How do you make a budget when you have no money?

@Svg you're attitude sounds quite similar to mine. I started looking up pricing for venues and damn near shit myself from what I saw. Part of me is screaming it's insane to even consider spending so much on a single day. But, on that same note I thought about weddings I've been too, what I've loved and what I've hated, and I know what I want. What I want costs money, and I'll pay it to get exactly what I want. I've said before that luckily my tastes are simple, so it works out to some extent, I basically see myself spending almost everything on food booze and venue. I can cut out a lot of stuff. No gown, I haven't worn a dress in over a decade and I have no desire to start. No bridal party, it's not important enough to spend the money on it. I don't even need that many flowers quite frankly. Hell I might not even wear makeup because it's been 6 years since I last did. I live in a mountainous area, so finding a beautiful landscape in the fall is shockingly simple. If i thought my yard was big enough for everyone I'd host the wedding I'm my apartment, we have two lovely trees.

I'm really feeling confident I can pull this off the way I'd like of after everyone's advice. You know, barring my 3 legged cat doesn't blow out his shoulder and needs a $5000 surgery!

The most important thing is that you will be marrying the person of your dreams, your friend, your other or sometimes better half. Look around at venues and see what they cost as stated earlier. Sit down and narrow down your guest list. A good way to save some extra money along with a savings account or auto withdrawal from your check is take ALL your change and put it away. DO NOT TOUCH IT!! I go to Vegas every year for a pool tourney. I save all my change and at the end of the year I usually cash out an extra 800-1200 that I can use on top of the money I have already saved. If I go to the store and the total is 19.05 I give them 20 cash and yup! I pocket the 95 cents and put it in my vacation piggy. Please make sure that you take care of yourselves FIRST and I would never recommend taking out a loan for a wedding. Also, figure how much a loan payment would be and take that money and stick it in your piggy bank. Good luck to you!!

@ Chris - this chart helped me lot since I am a terrible saver. I started using this in 2015 and would transfer each week's amount to a separate account but I would round up to the next $5.00. FH got on board in 2016 when we got engaged and by the end of that year we were saving $55 each per week. In 2017 we decided to save $65 each/week and upped that to $75 each/per week in April. I also started rounding up my check card transactions to the next dollar and moving that money to the wedding fund; doing that has added an extra $220 so far.

You've got 3 years; that's plenty of time to save like crazy for 2 years then start your planning a year out. Good luck and Congrats!!!

https://www.lgfcu.org/sites/default/files/docs/52week_challenge.pdf

I wanted a extravagant big wedding but after doing research I reevaluated. We are having a medium size wedding with 50 people and are spending just under 12K. We had almost a 2 year engagement because we did not want to be in debt because of a wedding. Taking out a loan is not a good idea. You could be paying that loan back for years for one night of fun. We only utilize loans for big purchases such as cars, a house etc. If you sacrifice little things each month that money will quickly adds up. We put away at least a $100 (sometimes more) and after a year we had more than half of our wedding budget.

First and foremost, @OP: I think you have a fantastic attitude about all of this. I think there is always room for compromise in planning a wedding. FH would have preferred a big, showy wedding, with everyone we know in attendance and I would’ve preferred 30 people in a park. We landed somewhere in the middle. That’s our compromise, and it factors in what we can afford/what we are willing to spend on 1 day.

Don’t overextend yourself here and don’t give in to requests or demands from other people. This money is coming out of your pocket.

When it comes to other people saying “you’ll regret it if you don’t”, I think that’s BS. I’ve been told that a number of times in my life, and I’ve NEVER come to regret any of it. What’s right for you can be different than what’s right for someone else.

You budget so you can have the money. Do not have a loan. Save up and have the wedding you can afford.

One little suggestion until you can start saving is maybe pay your bills with a cash back credit card first and then pay that right away so you're not paying any interest. Put any cash back directly into savings. I'd also suggest saving anything you can and see if you can make any simple life changes that can increase your saving potential. For example, I started making my morning coffee at home instead of buying it everyday. A lot of times I will buy Groupon dates for me and FH so we don't spend double the amount on date night. The little things add up!

I would start looking into restaurants to host your reception. They tend be cheaper and less extravagant but can still be beautiful. A friend of FH hosted about 250-300 guests for around $6,000 for the whole wedding at a restaurant in my area (Northern RI). They held the ceremony in a nearby church.

There's a lot of opportunities for savings in wedding: you could skip the DJ, host a smaller affair, do it on a weekday like you mentioned, buy a cheaper dress, print your own invites, make your own favors or skip them altogether, you could also have a small party catered in someone's backyard! Tons of options!

