Budget Woes

Budget Woes

April 30th, 2008 @ 5:15 pm by Mrs. Cream Puff
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When first faced with the task of planning a wedding, I honestly thought I could have a super fabulous wedding in San Francisco for 10k. After only a tiny amount of research, I discovered that I was seriously out to lunch. Most of the venues in San Francisco have rental fees upwards of 6k–which, in my fantasy budget, left us with only 4k to decorate and feed people. Not gonna happen. So the budget was re-evaluated, and I found much less expensive options for pretty much everything. But everything is still adding up, and recently I crunched some numbers and started to freak out a bit.

First, we added 20 people to the guest list. This was sorta-kinda necessary, as the 130 people we were aiming for only covered our families, but not our friends.

Second, there was the videographer, which we all agreed we should have, but we hadn’t budgeted for.

Third, there were the decorations–our flowers are WAY under budget, but we went with fancy linens and chivari chairs (which, as it turns out, we will now only get to split 2 ways, as the 3rd couple can’t afford them). All of this would have been fine, if it weren’t for the extra tables. The extra tables mean extra centerpieces and extra fancy linens, not to mention extra service staff.

I have a call into our coordinator, who will hopefully be able to cut some service staff and condense some tables. I hope so, at least. Thinking about money and/or the guest list are the two things I hate the most about planning a wedding. They both stress me out.

It seems like people say, “planning a wedding is stressful,” but for me most of it comes down to the guest list and the money. What do you hate the most about wedding planning?

Tags: san-francisco |

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35 Responses to “Budget Woes”

1 2 Last

Member

andromeda (message) 63 posts, Worker bee

The budget and how quickly it’s going over…. I can relate with you Miss Cream Puff. Good luck with getting your tables condensed!

4/30/08 @ 5:19 pm (reply)

Guest

JustJen

I feel you, Miss Cream Puff. My fantasy budget was quickly blown to a million pieces soon after I started planning my wedding.

4/30/08 @ 5:20 pm (reply)

Guest

endb

I hear ya. Budget and trying to please others have been my two biggest stressors about planning a wedding. All the other stuff — managing details, vendors, deciding on things, etc — has been pretty easy (so far!).

I think on budget expectations vs. reality is that so much of what you hear about regarding “average” budgets don’t usually include EVERYTHING you have to pay for when it comes to a wedding — for example, rings and honeymoon commonly don’t count toward the “average cost” calculations, but are definately 2 things that have definately impacted our budget in a HUGE way.

4/30/08 @ 5:21 pm (reply)

Guest

jhearta

i am with you Puff, had a budget breakdown for sure. i feel that (no offense to these brides) if my parents handed me a BIG OLE check then the wedding would be such a breeze! Its the money restrictions that make me lose my mind with trying to DIY EVERYTHING : (…. we are still way under the average for our area, but still its ALOT of money$$$.

4/30/08 @ 5:22 pm (reply)

Member

tberry (message) 488 posts, Helper bee

I am just starting to really deal with it and I already hate the $ issue! X cost $$ and Y costs $$ and we have to invite so & so which means more of X & Y which means more $$. It is enough to make me want ot elope, which I have suggested many times.
I want the big wedding and I love the idea of all of the planning and the party and seeign all fo our family and friends but the whole $ thing makes me crazy! I don’t know where we are going to get it all and they nubers just keep adding up!

4/30/08 @ 5:23 pm (reply)

Guest

stephanie

I am right there with you and in the same boat( literally, I also live in SF!) so I get it. I most definitely love planning all of the fun details and putting my stamp on it, but whenever I choose something I like, and find out the price it almost brings me to tears. Recently, someone told me to not tell the caterers that we are having a wedding, but a big party instead to save money, but this seems so far-fetched. I am working a second job this summer to help pay for it all…

4/30/08 @ 5:24 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Tiramisu (message) 1,098 posts, Bumble bee

Right there with you as well. Guest list and budget- both ever-expanding and both make me lose it

4/30/08 @ 5:26 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Gingerbread (message) 644 posts, Busy bee

Great post! I think the thing I hate most is money, which is related to the budget. I don’t mind our actual budget, because it is what we can afford and we’re making it work. But I think if there was unlimited $$$, planning the wedding would be all fun and no stress.

