WE'RE BROKE

Do not take a loan out. You don't want to start your marriage like that! Especially in the economy!

Trust me... I understand u! And I'm only part time because we have a daughter and no one I trust watching her so I don't bring in as much as I wish I could. But I wouldn't recommend a loan! We're doing what we know we can afford. It isn't very much... But I don't want to be paying off a wedding after the day comes. If you really can't do it, consider a longer engagement. Sometimes I wish I waited 2+ years instead of 1!

Learn do be creative. It's a lot you can do yourself. Weddings can be affordable if everyone chips in and helps out. We are doing everything. Decorations, catering, you name it we are doing it.... Cuts the cost tremendously.

Our wedding budget EXPLODED somewhere along the line from $5k to $30k. Signing contracts to make vendor payments over 24 months was daunting and overwhelming but we're doing everything we can to only spend on what's important to us. But it's still what WE as a couple can afford without financing our wedding. Finance a car or a home or your education if you HAVE to, don't finance your wedding!!! Plan a wedding you can afford or put it off until you can afford it.

I wouldn't recommend starting a marriage in debt. Please reconsider either waiting until you're more financially stable or just cut back. Small weddings can be more elegant than big over the top ones.

We got lucky. Both of our families are helping tremendously...because with him in school full time (and unable to work more than a few hours a week due to an INSANE schedule...) um...if I had to finance this with only my paycheck HELLO courthouse. That said, our budget is set at 6100 total. Definitely talk to family and friends about wanting to be involved. I asked my cousin to help put together a playlist and he offered to DJ the whole thing.

We haven't spend too much on the wedding yet - but we did buy a brand new mattress when set us back! Hahaha.

On a more serious note - do NOT take a loan out. Money causes relationship problems. You should wait to get married or scale it back if you can't afford it. That said - you do have a long time before you get married. Make sure to crunch numbers monthly, pick up another side job, or do whatever it takes if you do want a costly wedding.

Good luck!

If I can't pay cash, I'm not doing it. Screw the whole "wedding of my dreams" philosophy. Being in debt for one evening (an evening which most people/guests will forget over time) is not part of my life goals.

I'm in the same boat!! We've been working our butts off to eliminate debt so that we can save more for the wedding. We've had to work extra hard, even planning out our budget several months ahead so that we get all of our bills paid as well as putting away money for the wedding.

I wouldn't take out a loan, we thought about it too and decided it could end up with us regretting spending that on the wedding. We've had to make big cuts to the budget, but just make sure that you prioritize what is most important to you! My top priorities were the photographer and the dress.

Weddings do not appreciate in value. They are not assets, they do not earn interest and you can't use them again once they are over. You should not take out an interest-bearing loan on a party.

My wedding isn't until June I'm buying a little at a time doing it all myself an with the help of family. I have never been a dream wedding kinda girl just knew I didn't want to look back at my day and have it be JOP I say do what you can with what you have it will be a beautiful day not because of a fancy venue or food or decorations but because your marrying the man you love!

Cut the budget. Figure out what is most important to you (ie: dress and photos) and spend a little more on that but cut back on other stuff (decor, food, dj, etc). There are so many ways to cut costs at a wedding! I wouldn't go into debt over one night to show off. You can find so many good ideas online to save money. And you always have us for more ideas

I'm going to go against the grain and disagree with some people. We went into a little bit of debt to make the deposit on our venue and rooms....we also doubled our budget. This is your wedding, a once in a lifetime day, the only one you're supposed to get. Do whatever you think is WORTH it. If going into debt is worth it to you, there are interest free options (if you have the credit). We are paying off the rest in cash, but being full time grad students and wanting to get married in a reasonable amount of time, we had to come up with a lot up front.

The difference for us is that we already bought our first home, we have decent cars, and are two months away from being done with our educations. He also already has a great paying job, and I'm SO CLOSE to one myself. We're not stressing over it and we will spend what we think is necessary, no matter what other people think. Our wedding is going to be a fucking blast, no matter what it costs.

Sorry for the novel!

Do NOT do a loan! I agree with the others that you don't want to start your life in debt. Ask family and friends to pitch in for DIY. We will be make ALL of our own flower arrangements bouquets etc, and I am trying to buy things as I go when on sale. I plan on making own centerpieces and asking friends for referrals to vendors they may know such as my brother knows a DJ who will charge me $300 for night, not 5-600. I also put aside money in a separate savings account with every paycheck even if its only $50. We pay cash for nearly everything, especially fast food and gas station run for soda. All of our pocket change goes into a jar that is rolled up and deposited into that account also.

Have an intimate wedding. Invite about 50 close friends and families, I would do mostly couples. You don't NEED favors, giant cen

Please don't take out a loan.

Ended up pushing our wedding to the new date which is October 11,2014 because of money issues at the last minute my new MIL said we had to pay for our whole reception on our own. We toyed with taking out a loan. I couldn't bring myself to do it and I'm happy that we are not taking the loan out. Having to wait sucks but the feeling that we will be able to pay cash for the wedding on our own is a great feeling!

I would have loved a bigger nicer wedding. Mine was nice, but a lot of it I did to cut costs.

I understand being tight on money but I'd save as much as you can and be satisfied with that, you'll already have student loans, do you want to add more debt?

Everyone wants some over the top wedding, but truthfully the low key ones aren't bad either, its just the thought society had given us that the bigger the better.... I came in under budget ( thank heavens because I went in the day of the wedding hoping for no extra expenses with about 50 dollars in my savings acct and about 20 in my checking) we had sever big things break and several expenses I had to add last minute too.

I've been to something like 10 weddings in my life and the ones that were the most fun were the ones that cost the less. one was a potluck! it was a bunch of ren faire people and it looked like something out of the 80s video 'you can dance'. they had a sketch artist, lots of fun!. none of it was according to etiquette, but only the grooms grandmother seemed to care, even then not for long.

because they were the most relaxed, they the most fun.

the most pricey one was the most boring. a LONG formal dinner, that was about it.

the one I enjoyed the most was ironically in a town community center with crazy party lighting. music and laughing all night long, a very tasty homemade cake, and brew that the groom made.

the ceremony was by a lake, didn't cost anything!

I think that it's hard to not envy someone else's wedding or fall into the trap of what you are 'expected ' to do, but a wedding doesn't have to cost much to be pretty, fun& full of memories!

I can understand how you are feeling. We had no help but being older and both having good jobs helped. Still I set a budget and even though it was a small wedding (only 45 guests) it still ended up being over $7k (not counting the landscaping we had done since we had our wedding at home).

Catering, tent rental and photography were the biggest costs but I didn't want to skimp on those. I DIY'd the heck out of everything and did save money there. In the end we were happy that we didn't go into debt as we we both wanted to be debt free within a year after being married and I am happy to say we are almost there.

You can still have a beautiful wedding, even on a budget!