Wedding season is coming!

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-22-1999
Wedding season is coming!
8
Mon, 03-20-2006 - 6:16pm

Hello,

And just as we thought we were a safe distance from Christmas, here comes wedding season! Have you been invited or are you anticipating any wedding invitations? Have you been saving your money for these events? Are you going to be turning down any invitations just because of your debt?

Are YOU getting married and affected by your debt? Is it forcing you to cut back on your nuptuals, or are you just going to spend and deal with it later? Wee you recently married and still paying for the reception and dresses?

Do you have children geting married and unable to help them out with their wedding plans because of your debt? Or are you going to give them something and deal with paying it back to yourself later? Will the kids be paying you back?

Thanks for sharing! Littlesbigs

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2006
Mon, 03-20-2006 - 6:48pm

My cousin is getting married next month. I bought their wedding gift the day after Christmas (I love to give Christmas stuff as wedding gifts) so that is handled. It was on credit but that is now paid off. I did focus on finding something I had in my gift stash for her shower gift though so I didn't wind up spending but about $2 on some wrapping materials for that. I was happy about that. The only other expense I can see is maybe some shoes to go with the dress I bought last year that I am planning to wear.

Peg

Avatar for endomagazine
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-09-2004
Mon, 03-20-2006 - 10:37pm

Hello,

I attended my sister's wedding in mid-March and will be heading out of state to attend my cousin's wedding in mid-April. Since these weddings were announced months ahead of time, I made a sinking fund for the gifts and travel expenses and started sending money to them in January. The gift fund didn't take too long to fill and I spent it immediately to make sure the gifts arrived early. The travel fund is still building, but I have purchased airfare from it for April. I haven't booked the hotel yet, and the car rental fee will be shared with other family members who will also be traveling there.

However, I *didn't* expect that I'd have to buy my DH a new suit (old one didn't fit). I transferred funds from the emergency fund to cover the purchase and then refilled the emergency fund three days later from an expected paycheck. It reduced our snowball a little, but otherwise didn't cause any additional debt.

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Geeks on Tap: Mission Accomplished

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-25-2003
Tue, 03-21-2006 - 5:16am

We are traveling to a wedding this summer. We tried our best to budget for it, but we just can't afford it. We also can't not go - DH is in the wedding, and he was so thrilled to be asked. Also, these are good friends of his from school, and he misses being able to just hang around with them.

Fortunately, we can stay with one of his friends, so it will only cost us airfare, food, and spending money. We cleared a bunch of space on our credit cards, and it looks like we'll be charging them back up. We got an okay deal on the tickets, so I'm only concerned about food and souvenirs. (In my family, you bring back souvenirs whenever you go anywhere - even if it's only one province away, or down to the States).

On the other hand: Dh's friends are great! They're all very fun to be with, and really nice and polite to everyone. The guys can be a bit obnoxious when they've been drinking, but not enough to be annoying. The wives/girlfriends are all fun to talk to, although we're not as comfortable with each other - we only really get together as just girls at wedding events. So it'll be a lot of fun. Very worth any of the extra debt for the amount of happiness DH will get, and I'll have a good time too.

We also have a couple of my friends getting married this summer, but that's all in our own city - no traveling. I'm throwing the shower for one of them, so that can add up, but I'm a pretty good cook and fairly creative, so I'm confident I won't spend too much.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-11-2005
Tue, 03-21-2006 - 6:37am

Next year I'm gonna be married 7 years. Since we only had a wedding at the court-house when we got married, we are going to have a church wedding this time. By June 9th our finances will be pretty much back in shape to be able to afford a simple wedding and since we are in our 40s I don't have to have a formal, wedding-dress and whatnot wedding. We have opted for a wester wedding (jeans and western shirt for the groom and grooms men, jeans skirts and plaited (not sure yet) shirts for the girls (I'll have a white blouse though, not a plaited one). Since planning can save tons of money, I have it all figured out already. I'm gonna use red, orange and yellow gerbera as my flowers and of course as colors. After the wedding, we'll have a bbq in my mom's backyard, pot-luck style. All in all the whole affair shouldn't cost more than 1300 Euros, 1500 the most, including pictures. And the wedding dress is recycable... :)

Sushi

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-06-2005
Tue, 03-21-2006 - 10:37am

One of the perks of not having a lot of friends.... not getting invited to a lot of weddings!

 

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-05-2004
Tue, 03-21-2006 - 12:22pm

I'm not aware of any weddings coming up, but we sure do have a lot of babies coming this season! Between family and friends, we're expecting eight babies. :-D So there are a lot of baby showers. Luckily, most of the showers are for Moms who already have the big-ticket items (cribs, swings, highchairs, etc), and they are just asking for clothing and small items like a baby bath, cloth diapers, etc. That allowed me to spend more money on one of the eight babies who will be a "first child" born to two 16 year old parents. These two kids will need everything, just starting out, and I figure the less they have to stress over between continuing school and being new parents, the better. Dh and I took care of the crib, the stroller, changing table, diaper system, and bedding. Then, the grandparents took care of the swing, highchair, playyard, and other big ticket items. That still left the less expensive items like washcloths, onsies, pajamas, and bottles, for their teenage friends since they wanted to buy gifts also. I just love babies! :-D

Pat :-D

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Tue, 03-21-2006 - 12:38pm

I am getting married in 6 months, and DF and I have been saving our butts off. We are paying for everything ourselves, and with over $20K between us still in debt, we decided right away that this was going to be a cash wedding - nothing goes on credit. We are only having 50 guests, lunch instead of dinner, and no DJ. A friend will do our pictures at cost (she used to be a professional wedding photographer), we are making our own invitations, I'm using silk flowers instead of fresh, I bought a fantastic dress "off the rack", and I'm buying as many things on eBay as possible ($30 for a veil sure beats $100+ at a bridal salon!)

Our budget right now is about $4500. Of that we've already paid about $2000, and we have $3000 in savings right now. We are already ahead. I'm so proud of us! LOL.




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Avatar for cl_beckymk
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Tue, 03-21-2006 - 12:43pm

As far as I know, no weddings in the works for our family.