I am not getting married BUT I have been reading a few bridal magazines lately. I found out that many people tend to go overboard and go over their budgets when a wedding comes around.
I can understand that because I am seeing so many great things in the magazines that I would want to have for my OWN wedding and I don’t even have the money for them. Here are the Top Ten Wedding Money Mistakes that people normally make.
1. Not Setting Budget Priorities
2. Not Reading the Fine Print
3. Falling To Peer Pressure
4. Leaping Before Looking
5. Getting A Case Of The “Should Haves”
6. Not Knowing What BOTH People Want
7. Having The Incredible Growing Guest List
8. Over Feeding The Guests
9. Not Thinking Creatively
10. Doing It All Alone
I will be expanding on each of these points in an upcoming series so be sure to come back for each installment.
I have never been marries or am planning to anytime soon. Your tips seem great and smart, but I disagree with the food tip. You can never overfeed guests. The best part of a wedding for people is the food and alcohol. I’ve recently been to a wedding where the food was “so-so” and drinks were difficult to get. Wish it could have been better. The rest are great!
Craig
I am getting married in 7 days and the one thing that I can back up 100% is the budget aspect. We did not budget and now my wedding has escalated to the 5 digits…ouch!
Our wedding was $20,000, with 189 guests, at a country club on the first hole of the golf course. Everyone said it was the most beautiful wedding with the best food, and neatest invitations they have ever had. Sure wish I had the money now during the downturn of the economy, but she is my wife, and worth every penny, plus I keep in mind that alot of the wedding was for our friends and family, supporting us in all that we go through…
I got married at age 20. At the time, my father-in-law’s income had been cut in half, so he couldn’t help us out much.
We ended spending about $3,000 for a wedding with 200+ guests. My wife and I paid about $1,600 of the total bill; my in-laws paid for the rest.
Overall, I’m glad we took the frugal approach we did… although looking back we probably would have done some things differently — like location and colors.
@ Stocks
I am just wondering what you guys had to make the wedding cost $20 k…when DRF had about the same number of guests and only spent $3k.
Of course if that amount is within your budget then good for you…..I just want people to note that they need to stick to something they can afford and not go crazy.
My sister spent about $40,000 on her wedding 5 years ago and now she’s going through a foreclosure. Now she’ll tell anyone who will listen that if she could do it over again she would just go down to the court house and bank that original $40k.