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Saving Money

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pammaureen091 Posts : 1 Registered: 3/26/10
Saving Money
Posted: Mar 26, 2010 10:37 AM

Hey Everyone,
My name is Pam and I have a HUGEE problem. My fiance and I are both college students and don't really have the money to have a huge, lavish wedding, but I can't get the guest list below 235!!! How can we have a wedding with all the people we love and still keep it in our College Student budget?????

michigan , september_2011
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TheBriarPatch Posts : 15 Registered: 3/26/10
Re: Saving Money
Posted: Mar 26, 2010 12:04 PM Go to message in response to: pammaureen091

Hi There!
Are you perhaps located near any very pretty (and large) parks or other beautiful outdoor settings? Usually, you can rent (sometimes they are free), a city, county, state, national park area or pavillion for reasonable amounts (and it supports a good cause).

Then, plan a picnic! Outdoor weddings are beautiful...and simple with a natural setting should be inexpensive.

Children can play, perhaps invest in some music.

I am not sure if this is too "everyday" for you, but if you do a picnic, you can have watermelon and provide a table of super long subs. Do have a pretty cake and live music if you can save for that (or if you have any friends studying music or performing locally, ask them to perform as your wedding gift).

Check and see if your parents are willing to help with some expenses, if that is an acceptable option.

Lastly, investigate what is available at your university. There are often beautiful settings in student unions, university chapels, even the more public outdoor areas on a university campus. Think about the huge buildings with gorgeous architecture, we have seen weddings in main halls at university campuses that were beautiful. On Sundays, these spaces are not busy, and you have the ultimate "in" to ask for use of such spaces, being the most important persons at a university, students!

Good Luck! And you are smart to not incur debt for the wedding, unless ultra-fab is of extreme personal importance.

"Cherishing children is the mark of a civilized society" Joan Ganz Cooney

september_2011 , texas , michigan , october_2012
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Bride2008 Posts : 3,059 Registered: 3/28/06
Re: Saving Money
Posted: Mar 26, 2010 12:51 PM Go to message in response to: pammaureen091

I know not everyone is open to this solution, by I would just wait to get married. DH and I were out of college over two years when we got engaged and we still couldn't have afforded to get married right away. We had a large guest will as well, around 380 people, and needed to save up for the wedding. We were engaged for over 2 years so we could save up money.

I understand when you are in love and exciting, it isn't easy to wait. But it isn't always a bad thing.

 

michigan , september_2011 , new_york_metro , october_2008
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bosoxgirl Posts : 231 Registered: 2/3/10
Re: Saving Money
Posted: Mar 26, 2010 3:48 PM Go to message in response to: pammaureen091

"Hey Everyone,
My name is Pam and I have a HUGEE problem. My fiance and I are both college students and don't really have the money to have a huge, lavish wedding, but I can't get the guest list below 235!!! How can we have a wedding with all the people we love and still keep it in our College Student budget?????"

Simple. Wait and save money. I don't understand the rush to get married while you and your FH are still in college. Wouldn't you want to wait, have secure jobs, save and then proceed with a wedding?

Just a thought.

 

  

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september_2011 , michigan , central_new_jersey
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BWFrancie Posts : 70 Registered: 11/11/09
Re: Saving Money
Posted: Mar 26, 2010 4:02 PM Go to message in response to: pammaureen091

Well.. that sounds impossible. I had 25 people at my wedding and it cost 5,000. I would suggest graduating, getting awesome jobs, and saving for a couple of years. What is worth having is worth waiting for! In the meantime, you can dream and plan. :)

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september_2011 , north_carolina , michigan
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WellWisher Posts : 175 Registered: 1/2/10
Re: Saving Money
Posted: Mar 31, 2010 4:39 PM Go to message in response to: pammaureen091

Sorry ladies, I'm going to be old-fashioned for this one.

Why should anyone wait to get married just because of money? Is that what you want your first priority to be? The important thing about a wedding is that two people who love each other get married. It's not about the dinner, the centerpieces, the outdoor chandelier. It's a celebration of love and an announcement of commitment.

Lots of things are good reasons to hold off getting married: a close family member is very sick, one wants to earn a diploma before, the couple isn't ready yet. Money is not one of those reasons.

Poor people get married all the time and are just as happy as the rich. "For richer, for poorer."

Thank God money isn't a requirement to get married. Let's keep it that way. You're inviting people that you love to come celebrate your happiness. Splurge on things you've always dreamed about and save on the rest. If your guests are there for the right reasons then they won't care, or even notice.

Good luck with your upcoming marriage, no matter how much money you have.

michigan , september_2011 , montana
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auntofthebride Posts : 9,357 Registered: 4/2/06
Re: Saving Money
Posted: Mar 31, 2010 7:01 PM Go to message in response to: WellWisher

Dear WW,

"You're inviting people that you love to come celebrate your happiness. Splurge on things you've always dreamed about "

This makes no sense.

Splurge? With what? If the money ain't there, it ain't there. Not even if you just "splurge" on some things.

Fact: You cannot invite people to take time out of their lives and witness your wedding vows without offering them some basic refreshment in terms of food and drink. I have been to many nice wedding receptions where the couple have wedding cake, coffee, punch and teeny sandwiches for their guests. That's perfectly OK.

