Budget

We paid for our own wedding and girl believe me, it does cost a lot

i was doing everything i can to make the cost low or as close to our budget as i could but we still ended up going over budget.

We are paying for our wedding on our own.

View Quoted Comment We went way over with the dj but saving on the dress and the flowers is helping a lot

Congratulations on your engagement and welcome to the club lol! We're paying for majority of the wedding ourselves. Our parents will cover somethings but we have the bulk! We had a 2 year engagement as well but really didn't do so well with the savings plan lol. But once you make all your deposits for your big ticket items (venue, caterer, dress, photographer, etc.) you'll feel a lot better and things will slow down.

We're making payments in sums of either $500 or $1000 to get it down. Take your time and cut back on things you really don't need right now. I cut out my nail appointments lol!

I am my parents only daughter and they have been impatiently waiting for the day I got married. They’re contributing a large amount which will cover probably 95% of the ceremony and venue (ceremony fee, cocktail hour, dinner/open bar, cake, linens, etc.). My mom is also paying for my dress, veil, and shoes. My fiancé’s mom and step dad are paying for the rehearsal dinner and whatever else they can contribute (they just gave his sister a decent amount of money last year for her wedding, helped a lot with her house, and their AC unit just broke so they’re not quite sure how much they’ll be able to give total). My fiancé and I are still paying approximately $30,000 for everything else (hair and makeup, his tux, band, photographer, photo booth, hotels, decor/florist, favors, officiant, etc). We’re having a big wedding (~200-225 people) and I have expensive taste lol. Without the help from our parents we definitely wouldn’t have been able to have the wedding I wanted and I’m very thankful for their generous contributions.

Paying for the entire thing ourselves. We have decided where we can compromise on (decor - venue itself is beautiful it really doesn't need anything unless I'd like to add some flaire, transportation, cocktail hour) and things we can't compromise on (open bar, amazing food, photographer). There is also a wish list of things I will most likely be arranging for if by a certain point everything is paid off and we have funds available (dj, videographer, real flowers or flowers at all). Also, I got a sample $2000 for $400, will save on alterations as my mom will most likely do them, I'm contemplating on not doing hair/makeup trial... I guess bottom line is not getting carried away. It is very easy to do!!!!
I just realized breaking this down that none of it feels like a sacrifice. Spending on what matters and skipping on what doesn't.
I hope rest of plannjng is stress free for you!!!!

My FH and I are also having a 2 year engagement (we’re getting married 21 months from today!! woohoo!!) My parents and I are paying for the wedding which I’m sooooo grateful for.

We are paying for everything ourselves.

Paying for it ourselves. We have to keep our guest list at 60 tops to be able to afford it. I've been able to build a pretty awesome wedding so far on a budget, but it does take sacrificing

We're paying for our wedding/reception/honeymoon and we've also had a long engagement to do so.

My parents are contributing roughly 70% of the total cost of our wedding and we are taking care of the rest. We'll only be engaged for ten months.

We initially were paying for the entire thing on our own. This weekend my future in laws offered to pay for the food, but other than that it's all on us. Try making small payments as you can!

We're paying for it ourselves!

We're paying for it ourselves, outside of about $2,500 combined that my parents contributed. It's nice to see in the comments below that many others are paying themselves. There's nothing wrong with having any assistance (in fact - wish I had some more). Most people I've talked to outside of the internet stated they had hefty assistance. I'm on a strict savings plan and have a separate wedding account with monthly deposits from my checking. I've been paying deposits out of my checking account (FH has helped, too) instead of the wedding fund to keep myself in check. Sure, my regular bank account is suffering lol but things are getting paid and I'm safely saving for those bigger payments.

You could try picking up babysitter shifts, or finding a part time job that only works you one 4-6 hour shift a week. Have it deposited to a wedding acct. That will add up over a year. You might be able to even cut the engagement time down from 2 to 1 year

We're paying for most of it ourselves. But FH parents said they'll chip in $5,000 and pay for the rehearsal and then my mom bought my dress and veil. We had a 29 month engagement so that we had plenty of time to save up for what we wanted.

We're getting a little help with the venue by my family but everything else is coming out of our pockets. So that means cheap dress shopping, small amounts of flowers, probably renting a tux, I'm not wearing shoes so that's a plus. But we're going to try and use smaller/cheaper DJ's and caterers. We have a bit to plan it out still but we're getting there.

View Quoted Comment We cut out fast food and I cut back on coffee. We made all the deposits and it helps knowing we have family to support us and income taxes before the final Bill's are due but I feel like every time I turn I have less money then I thought

View Quoted Comment I felt the same way. I almost felt like I was the weird one paying for it on our own until I posted it and turns out it's more common than I thought

View Quoted Comment Lol we have already been engaged for a year. I thought about part time jobs or babysitting but I have no experience with kids professionally so that hurts a bit and theres not many jobs 1 day a week.