Financing your wedding

[happylalagirl]

That post reminds me.... where did you ladies get your hair and makeup done!?

Hi Gina - first, congratulations on your pending Disney wedding!!! You won't regret it! Also, as far as Randy Chapman is concerned, there is no other photographer that equals his work or prices. We used him for our custom wedding and I cannot say enough wonderful things about him!!! We had over 1000 pics sent to us in albums and a pile of loose ones... we haven't received our CD yet, but I can't wait for it. Plus, we still have to choose the pics for our professional album. He was a pleasure to work with. Definitely choose him!!!!

Stan from STVS is wonderful also. I have a link to our video in my TR. His work is magnificent!!! We are so grateful we chose to go with him.

Since we had a custom wedding and you are going to have an intimate, I won't waste your time with my budget, just know that we came in under budget. I took out extra student loans to help offset the cost. But most of it, we paid for from our savings. We saved every penny - literally. We had a wedding change jar. Every day we emptied our change into it and at the end of the week, we cashed it in (Commerce change machine) and deposited it into our Orange Savings account. By the way, I would highly recommend getting one of these!! It's only online, but it's connected to your checking or savings account in your local bank. The APR is unbelievable. It certainly helped to pay for our wedding. I can't believe the interest we collected in just one year.

As far as hair and make-up, you have several options. I used Lisa Pena, from Lisa's Magical Weddings. She was wonderful. You can see in my TR what a beautiful job she did on my hair and make-up as well as my mom and MOH. There is also Beute Speciale (sp?) - some of the girls have used them... there are others too. But those are the two most popular. It's not cheap, but I certainly couldn't have done anything with my hair so it was worth it to me.

Good luck planning and keep the questions coming!!

 

[dznystar]

I'm getting married in 4 months, and have a HUGE problem. My parents are paying $5000 towards the wedding and DF's parents are paying $3000. We have an estimated budget of $15K. DF and I will have to come up with the rest in 3 months. How in the world is this going to happen? DF's parents cannot put anymore towards this, and I don't think my parents can or want to (i'm not sure which). We've cut this back to basics. The only thing that I can't budge on the is MK photo session. Any suggestions? We were thinking about getting the Disney visa and paying for it, because we'd have 12 months to pay it off. I'm so stressed out. Please help!

 

[Gina Loves Disney]

I'm getting married in 4 months, and have a HUGE problem. My parents are paying $5000 towards the wedding and DF's parents are paying $3000. We have an estimated budget of $15K. DF and I will have to come up with the rest in 3 months. How in the world is this going to happen? DF's parents cannot put anymore towards this, and I don't think my parents can or want to (i'm not sure which). We've cut this back to basics. The only thing that I can't budge on the is MK photo session. Any suggestions? We were thinking about getting the Disney visa and paying for it, because we'd have 12 months to pay it off. I'm so stressed out. Please help!

Well if you can get 0% financing on the Disney Visa I say it's not a bad idea. Financing ALWAYS scares me, but the reality is it's a necessity. Do you have ANY of the money for the remaining 7K? If you charge say 5K I bet you will have no problem paying it off in one year.

The way things are looking for me is that we'll be in the same boat. As long as you have no other outstanding debt it should be okay but only you know your financial situation.

Good luck!

 

[balatonbabe]

If there is no possible way for your to save the rest in the next 3 months, and qualify for a Disney Visa, you would likely qualify for a line of credit from your bank. Interest rates on a line of credit are 1/3 of VISA (with a good credit rating) and you only pay interest on the balance. I would talk to your bank ASAP.

 

[Belle1981]

Our wedding is a combined effort. We are trying to save some money so that our parents do not pay for everything. My parents are paying the majority and DF parents are going to contribute a small amount. We luckily have 14 months to save and we are not too concerned with the budget but we are trying to be realistic between things we need and things that are just a waste. Since now we are going to have our honeymoon in Tahiti we don't want to go too crazy with the Disney wedding. I hear you Canadians out there I can't believe what is happening to our dollar! I have seen too many people spend over 150 thousand on a wedding and are paying for it years later...To me I want it to be elegant but when its all said and done it's the person stand next to you that is the most important thing that day!

