How much??? When???

[PrueBride]

The man of my dreams proposed to me August 1st of this year. We can't wait to get married (of course). We want a very simple and low key wedding. His family is going to personally do the food for the reception and my family has offered to pay a good chunk of change. We figured that we could do the wedding for $5000.00 (not included my families contribution). Does that sound realistic to anyone?

The hardest thing is setting a date. I never thought that would be hard. Trying to figure out when family is around or could come out for our wedding and then seeing if the church is available, etc... :confused:

No One told me planning a wedding we going to be THIS hard and I have not even really begun to plan yet. :(

Can anyone help?

[loveatfirstphp]

I think your budget sounds okay. I would determine which things you value the most for your big day and then get some price quotes. I've just started searching and I have found the reception site and photo's, as well as catering, and DJ's to be the higher priced items.

As for a date, I am having this problem as well, but here is what I'm going to do. First determine what type of honeymoon you want to take and where. Some things may only be available during certain times, and prices may be a consideration, because prices change during different times of the season. Next, coordinate with your church all possible dates that you could use. Also if you are choosing to use a reception site you may want to see their prices and open dates. Then with all of these in mind, find the best time that all of your family and friends would be able to attend.
I really hope this helps. Don't get too overwhelmed. If you feel that there is a lot to do you may want to choose a date farther away to allow you more time to plan everything. Good luck. ;)

[HEATHERSUNSHINE]

I Think Your Budget Is Fine. My Fh And I Are Paying For The Wedding By Ourselves And We Have Agreed To Spend $5000 As Well. We Have His Step Father As The Officiant And One Of Oiur Friends Is Doing The Photography For Us While Another Friend Is Doing The Music. We Also Plan On Making Our Own Favors, And Since Our Wding Is In December We Won't Have To Decorate The Church.

[aschrader04]

The biggest tip I can give you is don't plan your wedding on a Saturday evening. This will help save you the most $$ TRust me! Also buy things on clearance and have people help you make things. It is possible to have a wedding with your budget, you will just have to remember to stick to your budget. Use tools that will help you designate where to put $$ AND for things you don't want that your budget allows you $ for, put it elsewhere. Like if you want expensive flowers, but don't want alcohol (biggest $$ saver) then You would take that part of your budget and add it to the flower budget. I would use weddingchannel.com budget tool, or theknot.com budget tool. They are very useful.