All About

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According to CNN Money, the average cost for a wedding in the U.S. is $30,000. With no possibility of increasing our budget and a commitment to not using credit cards to cover any of our wedding expenses, my wallet was begging for us to move our wedding to my much less expensive home state of North Carolina.

it’s where we we both grew into adulthood, built our support systems, and found love. We both work and live in DC. Currently buying our first home in DC, we are planning to build a future here. So we made a firm stand to hold our wedding in DC despite the cost.

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We each committed to saving $1000 per month ( 2 X $1000 = $2000 per month). $4000 + ($2000 X 8 months) = $20,000. And that’s how we came up with the Magic Number of $20,000.

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1) The first thing we did was get a joint checking account. We do automatic deposits each month for our designated amounts. 2) We also do weekly check-in meetings, where we sit down and update our budget line-by-line with any purchases or reallocations.

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1) The first thing we did was draft a resource list of all our friends & colleagues that had some type of expertise related to wedding expenses 2) We chose a weekday wedding, which has allowed us to take advantage of weekday event discounts from our caterer and venue.

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I will never forget the day we called a supposedly “budget friendly” caterer only to be told that the budget we had allotted for a seated dinner would only cover a heavy hor d’oeuvres reception (not including alcohol).

All About

the Benjamins:

The Wedding Budget

it’s where we we both grew into adulthood, built our support systems, and found love. We both work and live in DC. Currently buying our first home in DC, we are planning to build a future here. So we made a firm stand to hold our wedding in DC despite the cost.

However DC is our home;

We each committed to saving $1000 per month ( 2 X $1000 = $2000 per month). $4000 + ($2000 X 8 months) = $20,000. And that’s how we came up with the Magic Number of $20,000.

How We Created Our Budget

1) The first thing we did was get a joint checking account. We do automatic deposits each month for our designated amounts. 2) We also do weekly check-in meetings, where we sit down and update our budget line-by-line with any purchases or reallocations.

How We’ve Managed Our Budget

1) The first thing we did was draft a resource list of all our friends & colleagues that had some type of expertise related to wedding expenses 2) We chose a weekday wedding, which has allowed us to take advantage of weekday event discounts from our caterer and venue.

How We’ve Maximized Our Budget

I will never forget the day we called a supposedly “budget friendly” caterer only to be told that the budget we had allotted for a seated dinner would only cover a heavy hor d’oeuvres reception (not including alcohol).

I will never forget the day we called a supposedly “budget friendly” caterer only to be told that the budget we had allotted for a seated dinner would only cover a heavy hor d’oeuvres reception (not including alcohol).

Read More

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