Saving for my wedding!

A question about : Saving for my wedding!

Hello, newbie here

I am getting married this Sept and my OH and I have/been saving since Jan 2011 for it. I thought what we were saving was spot on, but despite my best intentions of having a detailed budget I did some number crunching last week now that I have accurate figures for certain things and I have under-budgeted a bit (eeeeeeek!!!!)

So it's extreme money-saving time! I've been a long time lurker of this forum and I hope this thread will help me keep focused. I'm shopping round like crazy to get good deals for pretty much everything so it's been very busy!

As a little challenge, I will try to put away at least Ј350 every month between now and September (I'll not count OH's savings for this) towards the wedding. It will be tough! (Car tax and birthdays this month won't help!!!)

So far this month I have put away 230/350, so Ј120 left to go. If I do this, it will leave me with little disposable income but needs must!

Should I just bite the bullet and put that money away now, or see how it goes? I think an extra Ј120 this month is extremely ambitious, but it wouldn't be a challenge otherwise!!

NB

Best answers:

• Welcome New Bride! Sorry to hear about the miscalculations, but thankfully you have found out now rather than later.
  Is the wedding in September? It's amazing how much you can cut down on when you need to. Do you really need to spend a lot on presents? Could you maybe bake something instead of buying a gift? That is, assuming that the costs involved in the birthdays you mention is in the gifts..
  If you really need to save that 120 then maybe it is a good idea to put it away now. Would it be in an easy access account? That would cover you if you really need it. Would it be earning more interest there than in your current account? If yes is the answer to both of these questions then of course you should put it away!
  Best of luck with it! I believe there are wedding forums where you could gets lots of advice on deals.
• Good Luck with saving for your wedding. As katherina said I would put it in an easy access account rather than an ISA so if you need it it doesn't affect your ISA allowance.
  Also raising money is easy, have a look at what you can sell Ebay has at least two free listing days a month.
• Thank you very much for your replies!
  I think I'm a bit of an oddball when it comes to savings - I have money put away for the car tax and all the bits and bobs coming up this month (I am usually always very careful with my spending choices when it comes to presents etc) but I usually always try to use my 'own' money (ie money in my current account) to cover at least some of these predicted spends.
  I know it's odd, that's why I saved the money in the first place! So I'll see how it goes, I transferred the Ј120 into normal savings account and hopefully I'll not need it.
  Cheers
• Hmmm I am trying hard not to dip into my savings. As it turns out I have no self-restraint when it comes to buying baby clothes!
  But they are for my best friend's baby, and she'd do the same for me, so I don't feel bad about it in any way shape or form.
  In other news, I have been working a lot of overtime. I work behind a computer all day and despite doing my hardest to take a DSE break every hour and stretching every so often my shoulders are killing me.
  At least I'll be a couple of hundered pounds richer (before tax) by next payday at the end of the month, so it'll all make sense then.
  I was going to do some more overtime over the weekend (it's my first full weekend off in three weeks) but I think I better not. Probably a hot bath and some Ludovico Einaudi is in order this evening (listening to Einaudi is not pretentious by the way he is brilliant! Check him out!!!)
  Off to figure out if I should have signature, have a good weekend folks!
  NB
• Well how quickly things change.
  Due to my OH'S expenses claim through work we now don't need to save as much for the wedding, as he's putting a chuck of it towards it.
  However, the car packed in. It was on its last legs but we were hoping it would like until the wedding, but it won't. Meaning we need to take out a loan to buy a new car, which I'm not happy about but there isn't any other way around it.
  I'm currently sorting out a loan and OH is sorting out a car so when that's all figured out I'll know how much ЈЈЈ I can actually save. I am optimistic we can manage saving and paying the loan (and continue saving for the usual short-term things like birthdays, medical, heating oil etc etc, this will carry on regardless), and I'm obviously picking a repayments plan that will allow us to carry on without having to live in poverty.
  I also decided I'm going to have a "contingency" savings account, with a ballpark figure of Ј200-300 or so. I have accounted for 99% of upcoming bills/expenses but I just want an extra safety net, just in case.
  So I'll probably not have a proper update until the loan is approved, but I'll drop in if anything else comes up.
  NB
• Hi The Magnificent Spoon, thanks for stopping by!
  The car is new to us, no way are buying a brand new car!!!!! OH has spent the weekend researching and comparing cars online and thinks he's found 'the one', he's already driven it and it has low miles, is 6yrs old and the owner showed him full service history. I know very little about cars but I can't find any problems with it and neither can OH, so it's looking good. All we need to do now is see if the loan gets approved, and I'd be shocked if we get turned down as we both have a good credit history.
  So fingers crossed
• A HPI would check if the car is stolen or has outstanding HP on it.
  If it's from a car dealer then they are obliged to do a 79 point check on it. That is almost like a service and any flaws with it they should sort it.
• My wedding, 15 years ago was Ј600 all in.
  We had no money, I bought a Ivory bridesmaid dress, got some shoes on sale.
  My mum paid for the flowers as a prezzie.
  My Father in law paid for the Church as a prezzie.
  Everyone was invited, but told to buy thier own meals ( was at country pub).
  Friend lent me Jewellry, and paid for a night in a 5* hotel for a prezzie.
