Help! Budget woes = Serious overhaul

View quoted message Thanks so much for this, Kaye. So true! We keep coming back to what matters to us, who we share it with/who has been huge supports for us & continuing to build our wacky & awesome relationship together 😊 And all the best with both of your studies/planning!

View quoted message Hi Ray.
They quoted us a menu and we agreed to it before being sent the contract. We have a very strict budget because we are low income. All of a sudden theyre saying that they cant dont that and theyre going to charge us twice as much. Joel the catering guy was super rude and stressful to deal with. Although the venue fee includes tables, chairs and linens, the catering was trying to charge us for those as well. After a couple hours of negotiarion, the "best offer" they could give us was this: $45 pp plus 28% fees for one taco per person and a 2 hour reception. This was on top of the $1300 venue rental. It was an absurd offer. When we first went we were told we could do a casual bbq for $33 pp plus 28% which included drinks and dessert. Literally as soon as we agreed to sign the contract they went back on everything and started increasing the prices. They clearly didnt care about us and our dream wedding. We had already sent out save the dates when we were forced to pull out. It was embarassing but we werent going to give our hard earned money to rude people and get little value for our money. The place is beautiful but if you need to stick to a budget its not the place. If you want more details im happy to share. This was a very upsetting experience and i dont want others to go through it

View quoted message Btw what were they upping you? I do know they charge tax plus service fee. I'd like to know if you could tell me what other things they charge. Based on the price they gave me plus how many guests I have and the menu we chose and such I know roughly how much I'll be spending.

View quoted message I would caution against RBG
We had out wedding booked there and they kept screwing us over by upping the price and double charging and were super rude about it. So we got out and went somewhere else. Just be prepared for a fight

View quoted message I got my dress for $100 too! But at a consignment shop that had a booth at a free bridal show. Thats a huge expense to check off

I was in the same boat as you.
Both fiance and I are just finishing up school with little money to our name. Our budget is $5100. Thrift store shopping is good for decorations. And we had to go with a simple venue that isnt fancy. At the end of the day its about the marriage not the wedding. Also dont be afraid to accept help when people offer. People tend to feel very giving when it comes to weddings

View quoted message Thanks! We’re looking forward to some good food and an awesome dance party with our nearest and dearest. Hope everything works out at your end!!

View quoted message Thanks Catherine. And I didn’t know that Elsie was on that end of the $ scale! 😳 Shocked, actually! Good to know... It’s such a lovely venue, your wedding will be gorgeous! You’re right, there’s not much else needed for decor as it’s so stunning. Here’s to an amazing weekend full of incredible memories! 🌸

View quoted message Thanks Ray. I totally understand trying to balance academic life with other responsibilities! And I’m also on the same page with venue & food priorities. And having a dance party with my partner & loved ones! That’s what we want the most. I like DIY stuff too, so I know I can do some of that & look forward to little creative touches.

View quoted message Thanks for these suggestions, Sara! I lucked out & found my perfect dress (from David’s even!) MEGA on sale for $100 (I know!), am thinking toonie bar (making our wine for tables), heavy hors d’oeuvres vs. formal 3-course meal, I’ll be making our bouquets & thinking Costco too as they have bulk greenery (not doing floral centrepieces/arrangements) & am pretty crafty haha So that will help a bit.

I appreciate all the feedback & encouraging words everyone! 💕

View quoted message Thanks so much, Bianca. It’s nice to hear I’m not the only one 😊 I know we’ll figure something out that works for us, it’s just been stressful which is not what I wanted. Just gotta keep focusing on why we’re doing this & sharing this time with loved ones that have been there for us/will continue with us in the future. All the best with your schooling & planning too!

Hey Keri, I don't have any advice, but I can totally relate about being a bride who is also a full-time student. It's rough! I've personally felt like my attention has been divided, my wallet feels beyond empty, and my future plans have been changed due to having to reallocate money towards a wedding I wasn't expecting.

I hope everything works out for you! Whatever you do for your wedding, so long as you're surrounded by people you love, things will be great

Same boat but my wedding day is not until 2020 but it's good to know I am not the only one afraid of going over my budget. I work full time but am in school part time so saving is hard. For me venue and food is important and alot of my decors are DIY. I found royal botanical is a reasonable price as they do give good discounts when booking both ceremony and reception. They also provide flower arrangement and music. I'm sure you guys can work things out. One of their venue was price reasonable I believe it was 750 when booking both ceremony and reception however the more I look at my guest list it's getting bigger haha.

Your venue (reception, food, and drink) is supposed to be estimated at about 45-55% of your wedding budget... if that's just your venue rental, yes, it's much too expensive with your adjusted budget, but if that included dinner, you could still swing it!

My venue/food was more important to me than a videographer, expensive DJ, or additional decor, so our reception is actually closer to 60-65% of our budget, and we are exercising our saving muscles on all other aspects of the wedding.

Depending on how big (or rather small)your guest list is, there are some great places on London. We’re getting married at Elsie Perrin on Saturday. It seats between 60-80 and you get access to the full manor and gardens for the whole day for under $1500. That does not include catering, but the venue is really pretty so you can minimize the amount spent on decor. I have friends who had a gorgeous wedding at the Pioneer village at Fanshawe conservation as well. Good luck and congrats on going back to school!

View quoted message Well depending on how open you are to cut backs an expensive venue may still work if it's the place you love. Our venue will work out to be 2/3 of our budget but that includes food,bar,venue. We also had a few big items be taken care of as gifts so it worked out (dress and accessories, photographer).

You could consider limited bar (beer and wine only), really shopping around for meal options and looking outside the box (food truck, summer BBQ theme, meal stations), and letting the outdoor venue speak for itself and go light on decor. Weddings shouldn't have to break the bank so take some time to reevaluate what elements are truly important for you on the day and let go of what isnt.

My fsil loves flowers so for her summer wedding she has 50% of the budget going to flowers and is saving money by having family cook the food for dinner and his youth church group will serve dinner. Also they don't like cake so a dq icecream cake for them and a sundae bar for dessert.

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No, unfortunately. It's a "build-your-own" venue so that's all on us to provide. It was different when we both were working decent gigs & had a some savings started for it.

Does the venue cost include drinks/food for your guests? Our venue ended up being half our budget and we were able to make do, but it covered the drinks and food.

I completely understand your budget woes! I am part time in school and me and my FH bought a house recently and now I can't even comprehend how we are suppose to afford a wedding next year. I know it is a year away plus some - but you have to pay to reserve all the vendors that you want! I'm probably going to end up getting a line of credit (as long as the bank approves me )

Sending good vibes your way!!

Oh no! That sounds like some serious budget trouble.

We went through something similar, and unfortunately what we found (we're getting married in Toronto) is that sometimes budgets get stretched a little too much - so if you want advise, you both need to be mentally prepared for that to happen so that it doesn't come as a surprise.

Maybe if you're set with that venue for your wedding, try to cut costs elsewhere - do a lot of DYI stuff, buy cheap/used decorations that won't make such a huge dent in your wallet, go with cash bar/toonie bar instead of open bar (if that's something you were looking into), get a used wedding dress or off rack instead of designer or custom made, make your own bouquets (that's what I'm doing, buying Costco flowers and then making my own bouquets) and scrapping all flower arrangements altogether as they are huge budge eaters.