I need help! Need to severely cut our budget :(

[DoomBuggy0922]

Hmmm. I HATE to say this, but could you perhaps take out a wedding loan or something? Not a large one, but a smallish one so you and DF could help out a bit more? I'm SURE you've thought of that, but just trying to help!

Also, do you have anything you could sell on craig's/ebay to get some money? And I agree, do the math on switching to the Escape. Even if you still have more people, you could always just meet up with them for a meal afterwards?

 

[disprincessatheart]

I see that you are in Orlando. What about your 100 tentative guests? If there are a lot that would need to travel you may not have as many accept as you would have if they were locals, so that might help. Can you give us a full rundown of what you've already paid for and what you still need to pay for & will need to be included in your smaller budget? Maybe there are some of the things you have already paid for or budgeted for like outside photography that you could cut back on to put more $ towards the reception? Dh and I got the smallest photo package, and while we loved our pictures, theres no way we needed more than we have and I can honestly say that other than the few in frames, I havent looked at a wedding picture in about a year and a half, and we haven't even hit 3 years yet!

 

[Eviey]

Sorry I do not have any great advise to offer you but just wanted to say I understand how you are feeling. After a long and difficult decision DF and I decided to switch from a Wishes wedding to an Escape. Although we do lose $1000 of our deposit in the end it was still saving us a lot of money. Plus with the Escape wedding we have the advantage of having until 30days before to pay the balance so more time to save every penny. As we are saving and find we come up with extra money we are going to add back in elements maybe we didn't think we could afford before.

We had already mailed out the STDs and a Newsletter so it was very embarrassing to have to cut back our guest list. We notified everyone, told them we were very sorry and disappointed we couldn't have everyone there, most were very supportive and understanding. We are having our closest loved ones with us and then after the wedding celebrating with other people in small groups like going to dinner here and there or having people over for dinner. I know you are probably very stressed but it will work out, Just remember to breathe and relax. Even if you have to cut back on some guests they will understand, support you and love you. Just remember to let them know you care about them and explain you are having a small wedding, don't leave them wondering why an invite never came. Good Luck.

 

[r1lissa]

Where are the guests when the coach arrives? Do the guests actually see it?
Do you think people are going to complain or really even remember if you arrived in the coach versus a car?

Like a PP suggested, give us a breakdown of what is paid for and what is not, so people can offer helpful ideas for saving.

 

[Deb loves Disney]

I just wanted to add my support to you. I feel so bad that you have to go through this.

I can add that we had an Escape wedding even though I really wanted a Wishes. Almost all of my friends and family live in Florida and I could only invite immediate family. I even had people calling me up inviting themselves to the wedding, like old bosses . I had to delicately tell them that it was a small immediate family on wedding. We had some upset relatives because everyone wants to go to a Disney wedding.

Now that it is all over I can say that people will be ok with it in the end. I still feel like I hurt some feelings even though I was very delicate with everything. Just remember that this is your day and you have to do whats best for you. You are marrying your DF and that is what counts.

BTW, we had a short 2 hour reception at the Napa Room at the California Grill and it felt just right. You have a separate Cake and Champagne ceremony at the Commander's Terrace where you have your dances and toasting and cake cutting. We spent the time at the Napa Room just enjoying the company of our guests. It was really nice. What is also nice is a limo is provided with the Escape and we used that for guest transport as well. I just updated my planning journal with all of this if you care to look.

Good luck with your decision and no matter what happens, your wedding will be amazing!!!!!

 

[chryscrazy]

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you aren't going to feed your guests. I was just trying to point out that if you reconsidered the coach you could invite a lot more people.

 

[RangerPooh]

I can't recall how WDW weddings work these days, but if you change your venues does your cost go down? For instance, if you switch from the WP to SBP will that save you money (ie: $500), and will switching from the ADH to another location save money too? Although you might need to change to a different time, or even day. I can't recall but is your wedding on a weekend or weekday? Our DLR wedding was on a weekday and that saved money on our minimums, and some guests opted to not attend based on the day (self selection).

Instead of cutting 75% of your guest list is it possible to cut it by 50% and still afford your wedding and most of your guests? This would be with cutting out the coach.

As for floral, can you trim your floral budget by reducing the bouquet sizes? I reduced mine by a size and did the same with my MOH/BMs and they looked just fine. Plus it saved me money. I also eliminated corsages/bouts for the grandparents, and went with the basics for the parents. My aunt did offer to make the grandparents and made them as a gift which was nice. Honestly youcan probably get the bouts at the local floral shop/grocery store in a nuetral flower/rose and no one will notice. DH took his jacket off at the reception so it was only in the early pictures.

 

[PartofDisney'sWorld]

Hmmm. I HATE to say this, but could you perhaps take out a wedding loan or something? Not a large one, but a smallish one so you and DF could help out a bit more? I'm SURE you've thought of that, but just trying to help!

Also, do you have anything you could sell on craig's/ebay to get some money? And I agree, do the math on switching to the Escape. Even if you still have more people, you could always just meet up with them for a meal afterwards?

