Running out of money...can't pay for wedding 3 months away.

I know it's not what she wants to hear, but people will understand in this economy, she needs to postpone this wedding. Hopefully the vendors will hold onto her deposits for a future date. Don't reschedule until she has every penny she needs. If not, canx the whole thing and go to the courthouse. She can save for a vow renewal on her one year anniversary. I hate to sound cold, but she is not in a position to have the wedding she wants right now.

Oh I forgot to mention that the groom is in the military and is making a special trip home for this wedding. It's already been pushed back because of his deployment. This is the only date that essentially works for him...oh if things were so simple. LOL. I'll tell her about Bridal Loans. Thanks Kimmie.

Can she make a menu change on her dinner to make it cheaper? I think that would be the easiest way, then if she's overpaid her caterer, they'll just refund the amount if it's not past her deadline.

Ditch the limo and apply her mom's money to the venue, cut flowers, and I would try to get an online job- I know this sounds dumb, but my sister does it: she could work for ChaCha (that texting company), you log in on your computer and get 10cents for every question you answer for them...some people make a lot of money, but you have to put in the time.

Thats a cute idea. I'll let her know about the texting company! LOL...and the menu change as well. Good Idea!

The ladies had some great suggestions except the bridal loans. im not a fan of being in debt to have a nice wedding. The best things is to change the menu because she cannot eliminate the guest lists 3 months to the wedding. If all of the brides maid knows her struggles right now the luncheon should be elimnated. she can have something for the bridal party after the wedding to thank you guys. She can also change her package for the video/photos.

This may be too outlandish for her but....she could become an egg donor....I heard they could get up to $5000.

MY FH and I are still planning and paying for things. I insisted that we pay off the reception venue before we spend another penny on anything else. The fact that she paid for a dress and cake before the venue was paid off just goes to show that her planning was a little poor.

I think her main concern should be paying off the venue. Anything after that is secondary.

Have they considered other options, like having their ceromony private and reception at a later date. She has to have some type of plan, three months is too close to be trying to gather up that much money and not enough done for wedding. What about his family and other family members. We have a lot of family that is paying off on stuff needed for the wedding as gifts, so that works for me, because less out of our pocket. We had to cut down a lot to fit our budget. Fundraisers will work, network on sites like facebook and etc...

My first thought was to do a plasma donation or a medical study. I did a medical study in college over a 3-4 weekends and I was paid $1500. Not bad for testing an allergy nasal spray. Otherwise, I agree with everyone else. Cut the limo and use a family car. Cut out guests, cut out favors or get cheaper ones, cut out all the little extra junk that people toss anyways, and cut, CUT, CUT!

No rehearsal dinner

cut the honeymoon

rework the menu and alcohol

cut the guest list

Other than that, postpone the wedding

cheaper photo package--just 3 hours and no album

or apply for low interest cc--yikes

Did she get an income tax refund?

And that is why you should make sure your checking your wedding budget... I feel for her I do and hope everything works out... wish I had some helpful hints but all the above stole them lol no really I had no clue. Got some really creative helpful ppl on here! Good Luck!

Prayer....

The limo is ONLY $288? That kind of thinking is probably how she got in over her head. In my world $300 is a lot of cash and a limo is not a necessity. She needs to get ruthless with her budget and only have the things that are most important to her. No one should go into debt for their wedding, it's just not worth it. I wish her luck!

@LovelyUnique, yeah perhaps I was a little hard. It just frustrates me when I see people go into so much debt for one day. I didn't have the 300 person wedding I wanted because the bottom line is that I couldnt afford it. I had to keep in mind that I still had to live the next day, week, and month. I do hope things work out for her friend though.

Umm... it sounds to me like your friend has some bigger problems than paying for the wedding, like her financial priorities in general. Assuming she can't make enough $$ through extra work, she needs to get rid of the limo, cut the guest list, choose the cheaper photography package like JJ suggests, scale back flowers, cut back on booze (if she is serving some) and do non-floral centerpieces. She doesn't need to do a bridal luncheon either, although I think it's kind of rude that she would cut out gifts to the bridal party due to her bad planning.

I have to go with some of the others here. regardless of what she wants, the reality of it is that she's going to have to make some cuts. I'd take out everything (limo, and maybe even the photog) and get the venue paid for first. If she gave teh photog a deposit, have her talk to him/her and see if they can even come for just the ceremony. Then have some friends take photos with disposable cameras at the reception.

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DO NOT DO THIS!!! Sorry for yelling, but never, never touch a 401k for anything other than retirement (unless you have a major medical issue that requires money, I suppose.)

Everyone has given great ideas for your friend. Have you told her about this site? She could gather a lot of information from all of the other brides here.

I do agree that the limo needs to go. To say that it is "only $288" is to say that $288 is dispensable. Every dollar seems to matter here, so that $288 could be better used elsewhere.

In response to Audrey L's suggestion on disposable cameras....they are a lot of fun. My daughter came up with a money saving solution there. While she will have a prof. photographer, we did buy disposables for the reception tables. She plans to take them in and have them turned into CD's without prints. That way, she and her FH can look at the photos and decide which ones they really want to spend money on, to print.