Like just about all Americans my life has been touched upon by the recessions in numerous ways. Whether its working in a deeply unstable work environment with very sometimes scare job security or enduring family financial crisis these turbulent times effect my day to day life and there for effect my wedding planning. When we first approached our families about our wedding budget and what they would be willing and able to help with both sides were generous to us and we planned an upscale yet modest small wedding. Our wedding budget was set for around $5000. I know that is pennies compared to national wedding average which skyrockets into the tens of thousands of dollars but for a small wedding it was more than enough.
Each family offered to pay for a selection of things and my parents offered to take the bulk of the costs. My parents would rent a beautiful cape cod style vacation home along California’s coast line which could accommodate the crowd of 70 people and provide rooms for some family members and friends to sleep in, and my mother and Cousin Michelle would self cater the event. On top of this my parents offered to give us a honeymoon to Paris using a variety of their reward points and benefits they had accumulated over the years couple with some expense of their own of course. All in all a very comfortable place to be financially.
Since then however both of our families have been hit with a variety of financial crisis, from medical bills to job loss. Their situations have changed and thusly so has our budget and plans. When we had to make a cut we made the hard decision to cut big so the first thing to go was beautiful Cape Cod vacation home. At $2500 for the week of the wedding this was always a bit of a strain on our budget and it sling shot our budget full force back into a comfort zone.
At the present moment we are planning on having the wedding at my Cousin Michelle’s home in Claremont, CA where her very own gay wedding was held in August 2008, as she has graciously offered it to us free of charge. The only drawback to this is that it’s a not so short hour drive from our ceremony site in Corona Del Mar, CA which has meant sacrificing the sunset ceremony. However this compromise has allowed for maximizing the rest of our budget, a free venue is not to be underestimated.
The second thing to go was the Parisian honeymoon, this was initially a let down but not a huge one. My brother currently is working in Strousberg, France and my mothers aunt in Germany has fallen ill so the allotted benefits will now have to be used for other purposes. My parents have still graciously and generously offered us a honeymoon in Hawaii which is pretty stellar. Many couples don’t even get to have a honeymoon let alone a mostly free one in Hawaii. In this aspect I am extremely blessed and very fortunate.
There will continue to be give and take with my budget as the coming months bring more and more planning. At the end of the day what is most important to me is getting to celebrate the love in my life with friends and family. Whether that’s at a lavish vacation home or at Dennys with grand slams it turns out is rather unimportant to me.
Wow, I’d take Hawaii over Paris any day! My mom keeps telling me I can use their timeshare in Hawaii but I can’t ever afford the airfare (they pay theirs by renting it every other year). I’m sure the whole thing will be awesome!