I would suggest either not having a bar at all, or just having mimosas and maybe bloody marys. For a brunch reception I don't think people will miss having alcohol.

I know you said that you must have the coach, but just consider that it cost $2700. You could feed 36 guests at $75/head for that, a few less when you figure in service charges.

Also, how are you locked into using Disney for floral? Because you are at ADH? Even when you must use Disney for floral decor, you can still get outside personal floral like bouquets and boutinieres.

Good luck making these tough decisions.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you aren't going to feed your guests. I was just trying to point out that if you reconsidered the coach you could invite a lot more people.

Yes, but here's the thing: if we get rid of the coach, yes we can still keep 30-ish guests. But that would mean still cutting out other family members. So it doesn't seem very fair to me to only be able to invite SOME aunts and uncles but not the others. I can just see the convo in my head between 2 of my aunts: "Jenny gets to go but I don't? I'm just as much her aunt as she is." See what I mean? I don't think that's a fair situation.

 

[PartofDisney'sWorld]

I see that you are in Orlando. What about your 100 tentative guests? If there are a lot that would need to travel you may not have as many accept as you would have if they were locals, so that might help. Can you give us a full rundown of what you've already paid for and what you still need to pay for & will need to be included in your smaller budget? Maybe there are some of the things you have already paid for or budgeted for like outside photography that you could cut back on to put more $ towards the reception? Dh and I got the smallest photo package, and while we loved our pictures, theres no way we needed more than we have and I can honestly say that other than the few in frames, I havent looked at a wedding picture in about a year and a half, and we haven't even hit 3 years yet!

Where are the guests when the coach arrives? Do the guests actually see it?
Do you think people are going to complain or really even remember if you arrived in the coach versus a car?

Like a PP suggested, give us a breakdown of what is paid for and what is not, so people can offer helpful ideas for saving.

Most people that are invited do not live very far, at least close enough that they could drive in one day. We already have people that do have to travel tell us that they are for sure coming. I wish we could take the chance on people not showing, but I just don't see that working very well for us.

As for what's paid for, pretty much everything except DFTW. All that is paid for is my dress and accessories (including the veil), the photog, shoes, the rings, invitations, and the honeymoon is all paid. We still need to pay for the officiant and bridesmaid/groomsmen gifts, and we already have a smallish budget for that. That's about all I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[PartofDisney'sWorld]

Sorry I do not have any great advise to offer you but just wanted to say I understand how you are feeling. After a long and difficult decision DF and I decided to switch from a Wishes wedding to an Escape. Although we do lose $1000 of our deposit in the end it was still saving us a lot of money. Plus with the Escape wedding we have the advantage of having until 30days before to pay the balance so more time to save every penny. As we are saving and find we come up with extra money we are going to add back in elements maybe we didn't think we could afford before.

We had already mailed out the STDs and a Newsletter so it was very embarrassing to have to cut back our guest list. We notified everyone, told them we were very sorry and disappointed we couldn't have everyone there, most were very supportive and understanding. We are having our closest loved ones with us and then after the wedding celebrating with other people in small groups like going to dinner here and there or having people over for dinner. I know you are probably very stressed but it will work out, Just remember to breathe and relax. Even if you have to cut back on some guests they will understand, support you and love you. Just remember to let them know you care about them and explain you are having a small wedding, don't leave them wondering why an invite never came. Good Luck.

I just wanted to add my support to you. I feel so bad that you have to go through this.

I can add that we had an Escape wedding even though I really wanted a Wishes. Almost all of my friends and family live in Florida and I could only invite immediate family. I even had people calling me up inviting themselves to the wedding, like old bosses . I had to delicately tell them that it was a small immediate family on wedding. We had some upset relatives because everyone wants to go to a Disney wedding.

Now that it is all over I can say that people will be ok with it in the end. I still feel like I hurt some feelings even though I was very delicate with everything. Just remember that this is your day and you have to do whats best for you. You are marrying your DF and that is what counts.

BTW, we had a short 2 hour reception at the Napa Room at the California Grill and it felt just right. You have a separate Cake and Champagne ceremony at the Commander's Terrace where you have your dances and toasting and cake cutting. We spent the time at the Napa Room just enjoying the company of our guests. It was really nice. What is also nice is a limo is provided with the Escape and we used that for guest transport as well. I just updated my planning journal with all of this if you care to look.

Good luck with your decision and no matter what happens, your wedding will be amazing!!!!!

Thank you both so much for understanding and being supportive. I'm sorry you both had to go through similar situations.

 

[PartofDisney'sWorld]

We will hopefully find out this week for sure what's going to happen. There's still a "chance" that we can go with our original budget and plans, yesterday DF's father basically said he made it sound like their situation was worse than it actually is, so they may still be able to help us out. If we do have to cut out people, we will try our best to cut out as little as possible. We're hoping we'll know for sure Tuesday.

 

[PartofDisney'sWorld]

Just wanted to thank everybody for the advice and tips. We found out that DF's parents are able to come through and still help with the wedding after all, so we are back to our original plans! I feel SOOOOO relieved, and excited!!! Thanks again!

 

[chryscrazy]

Yay!