For Real

Yup. Weddings are an expensive life event. I hope it bets better.

I'm feeling very torn! Part of me is LOVING the planning (I love checking boxes) but the other part of me is ugly crying as the expenses rack up, and I don't even have expensive taste!! 😣 Also overwhelmed with trying to please everyone 😅

Yep. I'm making huge payments and fielding family drama and just. Phew. Stress.

YESSSSS!!!! I want to just scream sometimes. Lol

View Quoted Comment I guess I didn't realize just how expensive they can be.

View Quoted Comment I feel ya, I have a very tight limited budget, so trying to find a venue just to start is mad frustrating

View Quoted Comment My wedding isn't until October but I'm already ready to say f* this and just go to the court house 😫

View Quoted Comment Omg ! Right . Some of just seems absurd since its only for ONE day

View Quoted Comment Yea it does, it's only January and feels like my whole year is going to reveal around this one day.

View Quoted Comment I wish I could say it gets better, but weddings seem to make people go CRAZY. if it wasn't for our families, we probably would have eloped.

View Quoted Comment Oh yes. The w word raises the dollar sign sadly. I am sorry.

I was def stressed about logistics and expenses

YES Celeste, being a 👰 is absolute hell, everything falls on our shoulders, so many decisions! Do you have a wedding planner, they are useful guides! First thing is to figure out your number of guests, find your venue and photographer, as they can be booked up 2 years in advance sometimes, determine what your budget is, so you know how much you can alot for food and beverage, venue if separate from the F+B, photographer or videographer, your dress, etc! I'm still a year away, and I stress everyday, I bought my dress 5 months ago, selfishly, it was my biggest concern, to find my dream dress first, I recommend looking online at the different styles before hitting the boutiques, it helped me figure out which styles I liked or disliked before tying dresses on, and don't bring to many people with you, to many opinions! you might feel pressured to pick a dress you don't really love ( like from your mom ) you'll know in your ❤️ when you find it, mine is from Stella York,
style 6979, if you care to see it, seriously, I loved dress shopping, it is FUN! don't get to stressed, everything will fall into place!

I cried while we toured venues. $10K-$15K for just the site fee????? 🤯😭 We had to get creative. We ended up doing a tiny DW and a local reception later. For the DW, we chose a weekday night, off-season. We chose non-floral centerpieces at both events. Many other money-saving ideas. Our events were by no means cheap, but affordable for us. Whew. And totally worth it. 😁 Hang in there! You can do it.

View Quoted Comment This wouldn't work for everyone, but I wanted a brunch wedding, so I was limited by caterers more than venues. So I started looking for affordable breakfast/brunch caterers and then looked at venues they were affiliated with. That helped me a lot in my venue search.

Yes. It was kinda fun at first, but when the reality of bookings and crazy prices came into things, it changed. I am leaning towards an elopement now.

I don't want all the stuff. I just want our marriage.

Omg I think this all the time, and I feel so guilty about judging brides who didn’t seem thrilled about planning the wedding because I thought it was going to be this magical time, but in all reality, I want to rip my hair out!!!

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Girl, I feel the exact same way. I feel like I can't shut the wedding part of my brain off and I'm pretty sure I'm on everyone's last nerve lol. I would just much rather be done everything by the summer except for the seating chart and just paying things off. I don't want to stress this summer. I want to be able to enjoy my bridal shower and my bachelorette and the wedding itself but I feel like I'm going crazy!

Awww, I am sorry you are overwhelmed and stressed. We had so much fun planning our wedding. We also kept things very casual and simple so I am sure that helped keep us sane. I hope you are ultimately able to enjoy some parts of planning your big day.

I went through the same thing in the beginning. When you're on a tight budget, it makes things hard, especially if you'd like the help of a wedding planner but can't afford one. In my opinion, it GETS BETTER! I hate hearing how people are having horrible time's planning their wedding. While I totally get the sticker shock, you just have to keep searching. I was getting let down at first thinking I wouldn't be able to afford anything at all. Thankfully, our parents are pitching in, but we're still keeping EVERYTHING under $6k (well, not including my dress, which I paid for myself.) Look into cheaper options like banquet halls, etc. Don't choose a venue with in-house catering, that gets crazy expensive. Also, try to find a venue that allows you to BYO alcohol. Take a break if you need to. Once you find a venue that fits the bill, I promise it'll get easier!