Here's the post and answer many of you have waited for - how much does a financial planner who encourages frugalness spend on her wedding? Well, I'd sheepishly say more than I thought, however, hear me out for some important points.
1. Husband and I had a discussion about budget and how to pay for the wedding. Our savings were allocated for a house (which we almost bought weeks before the wedding to beat the new mortgage rules, just to add to the excitement!) so whatever we spent needed to be covered within the next couple months. We also discussed those other questions in my last blog post.
2. We decided to make the ceremony/reception family-only and get married sooner rather than later. With only weeks until "I do" we figured the short timeline would cut out the "oh, it would be really awesome to have __________." <insert: circus, helicopter, personalized anything, etc.>
3. We made the decision to do it as economically and nice as possible. What does this mean? We chose to stay at Poet's Cove on Pender Island. This was not economical. But it was nice (like, really, really nice). We bought our own food and wine and my fabulous brother-in-law, assisted by my sister and family, prepared it all. We couldn't have been luckier.
4. We were blessed with lots of help from family as well as financial consideration. This wedding would not have been as wonderful without the help of the my family, some key friends, and financial gifts from both families (some of which we weren’t expecting, and was therefore a bonus reduction in cash we used).
5. We did not go into debt. Thanks to careful planning and choices, help from family/friends, and hosting international homestay students, the wedding was completely paid for within two weeks of our "I do's".
pender kiss
So, without further ado, here's how it all shook down:
I planned the wedding in three weeks. Honestly, that's all it took. Fortunately for me, I already had spoken with a marriage commissionaire (someone I knew through work), a cake maker (friend-of-a-friend), a sommelier and chef (sister & bro-in-law) and a dress maker (local designer who has made dresses for me in the past. PLUS, the wedding dress I wore for the ceremony and photos was given to me by a friend who had gotten it for $100 from a consignment store…but it was brand new and never worn). We had 24 guests (mostly family, closest friends who helped out with transportation, hair, make-up). The biggest splurge was likely the newspaper announcements…but newspapers were still read back then (you know, a decade ago) and I’d always wanted the newspaper announcement.
Could we have done the wedding cheaper? Absolutely. Especially if we didn't know there was a little cash coming from family. Would I change anything at all? Absolutely not. My Pender wedding was just perfect.
Total wedding cost: ~$7,500
Wedding Costs