm way too much of a control freak lol. This way I know everything is perfect. I even engraved our own gifts, cake cutting set and glasses and hand burned and sanded and lacquered our bourbon barrel wedding autograph alternative. It's all gone great!
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  • Yasmine
    Master October 2020
    Yasmine ·
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    Oh wow good for you! Goodluck with your wedding, I hope everything turns out amazing Smiley heart

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  • Michelle
    Master April 2021
    Michelle ·
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    That’s awesome! Way to go! We had a $20k budget & came in around $19k. I shopped around for the best deals & got a lot of things on clearance!tenor.gif

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  • Clarissa
    Super October 2021
    Clarissa ·
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    I don’t have a budget but I know that I want to stay between $25-$30k. I’ve gotten a discount on almost everything so I’m wayyyyy under. Probably closer to $15-$20k.
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  • Elizabeth
    Devoted September 2021
    Elizabeth ·
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    Wow! I've heard of people spending 10 to 30k on average. I thought that was a myth lol once I seen the mark ups from the wedding industry it felt like a scam to me that I didn't want to be a part of, but I understand the appeal for sure. We've been together 10 years and have a 6 year old son so I'm not really into having an event. Just want a marriage and some nice heirloom pics for my children. Plus I've seen so many people break up over wedding planning on this app. If you can make it after all that money and planning then you will probably make it through forever! That takes a strong couple for sure!
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  • Clarissa
    Super October 2021
    Clarissa ·
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    The only reason our budget is so high is because we both come from extremely large families. My mom is 1 of 7 and dad is 1 of 15. His mom is 1 of 9 and dad 1 of 3. And we’re extremely close to majority of our aunts uncles and cousins. Like family events are huge lol. So we have a decent amount of people on our guest list. So for us the biggest bill is the venue. It’s all inclusive food drinks ceremony reception cake. Trust if there was a way around it I wouldn’t be spending so much.
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  • Elizabeth
    Devoted September 2021
    Elizabeth ·
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    Oh I don't think there's anything wrong with it. If I could afford it I would probably be right there with you! Maybe. I'd probably buy a car really lol. We don't have a lot of family. We were just going to do immediate family and then we got roped into inviting some extended family which brought It up to 20 and with food being per plate and gifts and stuff it did really bring the cost up for us so I totally get it. Bonus! You will get like a million gifts so it's kind of like an investment lol ;p
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  • Chloe
    Devoted February 2022
    Chloe ·
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    We've budgeted way to low on decorations... I'm getting the quotes from different florists right now and not one is even close to our budget. The same with the cake but that's my fault because I suddenly want individual little desserts. On the plus side, we lucked out with our photographer and DJ (their rates are lower because the wedding is outside of "the season") and we're going with very simple invitations because we've decided we want a website... And we won't do desserts because of the little cakes. So it will probably even out on the end.
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  • M
    Legend June 2019
    Melle ·
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    I was hoping to stick to 10k or under but that didn't happen because i just wasn't happy with the options i could get for that. especially with my large guest list. so i upped it to 15k. i still went slightly over. i think the final cost was around 16k.

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  • Marie
    Savvy September 2021
    Marie ·
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    My budget was blown a long time ago.
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  • Ashlee
    Super September 2022
    Ashlee ·
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    Honestly we're way over what either of us would have liked to spend, but I'm hoping I can convince him and FMIL (who is contributing financially) to cut back on the guest list so we can save that way. I don't see us needing 200-250 people there and I don't want to spend my night having to mingle with that many people, so i'm hoping to kill two birds with one stone and get the smaller wedding i want and save money.

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  • Stefanie
    Devoted May 2022
    Stefanie ·
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    That’s an awesome budget, great job! I am over mine…. Not by a ton but because I want to get my hair and makeup done I will be spending more… also my hubby to be wants to upgrade some parts of the reception food/drinks… but I started out with a really low budget which wasn’t too believable to begin with.
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  • Ingrid
    Dedicated September 2022
    Ingrid ·
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    Oh gosh that is awesome!

    I am trying to do better with the budget especially because my family is helping with the larger costs. The most expensive cost is our venue. I found my dress at a small boutique way under budget! I am utilizing people I personally know to marry us, make the cake, DJ, and take pictures/videos. We cut out favors and those small things that add up along with over the top floral arrangements. Hoping to continue to cut lol Seeing this helps keep on track thanks for sharing Smiley smile

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