4/30/08 @ 5:27 pm (reply)

Member

clessy00 (message) 47 posts, Newbee

yes, i hear ya! we set a budget and i intend to stick with it as much as possible. so far, we’re doing well. the key, IMO, is negotiation. i practically negotiated everything and anything. some of the vendors, after signing the contracted, wondered why and how they agreed to the price in the contract when it’s obviously below what they normally charge. if someone has a good reputation and does great work but charges more than i budgeted for, i always tell them how much i would like to hire them, but couldn’t because of $$. most ppl are willing to work with me (they probably feel bad for me, hahaha, one or the other). always try to have a conversation with them about prices! maybe that’ll help with the stress!

4/30/08 @ 5:29 pm (reply)

10.

Member

MsJadey (message) 201 posts, Helper bee

i HATE the BUDGET! It restricts me in so many ways and makes me research far and beyond for items that I can just easily buy if I were able to afford it at regular price.

4/30/08 @ 5:32 pm (reply)

11.

Member

clarita (message) 54 posts, Worker bee

I have found almost everything stressful. When does the fun begin?
Keeping everyone happy has been hard and paying for everything ourselves is far. We planned a small destination wedding for 50 people as our families are in diff countries but we are STILL over the average wedding cost.
My dress, rings, honeymoon, BM gifts, and all the little extras are not even included in the budget.

4/30/08 @ 5:34 pm (reply)

12.

Guest

Amy H.

Another San Franciscan here . . . definitely the money — it’s the only aspect of wedding planning that has truly stressed me out. We are getting help from both sets of parents, which is absolutely lovely of them (and so far with no strings attached — we’re very lucky and make sure to tell them how thankful we are as much as possible) but we are still going to be dropping a huge amount of money personally on this event. The total amount makes me feel sick to my stomach when I think about it. On the other hand, I wouldn’t change our venues or our plans so far . . . so I I probably need to get over it. We will not have to go into debt (though my savings will go down) so I should just be thankful we can make it happen. I just still feel guilty!

4/30/08 @ 5:40 pm (reply)

13.

Member

ErinMarieMack (message) 728 posts, Busy bee

Same two!!

4/30/08 @ 5:47 pm (reply)

14.

Guest

peachy

I went through the same sticker shock… except I started with a dream budget of $5K! Ouch!

I’m a penny-pincher by nature, so I don’t mind a budget, but I do have period panic attacks about the amount that we’re spending. We are planning a wonderful wedding, but keeping it relatively modest. I keep thinking - for what we are paying, shouldn’t we be getting MORE? Like a national holiday or something?

Aside from money, the guest list has been a little stressful. And by “guest list,” I mean letting go when my fiance wants to invite his friends that aren’t - ahem - sophisticated, or mentions that his family typically “doesn’t get dressed up” for weddings. Arg!!

4/30/08 @ 5:52 pm (reply)

15.

Guest

AKPM

Putting the guest list has been the single most stressful part.

4/30/08 @ 5:57 pm (reply)

16.

Guest

jen

My husband still reminds me of how I once told him we could have a nice wedding in Miami for 10K for 150ppl. Ignorance wasn’t very blissful though.

4/30/08 @ 5:59 pm (reply)

17.

Member

mlindsey (message) 348 posts, Helper bee

Definately the money and the guest list. I feel Ms. Jadey - trying to make your dollars stretch forces you to spend sooo much time hunting for a deal. And I still became the bride that I never expected to be….don’t really know how much we actually spent on our wedding. Last minute this, family requesting that, unexpected guests…made our original $5K budget look like a joke. My mom asked me that very question the other week, and I told her I had no idea, and don’t want to know just yet.

4/30/08 @ 6:10 pm (reply)

18.