Should we get a loan or just try stay within budget?

I know how u feel when we first started planning we were looking at loans but then decided against it because we didnt want to start married life owing lots of money out. Instead we were sensible with our choices and put our wedding infront of nights out and new things. If your jobs arent stable at the min i wouldnt look at loans at all x

Please do not get in debt for a wedding.

We had looked at getting a loan but we decided we didnt want to start our married life together in debt. Plus I really cant see the point in spending so much money and getting in debt just for one day - just my opinion. We have budgeted about £3000, but looks like we might be coming in under budget - woot!

Bx

I'd definitely try to stay within budget. The most important bit of a wedding is the marriage, and anything else is an extra that can be scaled down if necessary, not worth getting into debt for IMO.

Thanks everyone. It's definitely been bothering me as I don't want to start arguing over money with OH, but our budget is also a bit stretched and we're actually counting on people giving us money in order to eat on our honeymoon! It doesn't help that I'm fallen for a dress WAY outside of my budget, and I'm upset about that too.

I'd stay within budget or push your wedding date back.

We didn't have a lot of choice.

As we're both getting dangerously close to 40, and wanting to get married before starting a family, our choice was to either get a loan or put the wedding off 5 years whilst we saved up for it, which as we want children eventually wasn't really much of an option.

Our gamble is that the interest payments on the loan will prove to be cheaper over 5 years than how much everything will have gone up by then.

For your circumstances, I guess it depends what is making you "over budget". If it's something essential like food, then you don't have many choices, however if you want a £10,000 dress, Jimmy Choo's and diamond encrusted parchments for your invites then you need to look at things realistically as to what will make your day memorable, and what is really just an indulgance.

I think AJ has said it all. It really depends on what your budget is. If you want a big wedding with all the extras then as CB said possibly put the date back and have longer to save less per month, so you don't feel like you are missing out on having a life at the same time. However if you want the big white wedding sooner I know PPI has bad press but it covers for redundancy so that could take away your worry of losing jobs. Just don't buy insurance from the lender, I would get it independantly from a competitor.

For me it's a £1750 dress when I swore my top budget was around £300 and that I'd be ordering online. (Went to a dress shop just to see what styles suit me, and obviously ended up trying on 'the one' by accident) Been pretty cut up (crying) about it, and it's basically all I can think about. x

How many people these days don't have some sort of debt though?

Even a mortage is a debt.

I think most of us agree there is a difference between a "necessary debt" and an "unnecessary debt" - but only we can make the call as to what it is, based on our circumstances and need. For example, if you need a car and yours goes bang, is getting £5000 for a new car a "bad debt"? However, do we really need a 50" LCD telly right now?

Mortgage is a debt that will keep a roof over your head. A loan for a wedding is splashing cash you can't afford on a party. There's a huge difference. You mention, with regularity, aj, that a marriage needs two people, an officiant and two witnesses. If it is just the marriage you can't do without, you can do it on a shoestring.

Think about it carefully, FMW. Getting into debt for one day is daft. Particularly given the instability of the job market and economy.

I totally see your point and understand your concerns but I'd be reluctant to take out a loan when you don't have stable jobs. That more than anything would be my main concern over starting married life with debt. You might not even get approved for a loan without a permanant job

Not everyone has the luxury of being able to save up a lot of money each month and I don't really think taking out a £2k loan is much debt to be honest (if you don't have any already).

AJ wow I agree with you! ? FutureMrsWilson if you are both say 21 then I would maybe say don't get into debt at a young age because really time is on your side and you can save up for a wedding so I totally get AJ's point.

x

This is just silly. You should be able to find a similar dress for your budget now you have found the style. I found one for me at £475 and another at £1500. Even though I liked the more expensive one I talked myself out of it. I couldn't waste that about of money on a dress for one day.

Dont put so much emphasis on the wedding, it's all about the marriage. x

Basically what everyone else said!

esp with your jobs not being set ins tone!!

I take back what I said slightly as I wouldn't take out a loan just for a £1750 dress. I would if it meant having my wedding day with all my friends and family and being able to give them a better meal for example but not for a dress.

Yup i agree with this and previous comments too! We are struggling to save for our wedding bills each month but we are staying in budget and know we can do it without a loan. We do have some debt from our travels around the world and to me this was worth getting in debt for as it was the time of our lives. I really do think it depends on circumstances, with unstable jobs i would definitely advise against getting a loan x

Your wedding will be perfect with or without a loan!

I am sure the dress is gorgeous but I wouldn't even consider it. We have no debt and the wedding funds are fortunately debt free but even I wouldn't pay that much for a dress. I bought a preloved dress because I wanted too not because I had too. I take it the £2k loan is effectively for the dress then??

Honestly whatever dress you choose will look stunning. keep trying on dresses and tell the assistant your budget so you don't get wowed by a really expensive one, this is why they do it!!

I agree with others, its just not worth getting into debt over, you have seen yourself on here how little people get married on and what wonderful days they have. You still have 15 months to go yet so that sometime to be practical and arty about things..........or even find a suitable dress that doesn't break the bank.

Me. ?

Oh, unless you count the money I still owe to the travel agents?

Um... me?

I did my degree through Open University because I couldn't stand the idea of getting myself into literally thousands of pounds worth of debt when there was an alternative. Ok it took me a year or two longer to complete but I was working the whole time too and earned myself a fair stash which I used towards our wedding.

Honestly, I'm so tight-fisted (Scottish!!) that we set an initial budget of £5,000 for the wedding plus extra for the honeymoon etc. By the time I'd paid for everything INCLUDING our honeymoon and travel money and gratuities etc we'd spent £4,300. Amazingly that included increasing my dress budget to £800 when I'd orginally planned to order an ebay dress which would have been about £100-£150.