 

[Gina Loves Disney]

Our wedding is a combined effort. We are trying to save some money so that our parents do not pay for everything. My parents are paying the majority and DF parents are going to contribute a small amount. We luckily have 14 months to save and we are not too concerned with the budget but we are trying to be realistic between things we need and things that are just a waste. Since now we are going to have our honeymoon in Tahiti we don't want to go too crazy with the Disney wedding. I hear you Canadians out there I can't believe what is happening to our dollar! I have seen too many people spend over 150 thousand on a wedding and are paying for it years later...To me I want it to be elegant but when its all said and done it's the person stand next to you that is the most important thing that day!

Ohhh Tahiti sounds amazing!!! I always dreamed of honeymooning in Bora Bora but since we're doing the Disney Wedding Bora Bora will have to wait

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I'm getting married in 4 months, and have a HUGE problem. My parents are paying $5000 towards the wedding and DF's parents are paying $3000. We have an estimated budget of $15K. DF and I will have to come up with the rest in 3 months. How in the world is this going to happen?

If you must finance, then you do what you have to do to make your magical day happen. If you plan to pay it off within 12 months, then you also need to think about expenses within the next year as well. Newly married couples usually have a lot of expenses in their near future, especially if they're moving in together and literally need everything.

I'm told it's fun being a newlywed, so the number of activities increase and therefore expenses go up. My dad told me it's worth buying new suitcases because newlyweds like to travel a lot too. So while the wedding day costs a lot of money, I can also foresee (or dream) a lot of expenses in the near future - in an ideal world.

Since now we are going to have our honeymoon in Tahiti we don't want to go too crazy with the Disney wedding. I hear you Canadians out there I can't believe what is happening to our dollar!

Tahiti! Wow, that's great! We're planning a cruise after the wedding since we're down there anyway. I've seen our dollar drop a few percent in just the past couple of weeks and about 5% in the last couple of months. I don't remember how much of our wedding is paid in US dollars. If it's $15000, then each 1% drop is an extra $150. Our wedding costs haven risen an extra $450 in the past two weeks without doing anything!

 

[balatonbabe]

I have seen too many people spend over 150 thousand on a wedding and are paying for it years later...

WOW, I hope that's a typo, 'cause if it's not, OMG!

 

[Gina Loves Disney]

I wish it was easier to save money guys!!! I want to do this NOW!!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Here's my rough budget for an intimate wedding of 20 if you wish to compare. The numbers include taxes and gratuities. There'll be more expenses, but I haven't thought of them yet.
Disney Wedding: 6500.00
Reception dinner: 1800.00
Photography: 900.00
Wishes cruise: 700.00
Marriage licence: 100.00
Car rental: 60.00
Officiant: 150.00
Airfare: 900.00
Wedding gown, alterations, shoes: 1200.00
Garment bag: 50.00
Tuxedo rental: 150.00
Hair, make-up, manicure including bridesmaids: 300.00
Bridesmaid dresses: 320.00
Flower girl dress: 100.00
Wedding bands: 1500.00
Wedding party gifts: 100.00
Total above is around $15000

Disney accommodation: 1300.00
Disney park passes: 400.00
Meals: 400.00
Souvenirs: 400.00
Total above is around $2500

 

[JandJ]

We paid for our wedding ourselves, except for a few things that our parents graciously paid for. We're over 30 and have been on our own for a long time, it wouldn't have felt right for our parents to pay for our wedding.

