I had trouble planning my wedding with a tight budget, then I was dismissed

I was not born in money. I saw the pay check for check on a salary of $ 70,000 while reimbursing credit cards and college loans 16 years ago. But still, I plan my dream wedding.

I was incredibly surprised when my parents offered $ 5,000 for the wedding. My father has an 8th year education and my mother is an immigrant from Austria. They worked hard to develop and have done well for themselves, but they always pinch their money and avoid excessive expenses.

I also didn’t ask them for money. I have been working, to a certain extent, since I was 14 and I have always relied on myself to pay everything.

Thanks to the $ 5,000 of my parents, my fiancé and I pushed our budget to $ 10,000, knowing that we would be part of the bill ourselves and could possibly obtain additional family gifts.

Of course, it is a marriage to a budget, but I did not know how worse it would become.

I was a bride with a tight budget

With my salary of $ 70,000, my partner is an independent journalist, which means that his income is unpredictable. We also live in Chicago, where the average price of a wedding is around $ 56,000. The majority of wedding places cost $ 20,000 just to rent the space here. Food or drinks are not included.

In a sea of ​​rich wrinkles from Lincoln Park, I am a southern bride who tries to make my way in the way I seem to be fanciful.

I designed and made our invitations to typography ($ 560), we found a magnificent wedding place ($ 5,500), I traveled Reddit for advice on how to save on flowers ($ 700 of real Costco fire), and we have mezze for our rehearsal dinner ($ 1000) on a patio in a flower shop ($ 700).

I made follies on my wedding dress ($ 2,000), but we buy our alcohol (TBD) and decided to make our wedding reading list using the Weddingdj application ($ 5 per month).

Despite our calculations, the budget increased to $ 20,000 because we quickly discovered that every small detail adds up.

We were going to cut it near, but with my regular pay check, my fiancé thought that we could make it work.

I was dismissed, but I was not devastated

When I learned the news that I was dismissed, I had just paid our shuttle service ($ 788). I worked at a distance and I saw the Google Meet invitation pop-up for the next day. I had a day to punctuate the house and prepare for my video meeting at 8 a.m.

As a journalist for 11 years, I have always imagined how I would react if I was dismissed. Tears, that’s for sure. Panic, absolutely. But instead, I didn’t feel any of these things. I just laughed.

It is my poor quality chance to do a wedding at 35 and lose my income just a few months before the big meeting.

What can I do? I could sulk. I could lie on the sofa. I could freeze and do nothing. Or I could contact each editor I knew, contact all my contacts and let them know my situation.

So that’s exactly what I did.

As a result, the answer was overwhelming. Friends and former colleagues sent me an email of the job lists, sending me a venos of $ 5 for a coffee, or simply telling me to “hang on to it”.

My plan for the future and our marriage

If I do not get full -time job in the coming months – which, let’s be real, on this labor market, I will probably not – I will come back full -time freelance after a five -year interruption.

Is it glamorous? No. Did I think I would do at this stage of my career? No. Am I always in the affair and I do not fully realize how much shit could strike the fan? Yes, so that we can come back to this later. But for the moment, I have the hope.

I get married. Nothing will stop it. There may be ailments and pain when reworking the budget. I could not buy as much candles as I wanted. I don’t need a hairdresser; I can do it myself. No one needs to know that my wedding shoes are $ 15 of Depop. I can let these news crash, or I can remove my boots and continue.

I already reduced costs on so many things, and to be honest, it makes planning a marriage more creative, and now this inspiration has intensified. Determine alternative fabrics for tablecloths, the search for vintage cakes, the manufacture and printing of our programs – all of this becomes more tangible and personal.

And now lucky for me, I have all the time of the world to plan the group of our lives.