Wedding Blog
Since getting engaged over a year ago, I started thinking about the next round of brides out there who are waiting for a proposal as we speak.
With the holidays approaching, there has to be a few grooms-to-be holding on to a ring waiting for the right moment. And then I found this article. It’s a few years old, but it states that 26% of couples get engaged between November to December. And according to this wiki, another 10% get engaged on Valentine’s Day.
And then I started thinking about the economy, and I started to wonder if the number of proposals will shrink due to the fiscal crisis.
A couple of months ago I asked a vendor if the economy has started to affect her. She said no, that the weddings have actually gotten bigger! I gasped. I can’t imagine that the wedding industry hasn’t been hit by the economy! I know that Mr. Peep Toe and I were officially hit last week.
So, I wanted to write this post to welcome the newly engaged couples to the hive! And I wanted to know: are there couples out there who are waiting for the economy to improve to officially become engaged? Or have your bridal budgets been hit since becoming engaged?
*Yes, I stole the title of my post from this article.
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Share this post: Tis the Season to Become Engaged…*
We always knew we weren’t going to have a huge fancypants wedding. While sure, I’d love some of the nicer accoutrements that come along with a higher budget wedding, I’d much rather have that money in the bank. Luckily my fiance is a mail carrier, so his job is secure, but mine is not as secure, so we book wedding vendors as we can afford them, and I save as much as I can so we can pay their balances by the time the wedding rolls around next November.
We have been hit. We were told we would receive money for the wedding, but due to the economy we are pretty much paying for everything ourselves, with the exception of a generous gift from my mom.
We are worried about the economy affecting our finances, so when I booke vendors, I am very budget concious and will be putting off certain purchases until the last minute. If we can’t afford them, we can skip them.
I’m one of those waiting to be engaged… 
I certainly have noticed a lot of couples getting engaged in the last couple of months. We are all at the age where we just finished college and finally have a little disposable income, so even though the economy is awful many of my friends are feeling richer than ever before. Even so, my fiance’s and my job are not especially secure, so yes, we are budgeting way lower than we would probably do in a couple years. But we don’t want to wait!
It didn’t have much to do with when we got engaged, but it sure is keeping me up at night now that we’re planning. I had a nightmare last night that right after I signed all the checks to our various vendors that FI got laid off. I woke up thinking “if only this had happened BEFORE I catered a dinner for 200 people!”
Seriously, at this point I’m clipping coupons and praying that we come out of this unscathed. If I could get away with totally, drastically, downsizing our reception, I would!
I am one of the 26% and just got engaged Dec. 3rd. Which happens to my fiance’s and my birthday!!!! I have to say the economy actually helped us………..We got an incredible deal on my e-ring because of all the crazy sales right now. So essentially I got a ring that normally he couldn’t afford and was way beyond my expectations. We aren’t getting married until 2010, so hopefully things will have improved by then!
We are definitely keeping things in check due to the economy. We haven’t been seriously hit, but a few of our friends have. It was a real wakeup call for us. Just wondering…am I the only person who’s having a tough time planning such a happy event during such trying times? For me, I feel almost irresponsible spending so much money on one day while others in our lives are suffering financially due to the economy.
@Nicole- good luck!! So excited for you!
Congrats AmberWaves- make sure you book your vendors at 2009 prices - that’s one way to save off the bat.
@Linzella- This post was prompted by me feeling a bit guilty for planning a wedding, while our jobs are hanging in the balance. But it has reminded me that in the end of the day it’s about Mr. PT and me, not on how much we spend, which has been a great reminder.
i’m patiently waiting to be engaged [in fact, i've been in pr mode the past month trying to convince everyone else that it's not my time yet...we still have some all important logistics to figure out first] but am entralled by the recent spate of engagements at my job! i work with a lot of men so it’s been fun hearing their side of the engagement story!
I’ve been patiently and then impatiently waiting for over a year! It sounds so horrible, but he finally decided that it would happen sometime this year (as a part of his new years resolutions). Well now we are coming up to the last few days and he has told me that due to finances being as such he won’t be doing it this year. So no October 2009 wedding for me! 
