Wedding Budget

No F**king Way! What to do?

Well this whole situation for you must be stressful! I do understand what you are going through. I am not Catholic but I have dreamed of the wedding of my dreams and we are presently building a house, planning a wedding and are tight on money because my job is not as full-time as I would liek it to be. Like you my FH is loves me so much that he wants me to be able to have the wedding I want but to stay within our budget I have had to be creative!
First of all if you have the time shop online and search extensively!! lol ...FH thinks it is ridiculous how much time I spend on my computer in the evening but once he sees all the money I am saving he loves it! I have become a total DIY bride...I even bought the material and am making my own ceiling canopy and head table back drop. I know not everyone is into it but if you are even a little creative I suggest going the DIY way.  Look on pinterest and this site for great ideas, they are everywhere!! Also $40.00 for a guarder is a little steep, I paid $12 at Michaels because if I had my way I wouldn't even have one but my mom says its important haha
I know you are anxious about ppl backing out with money so you want to pay for everyything yourselves but it is important to get a solid buget so maybe just speak to your family members and see where they stand on everything....

Moving in with your FMIL in a great way to save money, however I lived with mine for 3 mnths and almost had a nervous break down haha ....We lost our house in a tornado and in a half hour had to grab our most important things and pets and all of a sudden were living with my FMIL. Now insurance is paying for us to rent until our house is built but it was very stressful planning a wedding and living with her. However I know ppl who have done it and it was fine! My situation was also different then yours so I don't want to deter you from doing it :) I think it just depends on the personalities of everyone and the relationships!

Good luck with everything, I hope I helped a little!!!

I too always dreamed of a big catholic wedding ;)  I think every bride goes through what you're feeling right now, sticker shock  is pretty common for newbies.  The more research you do, the more you can find cheaper ways to do things yourself.  There are a ton of DIY brides here with great ideas!!  

I think moving in with your future mother in law has pros AND cons to it lol  if that's what you gotta do to have your dream, do it.  

We are paying for the entire wedding ourselves and Im glad we are because its our money so we are in total control of the wedding.  We already live together so instead of moving in with family, we just chose to take our time with planning so we didn't go broke and that is why we took about a year and four months to plan lol.  

Take your time with planning, there is no rush.  The wedding planning has gone by SO FAST... 28 days til my wedding ;)

GOOD LUCK WITH EVERYTHING.

Brandi I sooooo sympathize with you.  I can hear the hair pulling in your voice! lol.    Naturally you're going to do what you and fh feel is best so I wish you the best in coming to whatever that decision may be, but since you asked......I've never lived with my future MIL and never would (and she's a sweetheart).  I'm 43 and two grown women living in the 2nd grown woman's house wouldn't work out well (again, for me).  If you're asking what sacrifice i'd make to have the wedding I wanted, it would be to plan it further out so I had more time to pay for it.  Actually, that's exactly what we did, we were supposed to get married in November, 2011.  We postponed it to June 2013 to stay on budget and keep my "must haves".    must haves aren't must haves, they're just wants I'd rather not give up.   And I realize that scenario isn't ideal or even possible for everybody but if you can, consider all of your options.

About the budget itself, I'd do what L2S suggested and DIY anything you can.  Some elastic and a 1/4 yard of curly satin and you can make your own garter for less than $10.  And I say this as someone for whom Michael's is a foreign country.  

I talked to the owner of the bakery where I get my favorite cake the other day and she said sure I can make it for about $6 per slice.   ERRRRCH! stop the car miss honey, when I get that cake in a slab, a 1/2 sheet for 60 people costs me $45, what's this $5 per slice mess?  she goes yeah there's an extra layer in the cake and the artist's time in decorating.....there was more but I say all that to say, see if i don't learn how to decorate a damn styrofoam form for the pictures and get a sheet cake for my caterer to slice up in the kitchen.  Vendors hear the word wedding and lose their damn minds, stay one step ahead of em girl.

As for the living with your inlaws.  farbeit from me to discourage, the following is my opinion about what I would do, not a suggestion for what you should do, necessarily.  What comes to mind is a saying that Judge Milian (people's court judge) regularly says to her litigants in spanish "lo que comienza barato viene caro" loosely translated: that which starts out cheap, ends up expensive, meaning what you save initially in cash, you wind up paying for in other ways.    Sometimes I wannna come home, step out of my shoes, take the martini out of my dude's hand and crash under the covers or catch up with my girls for a 1/2 hour on the phone or use the bathroom without a wait, whatever it is, I don't want to be obligated by the consideration of being a guest in someone else's house or the obligation to sit and talk with them when i don't feel like it?  n'uh uh.   Like I said she's a sweetie peach but I told her son, I'm still gonna love you a couple years from now.    Again, all that <--- is what *I* would/would not do.  

You can make your cake, your inviations, your garter, your centerpieces, your favors and your flower bundles.  We're like home depot, you can do it, we can  help!  Let us know how.