Best way to finance wedding? Deposits or save lump sum?

cloverfan

Hi I was just wondering how everyone paid for their weddings? Is it better to pay deposits for things and then pay things off or save a lump sum so have enough to pay for everything in one go?? Thanks

Ruby_Roo

We've gone down the line of paying deposits with final balances due for different things on various dates from 8 weeks before the wedding. If we waited until we had all of the money we'd never have been able to have the things we want on the date we want as they'd be booked up. Our first choice photographer was booked when we approached her 20 months before our wedding!

Provided you have a budget, a savings plan and some wiggle room in the budget for incidentals I think it's perfectly acceptable to book things and pay deposits without having every penny saved.

cloverfan

Thanks ruby_roo. I think this is the best idea for us too but other half thinks we should save full amount needed before booking anything. I think if we paid deposits we could pay off bits by sticking to a budget but if we are just saving for it then life will get in the way and we will never save enough.

Modgepodge

Depends when you're getting married I think. I'm getting married in August 2015 so have already booked photographer and band, to do this I had to pay a depsoit. As both together total almost £2k I don't have the money to pay the full amount yet...if I wited a few months til I do, they'd be booked by someone else. If you're getting married at a less popular time u might get away with it. Not sure I see the benefit though?

guardiangirl

I think 100% the best idea is to save deposits and pay with that first. You will have to wait ages (I imagine) until you have enough to pay full amounts, when every supplier/venue etc will only expect deposits in the first place anyway. No point leaving it to chance and hoping you can get the things you want closer to the time.

redfragglebiker

We started a savings account for th wedding as soon as we got engaged. We started planning about 3 months after that. We're saving a set amount each per month. This has been enough for deposits as we've gone along and now all the deposits are down we're paying off balances as and when we have enough in the fund so we know that it's done. We always leave a set amount in the wedding fund untouched as a "just in case" pot but we found it easy enough to pay depsoits and save as we go. I think the big things you ned to put a deposit down on ASAP would be your venue and photographer. The rest you can enquire about a bit later but we found that they were the two biggies. Also if you're having a "popular" date (read any Saturday in the Summer) check your chrurch/registrar as we booked that pretty early too. It really helps to know your actual ceremony time so tyou can plan and book other parts of your day accordingly!

HTH

krustylouise

^^^ that's what we did. We saved before paying deposits, and then saved before making necessary installments. Now it's only 6 weeks away and all we have to buy now are the presents for the Fathers, Flower Girls and the final installment to the venue

redfragglebiker

I've still got bridesmaid dresses, suits and flowers to pay for but it's all sat there in the budget. Invites have just been delivered to OH's work so I'll get my sweaty mitts on those tonight! I don't know why I'm SOOO excited for these turning up even though we designed the damned things and I have seen proofs!

cloverfan

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think if we paid deposits it would make us be stricter with savings to pay things off but other half is worried if we paid deposits we might not be able to save enough.

I'm not sure he's taken into account that things are booked years in advance as he keeps saying well they organise it in 3 weeks on don't tell the bride!

Ruby_Roo

cloverfan wrote: »

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think if we paid deposits it would make us be stricter with savings to pay things off but other half is worried if we paid deposits we might not be able to save enough.

I'm not sure he's taken into account that things are booked years in advance as he keeps saying well they organise it in 3 weeks on don't tell the bride!

Do your homework before you book anything, then you will know what things cost and you can set a date which allows you to save enough for the wedding (and a bit extra so you can some breathing space).

Obviously the major costs will likely be a venue, photographer and clothing - these things make up about 80% of our budget. Just to put that in perspective we are having 75 day guests and 100 evening guests and for clothing we've got dresses/shoes/cover ups/bags for me and 3 BMs and 7 suits for my OH, best man, ushers and our Dads.

Get out and start looking at venues to get an idea of cost, if you want to cut costs think about marrying on a day other than a Saturday (though Sundays and Fridays are getting more expensive). A lot of brides also sell their wedding dresses these days so you might be able to pick up the dress of your dreams for half what you'd pay from the bridal store.

One advantage we found to booking early and paying deposits is that apart from being able to guarantee we get everything we want, our suppliers have all given us their 2014 rates, even though our wedding is 31st December 2015. I don't know their 2015 rates but I imagine we've saved a fair few quid.

abby1234519

We had an ISA, we received some money from family which went straight in the account. I then worked out what we could save (deadline for saving was 8 weeks before wedding) and that was our budget.

I then paid all deposits. Literally all deposits. Then I worked out when certain things should be paid by, as I saved up I paid things off, ie venue etc. When it got to wedding day the only thing left to pay for was food and photographer!