@Tea: Same here! People have been asking me left and right if I’m getting engaged soon. Although it’s always on my mind nowadays, I downplay it a lot so that their expectations won’t be high. And I know I’m not supposed to compare myself to others, but I have heard of engagement news from girlfriends for the past two weekends. I’ve now turned into a girlfriend biding her time just waiting..waiting…waiting.
@missmerryweather: lol, i’m in the last group of gfs to be married off. i think there’s only 3 of us left and there’s one in the group that doesn’t plan on getting married any time soon! the outside pressure is intense isn’t? even though i know it’s not time for me yet, telling other people helps to remind myself about that! gotta keep my expectations low too.
I -just- got engaged last night (using an inherited ring, actually)! We’re going to be having a very small, inexpensive wedding. But, I’d rather have a cheaper wedding than wait any longer to be married, so it works fine for us.
I’m also one of the 26%…I just got enagaged over the week-end. My finace and I always planned on a small wedding with a small budget, so I actually think the down swing in the econmoy is going to help us. More couples will be looking for ways to stretch their dollars, and you know the industry will respond and accomodate them.
For those who just got engaged, congrats! Pamela, wow.. last night huh? That is so exciting! Thanks Peep Toe, hoping my proposal is coming soon… hmm.
Congratulations to those getting engaged.
To answer the question, I don’t think the number is going to dwindle because of a slowing (okay, plummeting) economy. Simply put, I think more couples (perhaps only 1 to 2 %) are seeing other options to couplehood than simply marriage–it’s not longer the only way to join two people in our society.
Regardless of how much money we had (an amount which has reflected the state of the state of the economy, as my father is an investor, and went from demanding to pay for it all to not being able to offer anything), the wedding was going to be our wedding, and it was going to reflect us: Forty people, a barbeque at a garden estate, and lots of fun to be had. Simple.
On the other hand, I’m sure there are still people out there who, feeling the peril of the economy or not, have decided that their wedding day should reflect them and their marriage, and should be grandeur. I wish them well, in all honesty, the same way I don’t wish for anyone to cast me snide looks in the aisle of Paper Source when I’m only buying twenty-fives of things.
In short, I think the number will decrease, but that the average cost of a wedding will remain the same (in large part because there will still be the upper crust who can afford lavish weddings), and that the reason less people will become engaged has little to do with the economy (one could argue that in tough economic times, more people will actually create civil unions, because it means tax splitting, et cetera)
We’re almost engaged..should be any day now and WHEN IT HAPPENS…this board will know it!~ And I believe the numbers are steady. I know of 3 of my friends (we’re older..in our 30’s), who are like me and soon to be engaged.
We’ve been out of college a few years now, are stable, and despite the economy, we’re ok so marriage isn’t a financial issue.
Congrats to all of you ladies who just got engaged, welcome to the hive!! And for those still waiting, I promise it is worth the wait!!
i’m in that percentage! i just got engaged yesterday!
I love checking bak here and seeing those who recently got engaged… congrats melodicsighs1!
Peep Toe, I know that and I keep telling myself that! lol It’s very hard though! Thanks for the reassurance.
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Mrs. Peep Toe, San Francisco
Age and Occupation: 29, Policy Analyst
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 36, Olive Oil Production Manager
Engagement Date: December 16, 2007
Wedding Date: May, 2009
Blogging Since: November 26, 2008
Venue: Hotel Vitale
About Me: I am a west coast lady who loves the San Francisco Bay Area. I love living with Mr. Peep and our animals: Huck the Dog and Ferris the Cat. I work to save the environment in San Francisco, while Mr. Peep makes ridiculously delicious Olive Oil. On any day you can find me reading the latest book I have gotten my hands on, eating Swedish Fish, and perusing wedding blogs! We are both champagne drinking foodies on a Bud Light budget. We are planning an eco-chic, intimate, and interfaith San Francisco City wedding.
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