I've been researching how much venues cost to try to figure out if all of this is even realistic, and google may have just sent me the answer to my prayers. I set a realistic number for 3-4 years out of $6500, barring life punching me in the face. I just found a place that may be completely nice for under $1000. Its not the exact thing I pictured, but from what I seeing I think it would be great and I think my FH would go for it. I'm nowhere near booking and stuff, but to know a place that isn't like, the half broken down park in my hometown or a fire hall is available really settles my nerves.

You guys have really been so helpful and I appreciate it! Hopefully my savings plan will work out. I know we're not the most financially well off couple to be hosting a wedding, but we've started each new year financially better off than the last, so hopefully the upswing will continue!

Going on 4 year engagement (was supposed to be 5 year but I'm impatient and make rash decisions- like booking a hotel for an unplanned mini-honeymoon yesterday). We couldn't afford what we (I) wanted before, so we saved up. Not to mention we got engaged at 19 and wanted to be more mature before getting married, but that's another story. When we were 19, we discussed taking out a loan to pay for it. As we've gotten older and learned from life, we realize that would have been a mistake. I understand the appeal- being forced to pay a bill to keep your credit up is a LOT easier then saving up.. the money sits in your bank and begs to be spent. But this is not the best route. I promise you.

ETA I saw your update, so happy you're saving up!!

I would not take out a loan for the wedding. Do you really want to pay all that interest? If you can afford the payments for a loan, you can save that money instead and then when you have enough, use it to pay for the actual wedding. You might have to push the wedding out a little farther, but I would rather do that than take out a loan. You can also look into getting part time jobs. Savr all the money you make from the part time job in a separate account just for the wedding. You can do things like babysitting, cutting lawns, working stores, or if you have experience in a specific skilled field look into that.

I'm actually looking up tent rental costs right now to see if its feasible. The place I'm looking it at is an estate that has use of the grounds, so I know I'd need tents/tables etc. I'm still looking at other places I've by no means made a decision, but so far everything I've seen that I've liked that would include these things are wildly over budget.

Google is my best friend right now.

Do not take out a loan for a wedding. It is not necessary or worth taking debt into your marriage. I would suggest starting with a savings account for your emergency fund. Before FW and I started saving for our wedding ( that we are also paying for ourselves) we had to ensure we had a set amount in our emergency fund. That is money we are not touching at all for our wedding. All the money saved on top of that amount can/is being delegated to the wedding. I would suggest getting married with maybe a courthouse wedding now and saving for a "party" later. That way you can still be enjoying married bliss and save for the celebration later.

@RaeGin, regarding regrets, YES. I find that when people say this, they're almost always projecting their own, personalized regrets onto you.

@Chris - you may find, if you dig deep and research like a maniac, that venue prices vary a bit and you can find something that fits your vision and costs less than expected. Call up places that don't have much of a web presence.

You may also find that your situation changes significantly for the better, rather than punching you in the face, over the next few years and makes having a wedding easier. I am rooting for you, and wish you all the best!

I wanted to say I understand where you are coming from. Two years ago, I had $0 in savings and had to borrow some money from my parents to cover rent. That scared me so much that I started reading financial advice blogs, especially on how to live frugally even with a small student salary (very small). So I made some big changes in my spending habits, including groceries and eating out, buying clothes, etc. I basically stopped spending money besides bills for several months and I was able to put away a couple hundred dollars on each paycheck for savings and an emergency fund. Now that my emergency fund has built up to a safe level, I have started saving separately for my wedding and have a couple thousand saved. So it's possible, and it is possible to do it in two years.

I definitely advise reading articles and books to help get you started and give you motivation! Good luck!

A digression.

Chris? Going to school for art is no more a mistake than going to school for law or banking or anything else that people perceive as 'more practical". Loads of people lost their financial jobs in the last years and there is a glut of lawyers to the point that many schools are not even enrolling more students.

College is not vocational school. So don't beat yourself up over that!

Yesssss, @Celia! This former Creative Writing major completely agrees!

For your own financial wellness, I really recommend the app Mint. You can set your categories based on your bills and spending while also setting goals for yourself, like a wedding, vacation, or down payment on a home. It's sometimes cumbersome to accurately categorize your spending, especially cash, but it's saved me from going on crazy shopping binges while also learning what I actually spend on necessities like groceries and gas.

Another idea: my credit union offers a credit building loan. It sounds like maybe neither of you have great financial backgrounds, so it's a way to save money and build credit. You make a monthly payment until the loan is paid off, but you don't actually get the money until you've made all your payments.

I say take out a loan or take an interest free one time withdraw from a 401K. Something always comes up and if you don't have the extra cash now who says you will have it later. Look at what your budget is now and if you can afford to pay a loan back and how much that would be. then go from there. make it your day.