Soon after I knew my parent’s situation I decided that if and when I ever get married, I want to pay for the entire thing. I may not be a high maintenance diva (cough-boyfriend-may-disagree-cough), but like any normal girl, I do want it to be lovely, special, and I have dreamed about it since I was a little girl.
The average wedding costs about $25,000. Gasp! While that would be so nice to have, with my current situation I am not about to drop $25K on one day and go back into debt. No thank you. That money could go towards debt, a house down-payment, three trips to Europe, or savings. (See, I’m pretty practical.) So I have decided to have at least $5000 saved by December ’09. I already have $940 saved up. I’d love to save up to $10,000 but I also don’t want to be penniless my first year of marriage. So we’ll see what happens.
Boyfriend status? I am nine months into a long-distance relationship with a wonderful guy. He’s still in school and graduates from college in December 2009, so an engagement anytime soon is out of the question and we both agree. I am realistic and know that there’s always a chance we could break up, but obviously I wouldn’t be with him if I also didn’t see a future between us. I mean, we’re long-distance. That is hard work!
So that’s the little explanation of the wedding fund. I know $5000 is unheard of for a wedding, but when the time comes I know I will be able to make it special. I like a good challenge and it’ll be interesting to see how far I can stretch those hard-earned dollars. Until then, I am perfectly content with saving… and dreaming.
Hi! Thanks for the add on Twitter! I’ve added you to my blogroll :)
Good luck with the long distance boyfriend! I’ve been there myself… it is hard work!
A wedding fund is a great idea. Good luck!
Hey, I am in a long distance relationship too and they sure can be hard sometimes! But its totally worth it if its the right person. My boyfriend and I are going on two years now. We met at grad school and have been long distance the whole time. I am now looking for work in his part of the country and will be moving out there when I find a job in my field. (I won’t move just to work in a coffeeshop or something). The hardest part is trusting them and not having any paranoia. Don’t let yourself go there! Just be upfront and honest about everything, and it will all work out. Not that you need advice, you seem like a pretty smart cookie! Good luck with it and hopefully you’ll need that wedding fund soon!
Long distance is killer.
But you seem to have it all under control (just don’t blow it all on the dress!)
Fabulously Broke in the City
“Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.“
Thanks for following me on Twitter. Came over to check out your blog and get to know you a little better. My husband and I were married in October 2007 and came in under $3000 on the costs. Check out my post that detailed the costs. Nice to meet you!
Don’t judge me :) but we’re budgeting about $25,000 for our wedding….but believe me, I wish I could do it for $5,000.
Thanks for stopping by my blog, I’ll add you to my reader.
When DH & I were planning our wedding, I went to a warehouse type shop since they had advertised a dress I was dying to try. They didn’t have the dress when I got there, but they did have “my dress”. The dress and veil cost a total of $550. The moral of the story-you too can have your perfect wedding for a lot less than 25K. Don’t believe everything you read in a magazine.
Best wishes to you.
A couple recently did a wedding for 3000 and it was lovely!
I don’t think those platinum weddings are as awesome as a lovely small wedding with close friends and family. I like originality in a wedding,
Check out the 3000 dollar wedding on A Cup of Jo!
http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/2009/03/wedding-love.html
Thanks for the add on twitter!
I don’t think it’s too hard to have an unconventional wedding for $5000 – I’m a big fan of elopements myself! If you you want to do something traditional (big white dress, sit-down dinner, etc.) and don’t have family members with connections, it can be hard. I’m in the middle of wedding planning hell right now: our budgeted $15K wedding has ballooned to nearly $30K (although mostly from parental desires, which they’re paying for).
Wish I’d started saving ahead of time. I’m scrambling to make sure I have enough for the big day.
GREAT idea to save up for a wedding ahead of time! We spent $6,200 on our wedding last month for 100 guests. (We invited 100, but it ended up being 80 confirmed.) So $5,000 is DEFINITELY doable. If we had given ourselves more planning time (We got married less than two months after the engagement.), we could have cut down on costs a lot more. :)
.-= Red´s last blog ..June goals =-.