Finance Stress

Oh man limit your guest list!!! maybe no kids? buy decor and other stuff online on aliexpress.com if you can. i ordered my bouquet for $20 and my bridesmaids bouquets for $5. see if you can do payment plans with other vendors as well that will ease things as well and shop around. dont pick the first vendors you contact. contact like 100 DJs and see the most ones that are in your budget

View quoted message FH and I are having a social (we're from WPG). One of the groomsmen and his parents are on the board for their community hall and have offered us one of their free rentals (board members get one free rental each and they're transferrable). We can make our own food so that'll be a couple hundred, and then the DJ is like $600. Plus we'll have to get the liquor license and liquor, and convince someone to bartend for cheap.

Options of renting may be less than purchasing your items at retail value. The other way of spending lessis online shopping which allowed me to get the money back if i wasn't happy with the product.

View quoted message Ha! We will be getting married at the same time even. I am doing first look because I want some daylight and I want to start the party as soon as we say I do. We have so many beautiful options for pictures in the niagara region. FH wants some indoor shots (which we will need for a backup if weather is bad, horses can't go out) so I was thinking the butterfly conservatory. I started this with well over two years (more than 700 days) and I can't believe in a few days I'll be under 500 days left!

View quoted message I didn't want to do the first look but given our ceremony is at 5pm and I want daytime pictures I'm gonna have to. I'd love it on a sleigh. I have too many ideas to sort through just yet lol everyone keeps telling me we have so much time.....I don't think so! 16 months isn't long especially if your going by paychecks lol

View quoted message ....and maybe we are a little crazy 😂

View quoted message I'm not a winter lover really but I'm hoping for a gentle snowfall, think we will do our first look on a horse and carriage ride with big fluffy blankets. Everything for us will be at one venue so it'll cut down on driving if weather isn't too great (no transportation costs either). I want to get a big fake fur cape. Everything is going to glitter like snow before you walk on it. It is a magical time of year to get married.

View quoted message People think we're crazy but I love winter! Makes it easier to find vendors too lol it's nice to go through the crazy ride with someone else!!

View quoted message I just looked we are getting married same date lol

View quoted message I ordered the wedding planning kit from Vista Print. I cannot believe I didn't think of that! The styles I looked at were perfect for our minimalist style and about $1.10 an invite, we would spend maybe $50 lol I'm using alot of what I find outside for decor, pine sprigs, pinecones etc. I like the idea of a raffle and I think I know ways to get some great stuff from my gym and the place I work!!

If you don't want the bother of a stag and doe maybe a raffle is easier. Doesn't really have to be much for first, second and third prizes. Most people will buy tickets to help out the couple. $2 each 3for $5 type of thing. Give yourselves some time to sell, get that wedding party out there selling too lol. Vistaprint is definitely a place to consider for invites. If you get their sample pack you can see paper quality and it'll have a 50% off code. Do cupcakes instead of cake. I was lucky to have someone who does DJ but not all the time agree to do my wedding plus I have a friend just starting out in photography so prices are decent there too. If you have costco card I someone here posted about flowers there are they seem really pretty and not grossly expensive. For decor I've been haunting the local marketplace there are so many good finds there. I'm going to check out the second dance bridal in our area. They will also buy my dress back after.

View quoted message Haha we aren't partiers either. A social is what they call it in Manitoba. It was about $450 to rent our spot but it was an upper and lower level of this Fitness place that I take classes from. I'm sure you can find a hall that is less. The alcohol was around the same but we were able to return the unopened bottles and we really only open 3 or 4 so we got around $300 back. Most of our prizes were donated by friends and family.

View quoted message It's huge in Ontario. It's where I met my fiance lol did you put much money up front to host it? I'd initially decided against it but maybe it will help financially. We arent young so we aren't partiers much anymore lol I love calling it a social, we could tone it down and make it age appropriate.......hmmm. you've got me thinking lol

View quoted message I believe it's the same as stag and doe. It's also called Jack and jill. We sold tickets, had door prizes, raffle prizes, sold drink tickets. And we had food for our guests. It's not something that is really done in Saskatchewan but we still had around 25 people show up and we made around $1100 or $1200.

We made ours an 80s theme so everyone got to dress up and we had 80s music. Everyone had a lot of fun.

View quoted message Never thought of that either!! Thank you for that suggestion!!

View quoted message When you say "social" what do you mean? It sounds like a classier stag and doe which I am interested in. We are way past games and drinks at this point but anything to aid in costs I am all for!! I never thought of that!!

We found a venue in a beautiful park. For a day and a half it was only $600. This venue allows us to do our own catering which really saves on costs. We decided to just do a bbq with burgers and hot dogs.
My mom is making our cupcakes.
I bought my dress online from jjs house. It's beautiful and after custom sizing and shipping the total came to $325.
I've also gotten alot of decorations from the dollar store or Facebook market place.

For us the biggest cost is the photography which is $3400. We did a social back in june and were able to put $1400 down but still trying to figure out how to get the rest.

View quoted message Lots of ladies have used Vistaprint for their invites!! They have really good deals!!

View quoted message I've chosen almost no decor, my venue is enough it doesn't need it. It's the things like photography, dresses and tuxes, the DJ and invitations. And all the added taxes! There is 13% and %17 all over!! I work in the wedding industry so I get why, but everyone needs deposits upfront. I'm a mom of three, he has 3, life is expensive! But we want this, DESRVE this so much!! It's both our second marriages and we want to do this right! ❤️❤️❤️

I feel you girl!! We chose a beautiful venue that we wouldn’t change for the world but it definitely costs money!

i think DIY decor helps save lots of money. Many of the girls on WeddingWire are extremely talented and have posted some of their projects in the community!

fake flowers will always cost less than real flowers, so if that’s something you’re interested in definitely check that out.

I went to my dentist on the weekend, and my hygienist got married last year and did her cake herself which saved her a good deal of money. She also didn’t go on a honeymoon to save some money there as well.

It’s hard but once you have a budget stick to it - let vendors know what your budget is and try to have them work with it!