The other day I wrote down every name of every person we would invite to our wedding.
The number only came to 52. The number would raise a bit if I invited some of my mother's relatives that still live in her hometown but I haven't seen some of them since I was 14 and as for my mother's mother...well I doubt she would come even if I did invite her. Ahh family.
Based on the theory(whoever came up with this theory obviously did so a very long time ago in a very small town!!) that you should budget for about 100 dollars per person for your wedding that brings me in at 5200. I stare at that number and know that I with some mad skills I could probably add an extra 800 dollars to that and bring the whole thing in at 6000.
Six thousand. Six, zero, zero, zero. 6-0-0-0.
6000
Sounds like a lot when you just say "oh I'll have 6000 pancakes" or "The lady that lives in that house has 6000 cats" I mean it's a lot of dough in a normal world but in the wacky world of weddings I might as well be saying "I'm having 13 people and my budget is 666."
In a world where people don't seem to blink at paying 2000 dollar on a dress that they will wear once, get filthy and then pay more money to have it put in a box to be shoved into storage!
6000 is basically spare change. It's the money that the wedding industry found while looking for the remote control in the sofa cushions!
I've read that you should budget 50% of your budget for the venue and food. Ka-ching! 3000(and that is a laughably low number in these parts. A number some places just charge you to walk in the door!)
After that the next big thing for me is photography...I might luck out on this part because one of my bridesmaids (who knows she's one but hasn't been "officially" asked yet) somehow knows about a million people who all adore her and she might be asked to send out a notice asking for a favor or two. Fingers crossed. But lets say that doesn't pan out...2000 for that.
That leaves me with....1000 for every thing else. Not much for invites, flowers, decor, outfits, officiant, wedding license, music, favors, cake and the million other things I'm totally blanking on because my brain is swiss cheese...melted swiss cheese at that! mmm...cheese.
I've already checked out invites, since there are so few people invited I might even go the handmade route...but honestly on our budget I might want to save the time and most likely pain in the ass that I would undoubtedly make it due to my serious paper addiction and my bizarre ocd compulsiveness. Plus on this budget every thing is going to be done DIY handmade crafter styles.
So lets say I have to find a dress for 500, preferably under and only slightly over if I throw in some over time because "oh my god this is the dress!" gut reaction.
My parents whole wedding in the 70's cost 500 dollars. THEIR WHOLE WEDDING!!!
This is a fact that my mother just loves to bring up.
I have been entering online contests daily in hopes that some luck is sprinkled on me and I win something! I have never been particularly lucky though so unless some sort of universal shift happens I think my best bet will be online, a sample sale, going across the border to Filene's or pre-owned. My wonderful former boss also told me that if I wanted I could borrow her dress.
I will tell you a secret though. I'm going to do something incredibly dangerous. Something a bit childish and selfish and probably it will land me with a broken heart and a maxed out credit card.
I'm going to try on dresses that are far beyond my budget. I am going to go into the fanciest wedding boutiques and try on dresses that have price tags higher than my whole budget. Even though I know that even if I fell madly hopelessly in love with a 10 grand Oscar de La Renta(which even at a 7 grand discount I could not afford!) I could not and would not put myself into more debt for a dress. Even if it was the most lovely dress that ever lived and I would totally wear it grocery shopping and to friends houses for parties once I got it shortened! TOTALLY!
The number only came to 52. The number would raise a bit if I invited some of my mother's relatives that still live in her hometown but I haven't seen some of them since I was 14 and as for my mother's mother...well I doubt she would come even if I did invite her. Ahh family.
Based on the theory(whoever came up with this theory obviously did so a very long time ago in a very small town!!) that you should budget for about 100 dollars per person for your wedding that brings me in at 5200. I stare at that number and know that I with some mad skills I could probably add an extra 800 dollars to that and bring the whole thing in at 6000.
Six thousand. Six, zero, zero, zero. 6-0-0-0.
6000
Sounds like a lot when you just say "oh I'll have 6000 pancakes" or "The lady that lives in that house has 6000 cats" I mean it's a lot of dough in a normal world but in the wacky world of weddings I might as well be saying "I'm having 13 people and my budget is 666."
In a world where people don't seem to blink at paying 2000 dollar on a dress that they will wear once, get filthy and then pay more money to have it put in a box to be shoved into storage!
6000 is basically spare change. It's the money that the wedding industry found while looking for the remote control in the sofa cushions!
I've read that you should budget 50% of your budget for the venue and food. Ka-ching! 3000(and that is a laughably low number in these parts. A number some places just charge you to walk in the door!)
After that the next big thing for me is photography...I might luck out on this part because one of my bridesmaids (who knows she's one but hasn't been "officially" asked yet) somehow knows about a million people who all adore her and she might be asked to send out a notice asking for a favor or two. Fingers crossed. But lets say that doesn't pan out...2000 for that.
That leaves me with....1000 for every thing else. Not much for invites, flowers, decor, outfits, officiant, wedding license, music, favors, cake and the million other things I'm totally blanking on because my brain is swiss cheese...melted swiss cheese at that! mmm...cheese.
I've already checked out invites, since there are so few people invited I might even go the handmade route...but honestly on our budget I might want to save the time and most likely pain in the ass that I would undoubtedly make it due to my serious paper addiction and my bizarre ocd compulsiveness. Plus on this budget every thing is going to be done DIY handmade crafter styles.
So lets say I have to find a dress for 500, preferably under and only slightly over if I throw in some over time because "oh my god this is the dress!" gut reaction.
My parents whole wedding in the 70's cost 500 dollars. THEIR WHOLE WEDDING!!!
This is a fact that my mother just loves to bring up.
I have been entering online contests daily in hopes that some luck is sprinkled on me and I win something! I have never been particularly lucky though so unless some sort of universal shift happens I think my best bet will be online, a sample sale, going across the border to Filene's or pre-owned. My wonderful former boss also told me that if I wanted I could borrow her dress.
I will tell you a secret though. I'm going to do something incredibly dangerous. Something a bit childish and selfish and probably it will land me with a broken heart and a maxed out credit card.
I'm going to try on dresses that are far beyond my budget. I am going to go into the fanciest wedding boutiques and try on dresses that have price tags higher than my whole budget. Even though I know that even if I fell madly hopelessly in love with a 10 grand Oscar de La Renta(which even at a 7 grand discount I could not afford!) I could not and would not put myself into more debt for a dress. Even if it was the most lovely dress that ever lived and I would totally wear it grocery shopping and to friends houses for parties once I got it shortened! TOTALLY!
Le sigh.
There are some really great dresses out there to be found. I just have to figure out what I want because I seem to have champagne tastes on a bottled water budget.
4 comments:
Dang girl-- you don't need to spend $6000 on only 52 people!
My budget is $3000 and we are doing that for about 300-350 guests. If I can do it, YOU Can do it!
I did that! I went to a super fancy boutique with my sister even though I budgeted 1k for my dress.
It was totally worth it. You get to try on sparkly garments with layers and layers of fabric and twirl around on this pedestal in front of a big mirror. Totally indulgent.
It also helped me get more ideas about what silhouette/style I wanted.
Have fun, take lots of pictures if they let you.
I love that dress!
$6k is still a lot in the big scheme of things, but in wedding world, totally gets lost in translation. I think its a great idea to DIY your invites, and i'm sure you can DIY a lot more since its only 52 guests! It sounds like the wedding will be fun and fabulous ... especially with a dress like that!
RelentlessBride
you can do it!!
I am having a dress that retails for around $1200 made for $500 by a super talented seamstress in my area.
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