Anyway, to answer the original post - if your jobs aren't that stable I wouldn't even consider getting a loan. I know the wedding is already quite a while off but the only "safe" option here if money is just getting too tight would be to put it off a little longer or as I think has already been said look at where you might be able to cut any costs. We made our own buffet, I asked a friend to do nails and makeup, I made my own invites and delivered as many as possible by hand, we asked a photography student friend of my sister to do our photos, we had handmade tablet for our favours and my mum made our wedding cake - if you have helpful, crafty/talented people around you don't be shy of asking, lots of people are happy to help*!

*NB I AM aware this does not apply to everyone and fully appreciate how lucky I am that I have so many helpful people in my life - and they do know that their help was very much appreciated!

I'm in two minds about this. I totally agree that it would be silly to get into debt for one day, but I have also been tempted to do so. We would be looking at taking a loan for £1000 to cover little things like the cars and to be able to buy/hire a groomsmen suit for my brother. If we can't do it, we can't do it, but if we could i'd be made up.

WSS. I agree you can have a lovely wedding o na restricted budget - no one will notivce the "missing" flim flam in the excitement and happiness of your day. And it is NOT worth years of debt and possible worry.

Personally, I would avoid the loan. We don't have any debts now (apart from mortgage), but I have had a loan in the past (we got a small one once for a new kitchen), I kept on thinking, "I could be putting this money towards my savings."

It's up to you, but I would rather pay now than pay later. I don't like having debts.

I'm with the majority, getting into debt for your wedding is a bad idea, Especially if it's just over a dress. If you calm down and step back a bit and look at it from a different angle then you might see that it's £1750 for a dress that you will wear ONCE, sure it's your wedding dress but it is just for one day and I may get shot down in flames by all the brides for this but this is what i'd tell my fiancee if she wanted to spend more than we could afford on her dress.

And me. I do have a credit card but I pay it off in full every month and with the cashback they pay me to have it! I paid off my mortgage last year and it is a big woo hoo feeling!

?

With these two statements all you are doing is allowing yourselves to have more disposable income now, but if the repayments are only a bit smaller than what you are saving now then you will have less disposable income later while you are repaying.

This makes no sense to me.

I would do your best to save as hard as you can before the wedding (and if that means less luxuries then so be it) and then you can relax and enjoy married life after the big day.

I also think that a jump from £300 to £1750 for a dress is huge and would seriously be reconsidering this. Even if it is the ONE, it's not worth getting into debt for, particularly if it would be that you were stretched too far after the wedding.

I was going to order a dress from Landy that I fell for, but apparently I have to think about the moral implications behind that. And I've been shot down in flames by many people who disagree with it. (Including my Mum.) Thinking I should just stick my fingers up at them all and do what I was going to go originally and deal with the fallout. If OH wanted an outfit that expensive I would definitely have concerns. I guess I'm a woman who is letting her head get ruled by her heart!
(PS, the total cost for the Landy gown is £207.)

Does your OH appreciate how much you love this dress? Can you's cut back elsewhere to have this dress ie favours, cars etc instead of taking out a loan?

Im all for 'its my one day, im having it' - but within reason IYKWIM. Ie Ive spending over 1k on our room decor but Ive loved it since I first saw it, knew nothing would ever compare & i'd regret not having it. So to have it, were forgoing nites outs, meals out, cutting back on groceries a bit etc. Yes its hard - i got paid last wk & went on to my online banking & near peed myself at how little I have!! But then I see how much is in the wedding pot & I smile.

I would not take out a loan for my dress - but I'd make sure I got the money gathered up for it. What about a part time job? Ive got a sat job & the cash each week is a blessing.

Re the dress. I would do what the others suggest and try and find another one.

My dress cost £250, plus the alterations/embellishments cost £100. It is second hand (vintage) from ebay.

I am not saying get a vintage dress, but you could get a pre-loved or sample dress and save a fortune. You will only be wearing it for a day. Yes, you have found "The One" but I am sure you can get just as excited and look just as lovely in a different dress.

If money is already tight then don't go taking out a loan for the wedding and def not just to pay for an expensive dress! All you'll be doing is going from 15 months of hard saving to years and years of monthly payments - not worth it in my opinion.

We're saving for our wedding monthly, yes that means that we're going without some luxuries until we're married but it's worth it to have the wedding we want.

I'd have a good look on preloved or ebay to see if you can find a dress within your original budget, you have ages to find your dress and there's some amaxing bargains out there.

My opinion is that ordering a dress from China would be the better option for you, taking into account both ethical considerations and financial constraints. I know it's not a guilt free choice, but there are so many more ethical dilemmas in modern life than we even realise and sometimes the best choice for you is not the most ethical one for all concerned. It's not great, but I think it beats getting into debt.

It's good that you realise that if your OH wanted an outfit that cost nearly two grand that you would have concerns. My fiancee is not happy that I want to have a suit made even though I would wear it to work and she would never wear her dress again, for me that's an obvious anomaly and I like that you're aware of that. When it comes down to it I very much doubt there is only one dress, even though it might feel like it. I think of it very similar to the idea that the person i'm marrying is 'the one.' She's the one for me, but it doesn't mean that there aren't other women that I would have been just as happy with if i'd never met my fiancee. Maybe that's not a great example but I think it works similarly with dresses.

I'm not really sure what the moral implications are. Does anyone know for certain where their dresses are made? I'd be shocked if most shop bought dresses weren't made in China...with a designer label sewn into them and the price inflated.

I don't know much about clothes, but i've worked in makeup for years and dealt directly with cosmetic distributors. In most cases, products are made in China under EU regulations and standards, then transported to within the EU and USA and packaged. They still write on the box "Made in USA" and, yes, the box probably is, but the product isn't.

It's a big con!