by FrosT
Introduction
As most of you know I am getting Married on May 28th, 2006 to my love Lyndsey. I was thinking today about some information it would be great to pass along to other people deciding/thinking to get married to each other. Hopefully you will not make the same mistakes we made (which were few I assure you).
Saving for a Wedding
Lyndsey and I started saving for our wedding last April by creating an account and putting around $50-$200 each month into the wedding savings account. This helped tremendously! I just wish we would of started October of 2004 instead of April of 2005. That would of helped soo much. We are doing alright on money, luckily I have a credit card which limit just got bumped up. I have about $500 on it related strictly to the wedding.
If you are doing a "dream" wedding I suggest planning at least a year and a half away by starting a wedding saving's account. Put at least $50-200 in it a month from both sides. My whole philosphy is that I cannot ask someone for a lot of money when it should be my responsibility. Meaning that I would not ask her parents to fund our wedding, nor would I ask mine. I like to be independent. That and us funding our wedding ourselves gives us TOTAL control of where, what and how we want to setup our wedding.
Remember that, do not rely on your parents to fund it for you. If you do create this wedding savings account and put that much money into it, than at the end your parents end up paying for almost everything, great. You have a nice down payment for a house, or some money to use for your honeymoon. That and maybe you can get your parents a nice gift for doing this for you. Appreciative of their help and support.
Planning
Remember that your site is top priority. Without a site you cannot get married. Plan ahead as you can save yourself alot of money and hassel. We found the perfect site and moved our original date back a week and saved $1500! Although the wedding is on a Sunday on Memorial Day Weekend it was worth it to us to save $1,500.
Check out every spot before you decide. We looked at probably 12 wedding sites before we decided on Mt. Vernon Event Center, which Lyndsey and I both decided was the perfect wedding site for our marriage, which was also the cheapest wedding site out of all the ones we looked at. This process took about a month and felt good once we got the site booked. This was in August of 2005.
Tux's and Dresses
Bridesmaid dresses are very important. You want to get this out of the way about 3-6 months from the wedding. That way you are not cramming at the last minute to find someone to get 3-4 dresses to you in a week! Plus it allows time for alterations, which will most likely need to be done.
Tuxedos for the groomsmen are just as important. Lyndsey and I made the mistake of waiting a little too long. We just recently got our tux's taken care of, which leaves my groomsmen about 2 weeks to get measured, not good. I feel bad that I did not take the intiative to get the tuxedo's for our wedding done sooner. Luckily we did have some leadway with about 2-3 weeks. I would not want to make this mistake again.
Food Preperations
This is perhaps one of the biggest part of the wedding. Food is expensive and necessary for almost any wedding. We were lucky enough to have Lyndsey's cousin cater for us! Which means we got our food for free. If this would not of happened we would of been out $1,500. Try to find a cheap place that offer's decent meals and book them and get it taken care of ASAP. Without food you will have alot of grumpy guests.
The Minister
We again waited a little long to book the minister. Despite what anyone tells you, book the minister ASAP. This way they can move their schedule, if they are with a church. It also provides you with the fisrt come first serve. They cannot book 2 weddings at the same time, this way you are assured your slot for a minister at your wedding.
Ending Notes
Organization and Preperation are keys to any wedding/marriage. Do not make the same minor mistakes we made. Get on top of things to help with your fiance's frustration and your own. Planning out the wedding gives you the breathe easy feeling and that way you have time to make any changes necessary to your wedding. But remember all that really matters is the marriage to your loved one. If nothing goes as planned except the minister, than so be it. At least you can be together forever.
Also remember you can go off and get married in Las Vegas, and have a "fake" ceremony after which would be a ton cheaper =)
