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Young folks weddings: match "projected" quality of life?
Comments
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Idiophreak wrote: »c) stretch yourself now, save really hard and try and get a wedding befitting your "projected" quality of life
Personally, I think I pretty much went for c - both the wife and I have pretty good career prospects and I'm always one for "backing myself" to do better.
I like your style! :rotfl:
I've got to ask though, what if it goes the other way? If one of you is made redundant / can't work / you decide to give up career for children, what will you think then? So long as you don't start thinking "If only I hadn't proposed with such an expensive ring ... we wouldn't be struggling now!" it's all good!
And I'm in no way knocking you here, because I'm doing a similar thing! Ours is a fairly extravigant (or so I think) wedding that's going to take us a while to pay off. My difference is that I'm not gambling on an improving lifestyle, just that it stays as good as it is ... everything crossed!
LATE 20's here ... not sure if that's young or not!?"The most desirable trait of the internet is the ability to attribute quotes to anyone."
- Winston Churchill0 -
I'm 23 (will be nearly 25 by the time the wedding gets here!) and my partner is 27. We're having a wedding that we think is a fair price to pay for a celebration - both of us really wanted a more formal sit down meal so nearly half the cost is going on that, with strict budgets on everything else. We don't want to get into debt over the wedding and are hoping to overpay the mortgage with the money we could have 'wasted' on bits and bobs that can add up. Saying that, we've only just booked the venue so we will see if we stick to it!
A relative in his 40's got married recently on a 3k-ish budget and from comparing that to a 25k-ish budget that we also attended, we settled on a budget between 6-7. At the moment this seems quite OK! I have a relative who makes amazing cakes and our best man is part of a string quartet (though he won't be playing!) so we definitely have ways and means to lower the total cost down.
Fingers crossed we will look back with fondness on the day. We both identified our 3 most important things and have put more budget and focus towards those. On mine it includes photography, so we'll at least have some (hopefully) good photos to remember with
A car was no-where near the list on either of ours, so I'll be cadging a lift with an uncle in his big car to get to the venue! 0 -
I agree, prioritising is so important! 7 Feb 2012: 10st7lbs
14 Feb: 10st4.5lbs 21 Feb: 10st4lbs * 1 March: 10st2.5lbs :j13 March: 10st3lbs (post-holiday) 
30 March: 10st1.5lbs 4 April: 10st0.75lbs * 6 April: 9st13.5 lbs 27 April 9st12.5lbs * 16 May 9st12lbs * 11 June 9st11lbs * 15 June 9st9.5lbs * 20 June 9st8.5lbs 27 June 9st8lbs * 1 July 9st7lbs * 7 July 9st6.5lbs 0 -
I like your style! :rotfl:
I've got to ask though, what if it goes the other way? If one of you is made redundant / can't work / you decide to give up career for children, what will you think then? So long as you don't start thinking "If only I hadn't proposed with such an expensive ring ... we wouldn't be struggling now!" it's all good!
And I'm in no way knocking you here, because I'm doing a similar thing! Ours is a fairly extravigant (or so I think) wedding that's going to take us a while to pay off. My difference is that I'm not gambling on an improving lifestyle, just that it stays as good as it is ... everything crossed!
LATE 20's here ... not sure if that's young or not!?
Late 20s is definitely young
Don't get me wrong - I didn't stretch myself massively in any case - and we could easily afford the repayments on our wages at the time, as well as keeping up with our other debts. (Of course, when you take on any debt, you're gambling that you'll be able to afford it in the future....we've got insurances etc, but it's still a bit of a punt.)
My point wasn't about backing yourself to be able to pay back the debt, though...it was about backing yourself to have a great life, the kind of life into which a great wedding would fit...I didn't really mean to make this a thread about debt, at all, in fact...*how you get* the money really wasn't the point, more whether you spend it at all.
Take savings, for example...If you had saved for 5 years and saved £20k...would you necessarily spend all 20k on a wedding?
If you'd been working for 20 years, had no debts and had (frankly) other better stuff to spend the money on...you probably wouldn't. If, on the other hand, you'd only been working for five years and had managed to save that 20k whilst servicing a bunch of other debts and you've nothing much else to do with the money, you'd probably be OK with spending the lot. Although it's a lot of money *now*, it seems like it isn't going to be a lot of money in the scheme of your life...
If my life does flop massively from here and I end up having a miserable life, when I die, I'll look back and think "I had a wedding that was really out of proportion with the overall quality of life I enjoyed.". If, on the other hand, things go OK from here, I'll think "Yes, I pushed the boat out a bit at the time...but the wedding more or less fits in with my life as a whole"...0 -
I wouldn't spend £20K on a wedding, even though we could afford it. I'd rather have a nice short (<10 years) mortgage and retire early. 7 Feb 2012: 10st7lbs 14 Feb: 10st4.5lbs 21 Feb: 10st4lbs * 1 March: 10st2.5lbs :j13 March: 10st3lbs (post-holiday) 30 March: 10st1.5lbs 4 April: 10st0.75lbs * 6 April: 9st13.5 lbs 27 April 9st12.5lbs * 16 May 9st12lbs * 11 June 9st11lbs * 15 June 9st9.5lbs * 20 June 9st8.5lbs 27 June 9st8lbs * 1 July 9st7lbs * 7 July 9st6.5lbs 0
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Idiophreak wrote: »...and what if you could do both?
I was going to say this!0 -
Well I money wasn't an issue at all.... :rotfl::T0
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I'd begrudge paying £20k on a wedding knowing that there are so many other things I could spend it on. If I won the lottery (good luck as I don't play!) tomorrow and had millions then I would probably add more budget and be a little more extravagant, however even if I had £20, £30 or £40k saved I don't think I'd spend it on the 'do'. My partner and I are both future thinkers I think, and we're already planning on starting to save for kiddos and things even though they're way off in the future. I'd much prefer to put my money into enriching mine and my family's life than spend it all in one hit. I guess it's like holidays, I prefer going camping for a weekend once or twice a year than spending a month in the Maldives and that being the only holiday for 5 years. People's personal preference! I have a colleague who's parents have saved £20+k for either a wedding or a mortgage. To me it would go straight on the house, her's is a no brainer the other way. Different people make the world go around! Or something... ;-)0
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I married at 22 on a budget divorced at 28, second wedding abroad as part of a holiday, happily married after 22 years with DH2 ( 14 married) no regrets abut my $25 wedding, happy to have no mortgage and money in the bank.0
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