The Budget – Broken Down Into Percentages

Neither R nor I ever wanted an extravagant day. While I completely appreciate those weddings, and love attending them, we knew that it was most important for us to have our wedding, and have it paid off on the day it occured.

We didn’t want to incur or carry any debt from the wedding, just as we didn’t carry any debt for my gorgeous engagement ring (which is a testament to the awesome saving-skills of my husband).

Well — the wedding is over, and we can proudly say that we do not owe a dime – to a single vendor or a credit card or anyone. This wedding is PAID FOR!

Here are the percentages of what we spent:

Wedding Budgeting

I’ve started doing the math.  I’ve started looking into the total cost of the wedding and I’ve got to say, people are nuts.

It never even dawned on me that people would take out a loan for their wedding. Then I found this article which suggests you’re CRAZY to pay for your wedding without a loan.

Really?  Am I really supposed to take out a loan for my wedding and keep the savings account flush?

I started thinking about it and have decided that it actually, in these times of $30,000 weddings, makes sense to do what we’re doing.  It makes sense to start planning ahead and thinking about how to spread those big expenditures over time.

I feel rejuvinated.  I feel like I’ve finally found my purpose in this wedding planning.  I think I’ve actually figured out how I can be of use.

Listen, guys, if you know you’re going to marry her, get it out there.  Get to work on planning it.  One way or the other, it’s going to happen and you can do one of three things:

1) Pay a ton of money at once.  This will require dipping into savings or ringing up the credit card.  Both bad.

2) Take out a loan or other debt.  Personal loans are bad news.  If you don’t have the money now, you won’t have the money later.

3) Spread the big expenses over time and take your lumps.

For us, taking the lumps makes sense.  I don’t want to touch my investments and she doesn’t want to take on debt.  We both know where this is going, so we’re starting the planning now.  So, we’re working on paying for some things now and are making our plans for what we can take on later.

A perfect example is the rings.  We’re buying the engagement ring now, but we’re getting the bands later.  We’re booking the wedding location now, but saving the “moderator” and food for later.  Photographer now, music later.

Is there another method for people whose parents aren’t made of money?  Has anyone taken a loan and not regretted it?

I’m Losing “Man Points” By The Minute

Many moons ago, two of my buddies and I started a “man points” scale.  The scale is numeric, but the scoring system is anything but scientific.

At the time, I scored fairly consistently in the middle of the man scale.  I wasn’t the most manly of the 3, we all agreed, but I wasn’t the least manly either.  I was who I was and I remained within a 1 point deviation of my mean manliness throughout the duration of the scale.  We all agreed the man scale was accurate, witty and reliable.

Then I met her.  I had the usual early relationship love-sickness, sure.  That was bound to cost me points and this was expected.  I said a couple of dumb things, this cost me more points.  The dog was an automatic two point deduction.  Buying the ring represents a negative 3 points…

It goes on and on, but the summary is that I’ve caused a change in the format of the chart.  I’ve forced us to explore negative territory on the chart’s scale.

I wonder how many points this blog would deduct from my account.  I also wonder how many points would be deducted if one of my cohorts was to see that we recently purchased this flower covered wedding budget book.

The man scale isn’t so funny anymore.