Ours was over a year ago and Intimates used to include the officiant, but Disney was about $4500. This included:
4 nights at WL Resort
location
custom cake upgrade
bottle of cider
chocolate favors (10 total)
extra floral (3-rose wand for MOH; bouts for Daddy, FIL, BM; coursage for MIL; remembrance rose for my mom)

Add in:
1/2 of my wedding gown (my parents paid for 1/2)
my tiara/headband ($$$ but worth it!)
my shoes
MOH's dress, shoes, jewelry (she was 17 and my niece so I got everything for her)
DH's suit, shirt, tie, shoes, etc.
brunch the day after the wedding, which we hosted
honeymoon cruise
meals and souveniers on Disneymoon and cruise
extra decorations for the Terrace (bows, tablecloths, vase for mom's rose, silk bouquets we made for the cake cutting table, etc.)
nearly 80 announcements (we made them but the materials and postage cost)
Misc costs (license, tips, my nails and waxing, etc.)
Total about $3500. Grand Total for Everything was around $8,000. We had a budget of $10k and did the dance of joy that I stayed under

We have APs already, so no ticket cost. I got my invitations for free through work. MIL & FIL paid for rehearsal dinner. MIL paid for her's, mine, and MOH's hair for the wedding day (I did my own make-up).

Could we have done it cheaper? Yes and no. If we'd had the same size wedding locally, yes, absolutely! But if we'd had it locally everyone would have expected to have been invited and would have been offended if they weren't, so no we couldn't have done it cheaper locally. Having an Intimate at Disney solved the "who do we invite" issue because we were cut-off at 8 guests!

Disney: $4500
Grand Total for wedding and honeymoon: $8,000
Having a completely perfect wedding: PRICELESS

 

[Maggimus]

We paid for our wedding ourselves, with the exception of Mickey & Minnie (which my parents graciously paid for). We were all on the dining plan which helped too.

We also paid for our at-home reception ourselves.

DH and I were/are in the position that we could do so and we had been living together for years so I saw it very fitting to do that

Intimate: $2500
Characters: $1070 (parents paid)
Our 6 night stay at WL, MYW Park hopper tickets and DDP including airline: roughly $3000

TOTAL: $6570... Not too shabby for a Disney wedding and Honeymoon

EDIT: I left out the most important part... We hired Randy for an additional 612. 36. How could I forget that part?

 

[ForKeeps]

DH and I budgeted to pay for the whole thing ourselves. I managed to snag a Teaching Assistant position at my university that pays well. I had planned to put all my earnings towards the wedding. However, the position pays monthly, so until the monthly cheques rolled in I planned to borrow from my student line of credit, which has a really low interest rate and then put it all back.

We budgeted $15000 Canadian for everything: the wedding, his tux rental, the rings, the liscence through "Say I do weddings", steaming, airfare, hotel stay, dining plan, tickets, wishes cruise, dinner, Randy for photos, and a Magic Moment for video. Essentially everything but my dress, which my mom got for me. (Awww... )

Then my parents surprised me with a cheque for $5000 and said "you don't have to just put it towards your costs -- if you want to add more stuff on, like the carriage, then that's what you should do". In the end we actually cut things (namely Mickey and Minnie) and the only extra floral we had was corsages/ and boutineers for our parents. Then at Christmas DH's parents presented us with a gift as well.

So while we had budgeted to pay for everything ourselves most of the costs were covered by our parents.

One of the big ways I kept costs down was to go with a moderate hotel. Because we stayed 9 nights the room cost made a big difference.

The wedding night dinner was a splurge. It cost about $1000 CAD for all 11 of us. I'm glad we splurged on both this and the Grand 1 because they were both amazing. But costs definately could have been lower.

We also splurged on videography. It was a last minute addition.

The numbers don't include my nails, hair, make-up lessons, (bride-y stuff) that I paid for myself as a treat.

We'll also pay about $1500 for our wedding tour, which is 4 separate backyard parties. So in total we're looking at $16,500.

Not bad for the wedding and honeymoon of your dreams.