However, the OP wants to invite 235 people and they have a "college student budget". How much are they willing to spend, per person? A buck a guest for a slice of cake, two little sandwiches and a cup of punch still comes to $235.

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Will825 Posts : 9 Registered: 9/28/09
Re: Saving Money
Posted: Mar 31, 2010 11:16 PM Go to message in response to: pammaureen091

I also suggest, you wait and save money. Best wishes to both of you!Cool

Edited by: byronasd on Mar 31, 2010 11:17 PM

september_2011 , michigan , august_2012 , california
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BrighterThanSun... Posts : 854 Registered: 10/17/08
Re: Saving Money
Posted: Mar 31, 2010 11:46 PM Go to message in response to: pammaureen091

Hi,

I am also in University. My boyfriend and I originally were planning on getting engaged. We sat back, put aside our desire to get married and thought about the logistics.

The next 2 years that I am finishing up my degree, even if I set aside $100 a paycheck into savings, I will only have $4800 saved by the time I have my degree. That will all go to culinary school afterwards. So I won't even have any wedding savings by the time I have graduated.

Anyways, the moral of my story is--college is not the time to be spending money on a wedding--especially for over 200 people.

Just wait for after college.

september_2011 , michigan
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alymar Posts : 100 Registered: 3/2/10
Re: Saving Money
Posted: Apr 1, 2010 3:40 AM Go to message in response to: BrighterThanSun...

If you want to get married right away and are worried about cost? It would be very diffcult to hold a wedding with 235 guests on a small budget.

Do you really need to have every person on your list there? If yes, then you will have to wait.

Just really think about it - if you want to get married now you will have to set a limit on the guest list and disappoint some people. And think about how much money you can afford - cash and when.

Go to the library and check out some budget wedding books in the library and see if you afford a wedding you want on a budget you can afford.
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september_2011 , michigan , december_2010 , oahu_3079
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ArtBride Posts : 4,841 Registered: 5/9/07
Re: Saving Money
Posted: Apr 1, 2010 10:07 AM Go to message in response to: pammaureen091

My advice is to wait - but not just because of the cost of a wedding. Starting a new marriage is tough. Getting through school successfully is tough. Starting a new career is tough. Having been through all three things, one at a time, I think you'd have to be pretty crazy to combine them. Wait to get married until after you've graduated and found your first jobs. Then save money and plan your wedding on whatever you can save. Whether you get married next year or four years from now, the outcome is the same: you'll still be married, and you'll still get to spend your lives together. A large part of maturity is recognizing that what you want may not be best for you at the moment.

In general, though, you have two choices:

1) Figure out how much it would cost to have the wedding you want with 200+ guest list. This means doing research on cost per person in your area, venue rental fees, etc. Come up with a hypothetical budget that you'd need to have the wedding you want. Then figure out how long it will take you to save that amount of money, and that's when you'll get married.

2) Alternatively, you can set a date and figure out how much money you can save between now and then. That is your budget. If it's not enough to feed the number of people that you want to invite, you have no choice but to cut the guest list or push back the date.

There is no magic way to stretch money for a wedding. There are plenty of things you can leave out and avoid spending money on them, and there are plenty of ways to make the money you have go as far as it can. But in the end, it all comes down to the guest list, as food and drink costs will make up the vast majority of your total bill. In some parts of the country, brides can find catering for $10pp and can host 200 for 5K or so. In other places, you won't find anything under $100pp and would spend 20K just on food and drink for 200 people. Even if you cut corners in other ways, that's still 20K just to feed your guests. The easiest way to cut costs for a wedding is to cut the guest list. It sucks to leave people off, but it can be done - and smaller weddings where all the guests are very close to the bride and groom are the most fun, IMO.

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september_2011 , michigan
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NJ4Life Posts : 3,358 Registered: 8/10/07
Re: Saving Money
Posted: Apr 1, 2010 10:21 AM Go to message in response to: WellWisher

Wellwisher--you are funny!

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montana , september_2011 , michigan , october_2008 , central_new_jersey
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CheetahAngel Posts : 2,017 Registered: 11/29/08
Re: Saving Money
Posted: Apr 1, 2010 10:52 AM Go to message in response to: pammaureen091

200 and plus guests is a lot! The main way to save costs is to lower your guest list, but it doesn't sound like you would want that. Some people have a BIG family and I understand. During my undergrad years I waited to get married. I didn't even have enough money! FH also didn't have money. So we waited until we finished with our schooling in order to get a decent jobs. We're still struggling like everybody else in America but we are doing well than when we were in school. Now we are putting money aside every month and using our income tax money for the wedding. I do admit I have put some stuff on the credit card too. By the time wedding day comes we would have been engaged for about 22 months. So maybe you can have a long engagement and save some money in the mean time. Oh and it's not impossible to go to school and get married. I'm going to school now for my Masters Degree. So far it's going well. If I wait to get married until I am done with my Masters I would be in my mid 30's! No way am I waiting that long to get married. So if you are determined then I believe that going to school and getting married is possible.

But you can have a nice wedding without spending tons of money. Just have cake and punch and say your vows at a nice park or some place nice. Weddings don't have to be a HUGE thing with ice sculptures, doves, and fancy cars. But if you really dream of all of that then it will take time to save up money for all of your 200 guests.


 

                           
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september_2011 , connecticut , michigan , october_2010
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