  Told everyone that they did not need to get prezzies, just come along (we live in a really nice seaside place).
  No debt. Very relaxed. Everyone sat with who they wanted.
  So many people, have told me it was the most relaxed, enjoyable wedding they have ever been to.
• Thanks Daedalus and gothrockchic1,
  OH is looking into all that (as I said I don't really know a lot about these things!) so fingers crossed it all checks out.
  @ seekert sounds lovely I am hoping for a relaxed do, it won't be as cheap as yours but I'm certainly not going overboard (it's actually shocking how quickly prices can escalate!)
  Thanks for the well wishes milla_ulliel
  The loan was accepted so we're happy campers, so hopefully we can sort out a car sooner rather than later (I don't really need a car but OH does for work).
  More importantly, I shouldn't wish my life away but I can't wait for payday at the end of the month. Hopefully the overtime I did will provide a boost savings-wise.
  NB
• Well the loan came through, car has been purchased and nothing else unexpected has happened (and fingers crossed it stays that way!)
  I have Ј114 left in my bank account to do me until Thursday (payday). I am going out for dinner with friends on Wednesday (it’s been scheduled for the last six weeks or so, so I’ve been expecting it), I’ve never been to that restaurant but I’m guesstimating my share will come to Ј30 and Ј50.
  I also have to top up my phone on Wednesday (Ј15.00) but other than that I don’t think I’ll need to spend any more money. I just need to make sure I remain organised and pack my lunches for work.
  So whatever is left over I’ll probably put part of it towards our honeymoon savings account and the rest into my regular savings account (this account is for short to mid-term expenses). We’re probably talking about Ј10.00-Ј30.00 into each account but every little helps!
  NB
• Pay day today!
  I am nursing quite the hangover today, last night was definitely an indulgence
  It also meant I spent about Ј65 between food, drink and taxi (I hadn't accounted for the taxi fare!!! )
  I had a couple of pound coins left over that went straight into my money jar today and a Ј5.00 note into my fiver envelope (yes I also save fivers - I am aware this is probably not very common. I don't save every single fiver I come across, but every now and again I would stash one away. I have Ј100 saved up now through this method, over the course of a few months).
  Most of my direct debits come out next week and then I'll be able to see exactly how much extra I can save. Exciting times lol
  NB
• I did some sums so I now know how much money I’ll have left over after bills and standing orders for the month of April, so this is the master plan:
  1) Short- to mid-term saving account: save an extra Ј80.00;
  2) Honeymoon: save an extra Ј50.00;
  If all of this happens and I have money to spare, the rest will go into:
  3) Contingency: save up to Ј50.00;
  4) Add whatever else I can into the short/mid-term savings account.
  I'll do # 1 and 2 immediately so I won't be able to go back on my word, but I'll need to leave it a bit for the rest and see how I get on.
  All of this should be doable provided I am organised, bring packed lunches to work, and generally don’t buy anything unnecessary. I really hope I can make it happen.
  I have also updated my signature… only 5 months left until the big day!!!
• Well I achieved all of these but the month isn't over yet, so hopefully nothing unexpected will happen before payday at the end of the month!
  I just found out what my May pay looks like and I am a very happy bunny all my overtime has paid off (literally).
  I'll see how I get on by the end of the month and will then come up with a plan of action. Is it sad that I'm looking forward to it?
  NB
• Hi New Bride! I am getting married in August 2015 & have been putting away Ј200 a month to save. Have been looking into other ways so it's great to see your progress
• Thanks for stopping bymuffins76, that's very similar to what my OH and I did, I think we started saying properly for the wedding Jan 2012 & we were putting away Ј250 between us (since this year we've had to up our game though!!!!)
  It'll go in so fast for you, congratulations!
  Well, thanks to my awesome overtime pay I've been able to go on savings overdrive today and have put away an extra Ј100 into my short/medium term savings, added Ј50 into my Isa (this is my "extreme circumstances" fund, and I'm aiming to have 6 months' worth of expenses saved up. I've been at it for years and I'm about 40% there ), add Ј50 to my honeymoon account and an extra Ј50 into the wedding fund. This is on top of what normally goes into these accounts.
  Now I'm "poor" again but I have treated myself to a hair dressing appointment, and will see about maybe getting a facial beauty treatment (I had my first one last month and loved it - flippin' expensive though!)
  But I don't really go out or buy myself anything so I might as well, it'll be a loooong time before I'll be able to get as good a pay!
  As you can see I'm super excited about being able to save so much (sad I know!)
  As always if I have anything left over by the end of the month I'll put it away too.
  Hope everyone is keeping well, let's get these savings accounts topped up
  NB
  PS I need to update my signature. 4 paychecks until the big day!!!!!!
• I've been saving all my amazon vouchers from Swagbucks & other online sites, have already bought a video camera & tripod for the big day. We will definitely make use of it after the wedding for our holidays etc
  One of our friends used to be a wedding photo/videographer & we'd rather have them do it not just because of our budget, but the personal touch is nice.
• Nice one Muffins, you're on top of things rightly
  Well, today we finally booked our honeymoon! Woop woop woop! And we're on budget so far *fingers crossed*
  But I want to save up a bit extra so I'll post up a revised savings goal for next month when I know how much I'm due to get paid.
  This month so far things are going quite well, I have overspent so I need to reel it in for the rest of the month but it shouldn't be anything overly hard. I have money set aside as contingency so if needs be I'll dip into that fund. I'll try not to though
  NB