 

[TinkBride]

Well......DF and I are paying for our honeymoon ourselves:

4 nights @ POFQ + 5 nights at SOG = approx. 1300.00
2-7 day park hoppers = 500.00
Food and Shopping = budgeted about 1000.00 (haha the shopping did DF in)
Airfare from Indy to orlando = 600.00

Total = 3400.00

Our parents are splitting the cost of the wedding:

Intimate at SBP = 2650.00
MK Photo Shoot = 800.00
Randy Chapman = approx. 700.00
Hair by Makeover Majic for me, MOH, and FG = 220.00
Wedding Liscense = 93.50 (by mail through Brevard Co. Fl.)
Rev. Day = 150.00
Dress and accessories = 500.00
Upgrades on Floral = 200.00

Total = 5313.50

Total all together : 8713.50 (approx.)

Fortunately because DF is a saver, we did not have to finance anything or put anything on a credit card, same goes for our parents, but if we had to we would have, because all of the things we are spending money on is worth it to me and DF.

Side Note: GO WITH RANDY!!!!!! It may be extra up front, but if you want a lot of pics, it pays off in the end. You get copyrights to all your photos and can make your own prints at wal-mart, one look at DPS prices for prints, and you will see my point!

 

[hulagirl87]

My parents are divorced and my mom is the one who raised me. She is the absolute best and she has been a great help in paying for our wedding. She bought me my dress, veil and headpiece and she paid for our honeymoon. (11 nights at the Grand Floridian and 3 night cruise on the Wonder). She and I both have the Disney visa and have been racking up the points for the past couple years. She is using her points for payment, I'm using mine for fun souvies and stuff. We are using frequent flier miles for our flights. My DF and I are paying for the Intimate wedding, Randy Chapman, and I'm paying for my hair. I'm lucky since I work in a salon, I'm having a makeup lesson done with one of the makeup artists there before I leave and then doing my own makeup when I get down there, that will help save some money... anywhere we can save we are trying. It's really hard! we just bought our house and it seems like anywhere something can go wrong it will.... but in the end it's all ok cause i'm going to disney and i'm gettin' married!!!!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Oh yeah, I forgot to add gown steaming into my budget. I had booked Carolyn Allen (I think she said $65, plus I'm guessing there's a tip involved).

One of the important points of this thread should be that you need to prepare yourself for all of your costs, not just the obvious ones. A bunch of smaller items like gown steaming, new shoes, extra floral, photofinishing, dress alterations, taxes, gratuities, etc., can add up to a lot of money. In my case, I probably missed a few *thousand* dollars from my original planning! I definitely started a lot lower than $15000 for an intimate wedding.

Even afterwards when you're photofinishing, buying picture frames, gown cleaning and preserving, etc., you're spending money that are part of wedding costs. I've just added $300 in forgotten items to my budget in just the last hour!

I think the other point is many of these wedding budgets can be trimmed 20% fairly easily and not make a significant impact to your day. I don't necessarily have to spend $700 on a Wishes cruise (I need two boats); I just really want to finish off my evening that way. If money becomes too tight, I can drop that from my budget.

 

[JonetteA]

We paid for ours mostly ourselves. I set up an ING account and had money deducted every pay period. That really really helped. Is there any tutoring or something that you could do to bring in extra income? We also scaled back all of our "wedding wants", ok my wedding wants! =) Disney is doable you just have to budget yourself and be willing to do somethings yourself. The intimate or escape package now is a wonderful package that if we could go back and invite less people, we would have gone that route!

 

[Gina Loves Disney]

We paid for ours mostly ourselves. I set up an ING account and had money deducted every pay period. That really really helped. Is there any tutoring or something that you could do to bring in extra income? We also scaled back all of our "wedding wants", ok my wedding wants! =) Disney is doable you just have to budget yourself and be willing to do somethings yourself. The intimate or escape package now is a wonderful package that if we could go back and invite less people, we would have gone that route!

I was trying to think of things I can do for extra money as well. I am going to *attempt to get a paid internship for the summer (I take classes in the summer too) but if I don't get that I need something!

I am in the process of talking DF into the ING account!