11 of 26

“ My mom was going to buy the dress as her contribution, but I bought mine online in a sample sale a month before we were officially engaged for $700. ”

Name: Becca

Age: 27

Location: Minneapolis, MN

How much is your wedding going to cost? ~$28,000



What was the payment breakdown?



"My fiancé and I are contributing about equally in savings each month, and have since about two months before we were officially engaged. My mom is putting $100 per paycheck towards the wedding, which will come to about $3,500. My fiancé sends me $350 per paycheck to put toward our catering deposit (on a new credit card so we could get $350 in sign-up rewards right away to pay toward the bill), and I put at least $500/month toward payments, lately $700-$800. We had a similar system when paying off our photography deposit. After this is paid off, we have a joint savings account for wedding-related stuff that we will continue to contribute to monthly, and plan to put all birthday and Christmas money towards wedding savings as well. According to our WeddingWire budget breakdown, we will be coming in right around $28,000, and we've already put ~$10,000 towards the wedding, so we can comfortably save up the remaining $14,500. So far our venue is right around $2,000, photographer is around $5,000, florist is $2,000, and catering and bar are $12,000 for 110 guests, and that's all before cake, the groom's outfit, wedding party gifts, alterations, and additional decor and entertainment.



How do you feel about it?



"Great! My fiancé has a bit more spending money than I do after bills, so proportionately he puts a little bit more toward the wedding each month. I've planned to at least be able to put $500 towards the wedding monthly, and have continually tried to cut back expenses as much as I can in order to contribute more. Neither of us come from lavish families, and so my mom contributing a few thousand is incredibly helpful and appreciated, and we do expect to get a small amount from his family for the holidays that we can put towards the wedding. My mom was going to buy the dress as her contribution, but I bought mine online in a sample sale a month before we were officially engaged for $700, so she chose to contribute directly toward our wedding savings instead.



Who do you think is responsible for paying, and why?



"The couple! I think it's fair that we're contributing as equally as we can, proportionate to our expendable income. Though I will have more guests attending than he will, we look at our guests as all ours to pay for and not one person or side's responsibility. I think it's wonderful that many people have families who are able to contribute, but I no longer think it is their responsibility. As we are both established in our careers and can afford to host our guests, we are happy to pay to have the wedding we dream of. I bought my home at 23, I've been working steadily in my career since graduating college, and I've always been fiercely independent. Our wedding details and budget have been very important to us, and working through it all together equally has been a truly lovely experience."