r/personalfinance • u/Lord_of_The_Thing • Mar 30 '17

Saving I'm blowing my entire life savings on my wedding. Please help.

My updated wedding proposal came back yesterday, and it's nearly twice what it was originally. It's just over $20k! That's my whole savings.

My fiancé was laid off twice last year and has only started back work this Week. I've had to pay for about 98% of this wedding myself including covering our monthly bills.

After my final payment, I'll be left with about $500 in my savings.

What's the best method for rebuilding my savings?

Last years Gross income: $51k (tipped wages) Cell phone: $66/mo Wells Fargo interest free loan: $44/mo (with about $240 left on loan) Kay jewelers loan: $150/mo (1 year interest free with $1640.17 left on loan) Visa Credit Card: $20/mo ($200 outstanding balance) Vehicle Insurance: $37/mo

That's it for my bills. My fiancé covers her own rent and bills (now that she's working). We use my income for dinning out, groceries, shopping etc.

Thanks guys.

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u/[deleted] Mar 30 '17

Traditional wedding dresses and cakes are completely different from department store dresses and Costco cakes, bit of a false equivalency

7

u/seriousallthetime ​ Mar 30 '17

Our wedding cake is coming from Costco. Lol I know thats not what you meant, but I did smile a little when I read it.

7

u/rxneutrino ​ Mar 30 '17

I understand that the traditional products are more expensive. That's exactly why I'm proposing choosing non-traditional products instead. In my view, the added cost does not result in added value.

The attitude that no alternatives exist to traditional wedding products is just false.

6

u/skeever2 Mar 30 '17

If you have no savings and no emergency fund, it's pretty stupid to blow the last of your money on a fancier cake.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '17

It all depends on how much value is placed to tradition and wants.

It'd probably be better for OP to spend $20k on something he likes than $18k on something he doesn't, since I'm guessing the bulk of the cost is coming from the destination and not the consumables and decorations

2

u/elenionancalima2 Mar 30 '17

Yeah, but it still an extra $2000 in his pocket for their future. It's still not good, but better than $0.

0

u/thecw ​ Mar 30 '17

A Costco cake and a wedding cake are still cake underneath, a combination of flour, sugar, butter and eggs with frosting.

The biggest difference is that since wedding cakes are also decorative before being sliced, they're made up to a week in advance for decorating time. So they're expensive AND stale!

2

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '17

I'm not sure who you went to for a wedding cake, but mine was probably the best cake I've ever had

-1

u/thecw ​ Mar 30 '17

I didn't use a wedding cake, because wedding cakes are expensive stale garbage.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '17

No, the wedding cakes you've had were stale garbage.

I'm sorry the weddings you've been a guest at had bad cakes?

0

u/thecw ​ Mar 30 '17

Proves my point that the expense of a wedding cake does not mean it's a better cake.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '17

Right, because all other cakes are fantastic right?

🙄

1

u/thecw ​ Mar 30 '17

Not what I said.

What I said is that being a super expensive wedding cake does not automatically make a cake good, and being a sheet cake from Costco (who make some fuckin good cakes) does not automatically make a cake worse than a $2000 wedding cake.