[TrueLoveKnowsNoBoundries]

Me again everyone. I just love it so much here and all the helpful people. My parents arnt as understanding to things of this nature so I ask for help here.

-Well me and my beautiful g/f decided to wait till Oct. 07 to get married. By then we will be older more mature and we will have our lives started on our own. I have one question though. She wants her dream wedding and that's what she is going to get. It's far from a normal wedding. It will take place Halloween night. She is designing her own dress with patterns to look like the dress of Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas if anyone knows that movie. I was curious if a dress maker person would make it for her and if anyone has any clue on now much it might cost. O and the wedding will be a costume wedding. Every person must wear a costume including our parents. :D it will be a fun wedding. And I was wondering how most people pay for their weddings. Do people just save money or take out loans for what. I would just like to know the best approach to this because I have almost 2 1/2 years to save up and plan. Thank you for any and all help.

[orange]

Wow, your wedding sounds really cool and different! Can I come? :D

It's a good thing that you're starting to save your money now, as some of your wedding plans might cost a bit. Regarding your fiance's dress... in your city, do you have a costume shop, where you can rent costumes for Halloween? This might be a good place to start looking for someone who could make the dress. A regular dressmaker can make any dress you like, but someone who makes custom Halloween costumes might be a bit better for your particular theme. In any case, get an experienced seamstress. I have no idea how much this would cost where you live, but I imagine if you want a really professional job, it will be quite pricey. For example, where I am here in Canada, a professional seamstress will charge about $15-20 just to do a simple alteration on a pair of pants. So a custom made dress? I would assume at least a few hundred dollars, depending of course on how detailed the dress is, how much the material costs and how long it takes to make. I suggest you call some costume shops and dressmakers in your area and ask for quotes.

I'm not sure there is one way that most people pay for their weddings... some get help from their parents, others put the wedding on credit, others save up and pay cash as you are suggesting. My wedding is going to be extremely small and inexpensive. We are getting it catered, and paying the rabbi, but those are basically our only costs, and my fiancé and I are sharing them. If we had a bigger wedding we probably would have to put it on our credit cards.

[CaptainForest]

How to pay for weddings? It varies, sometimes the parents pay for it, sometimes the wedding couple pays for it. There is no right or wrong way.

COUPLE OF WARNINGS
You want to have all your guests dress up in costume? Who will pay for their costumes? Are they all willing to? My cousin tried something like this for her wedding. Most people either refused to come, or took the cost of the costume out of their gift. So she changed her mind and scarped the whole costume wedding for a more formal one.

Take out a loan for the wedding? The biggest issue married couples face is about money and finances. Don’t start your life together by incurring debt. Do not take out a loan for the wedding. If you cannot afford the wedding, then have a smaller one. Set a budget and stick to it. My cousin decided instead of the costume wedding, to have a formal wedding costing 30,000. Problem is, after that was all said and done, they were denied a mortgage to buy a house. You need to pick your priorities, but a house is more important that some expensive wedding you can not afford. So keep an eye on the cost.

[Fr_Chuck]

First I will say that spending most money than you make is not a dream but a nightmare wedding. Far too many leave people in debt and the money could have been so much better spent on paying off other newly wed debts. Money is the biggest cause of divorce in couples.


Next there are many dress makers, my sister in law does all sorts of pagent and formal wear dresses make to order. And there are dozens of costume shops in large cities and on line.

As a pastor and fun loving I have done many weddings, from pool side to air plane or hot air ballon. So weddings can be lots of fun and a great memory. Keep it to a budget you can afford.