How Will You Remember Your Wedding?

March 21, 2009 by Timothy
Filed under Dating Singles

A wedding should be one of the most memorable events in a person’s lifetime. This is a celebration that many women dream of from childhood. You dreamed of being in a castle with thousands of people coming from all around just to see you in your beautiful, diamond studded gown. Your veil flowed like a calm summer stream. The lights were as bright as the stars in the heavens when looked up at the 30 foot ceiling. Oh, how beautiful it was!

Twenty years later, you have left the comfort of home and are now experiencing the realities of budget constraints. The dream of your fairytale wedding has now become a checkbook riddled with entries for expensive invitations, favors, facilities, etc., etc… “Boy, was I dreaming,” you think to yourself. Well, let me tell you that the dream does not have to end. You may however, need to rearrange some of the scenes.

Weddings have a tendency to create a great deal of stress for engaged couples preparing to cross the threshold of marital commitment. She wants the glam and he wants the low cost. She wants 500 guests while he wants their parents and his boys. No matter what position you take on the cost of a beautiful wedding, one fact holds true. It is your day and not your friends or family. You want them to have a good time and be excited for and with you. But in the end, it is YOUR day.

Wedding stress often comes when couples feel as though they need to impress their guests with a beautiful event versus wedding celebration. Television shows, wedding of a lifetime stories and general girl talk make you feel as though you can’t have a low-budget wedding. Low-budget does not always mean low taste. My wife and I spent $2500 total, including the honeymoon, when we were married. Despite the cost, everyone enjoyed themselves and we didn’t accumulate 20 years of debt to do it. Being the frugal one, I wanted it to cost even less than that. But my wife intently disagreed when I suggested renting the dress. That wasn’t good. My pastor laughed at me when he heard the story. Even though we saw humor in it, my fiance at the time did not. I must admit that God truly intervened and made that budget work. My wife’s dress was priced at $1500. We paid $400.

I simply want your wedding day to be a pleasant memory that isn’t smeared with a cloud of debt that makes it bitter sweet to think about. Decide together what is important to you and your fiance regarding your wedding day. What can you afford to spend? Enlist the help of your creative friends to make it work. Big budget looks do not always require big budget spending. Friends and guests should be impressed by your display of love and not your display of spending. Keeping it simple and elegant will go a long way when you remember your wedding day.