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Rising up, many individuals dream of their good marriage ceremony. They fantasize over each element, however most likely neglect a very powerful piece to make it a actuality (apart from a bride and groom).
Cash.
A marriage might be the most costly one-day occasion you’ll placed on in your complete life. Each element must be taken care of and that’ll price you each time and cash.
However what if I advised you that your dream marriage ceremony can nonetheless be what you need whereas additionally saving hundreds of {dollars}? Likelihood is that you simply wouldn’t imagine me.
Learn on to listen to my story on how I saved $17,000 on my marriage ceremony by truly transferring up our marriage ceremony date.
Some Background on our Engagement and Wedding ceremony Story
We bought engaged on a stroll by a state park close to John’s home after we had been each sophomores in faculty after 2.5 years of relationship. Quick ahead to senior yr of faculty, we had been dwelling collectively close to faculty and dealing full-time. It was at this level that we began to plan what our future would appear like.
We didn’t make the very best resolution when beginning to plan our marriage ceremony as we reserved probably the most extravagant venue that I assumed would lead to my dream. We didn’t suppose an excessive amount of about the price at first as a result of we knew we’d have assist from our dad and mom plus 1.5 years to provide you with our contributions to the marriage funds.
Whereas we had been excited to have our dream venue reserved, one which was all the time booked out, marriage ceremony planning was inflicting us a loopy quantity of stress. Watching the numbers begin including up with every element was overwhelming.
That’s after we determined that one thing drastic wanted to occur. We moved up our marriage ceremony from September 2017 to July 2016 and adjusted our venue together with lots of the distributors. Many elements went into this resolution and it was a tough one to make. Most of all, we simply didn’t need this to be how we remembered this particular time of our life.
Learn this: Study The best way to Discover Reasonably priced Wedding ceremony Venues
3 Values We Prioritized In Our Choice
Deciding to maneuver up our marriage ceremony so drastically was an enormous resolution, and one we didn’t take flippantly as a result of it affected our household and buddies too. These are the highest values we prioritized when making our resolution.
Stress on Our Relationship
Wedding ceremony planning is anxious! Positive, there are nice marriage ceremony planners and assets on-line that may assist. However, the variety of particulars that go into marriage ceremony planning was making my head spin.
From venues to music to flowers and extra, the record was occurring and on. Planning such an extravagant occasion was taking a toll on our relationship in addition to our relationship with our households. And, we weren’t even a yr out from the projected date!
I knew that we couldn’t take care of over a yr extra of the burden, so we knew that it was time to take a drastic change. The choice confused a lot of our household and buddies, but it surely was the best resolution for us.
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Affect on Our Funds
Planning a marriage that’s projected to price $36,000 will put weight on anybody’s shoulders. Positive, we had assist from our households, however not that a lot assist!
It was tough to discover ways to funds for a marriage along with regular family month-to-month bills. As a result of we needed to pay for all of it in money slightly than taking over extra debt, the marriage was set to influence our different monetary targets.
We’re very detailed on the subject of our funds, so we put all of our marriage ceremony bills right into a Google Sheets funds template. It confirmed that by placing all of our additional earnings in the direction of the marriage, we wouldn’t have the ability to make massive funds in the direction of scholar loans, work on growing our emergency fund or proceed saving up for a home.
All of these items had been crucial to us as a result of we’ve a FIRE (Monetary Independence Retire Early) mindset. We might see our projected FI date growing in a FIRE Calculator and it made our stomachs flip.
To us, the monetary burden was not price it. We couldn’t let someday outweigh our current progress and future.
Time Spent
One other issue that went into our resolution was the period of time spent on marriage ceremony planning. We already labored loopy hours whereas going to highschool full-time, so each different out there second was going to marriage ceremony planning.
The 2 of us worth our time and needed to have the ability to deal with different issues we loved, possibly even chill out a little bit. We had been already dwelling collectively and knew that we liked one another, so it didn’t make sense to attend one other yr and three months to say “I do.” So, as an alternative of dragging it on for that lengthy, it made sense to maneuver it up!
Breaking Down the Finances: Earlier than and After
To offer a little bit of readability to the state of affairs, here’s a actual breakdown of our marriage ceremony prices for 65 folks earlier than and after transferring up the date and altering venues. Please word that we didn’t have all the distributors booked from the “earlier than” column after we made our resolution, so they’re primarily based on quotes and contracts we obtained.
In essence, we drastically minimize down on the complexity of our day to avoid wasting time, stress and cash.
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Earlier than: | After |
| Venue | $12,000 | $10,882.67 Catering Included |
| Catering | $8,325 | – |
| Officiant | $600 | $550 |
| Music | $2,070 (harp, cellist, DJ) | $1,170 (DJ) |
| Images | $3,233 | $1,113 |
| Videography | $1,599 | $1,299 |
| Flowers | $4,000 | $2,500 |
| Costume, Fits, Alterations (for us & marriage ceremony celebration) | $2,500 | $1,647 |
| Decorations | $2,000 | $300 |
| Invites & Thank Yous | $245.12 | $245.12 |
| *TOTAL* | $36,572.12 | $19,706.79 |
As you’ll be able to see, we had a grand whole of $17,000 in financial savings! That’s loopy! And imagine me, these are actual numbers. I went by all of my outdated spreadsheets, notes, and emails to seek out the breakdowns.
An enormous saving in these numbers was accounted for within the venue and catering prices. Our authentic venue was costly. They nickel and dime you for every thing and require you to make use of their permitted distributors.
Listed here are a number of different cuts that you could see within the breakdown:
- Music: we had our DJ play throughout the ceremony and reception
- Images: went by a household good friend for a similar high quality however a steep low cost
- Flowers: going by our personal vendor slightly than an permitted vendor decreased prices
- Decorations: DIY decor slightly than paying for the upcharge of the venue’s decor price loads much less
Save Cash On Your Particular Day
One vital lesson that I discovered by the method of planning our marriage ceremony is that cash doesn’t purchase happiness. I can guarantee you that on our marriage ceremony day, I used to be not even excited about the unique venue we booked. It turned out beautiful, regardless that we minimize down on loads.
We had assist from each of our households, so our contribution was decreased sufficient that we might nonetheless prioritize our monetary targets. Some folks may say that spending $19,000 on a marriage shouldn’t be budget-friendly, however we overcame the strain of expectations to place collectively one thing that we glance again on with a smile.
