Money drama and minor details; how to keep it from stressing you out?

So we are getting married July 14th this year and of course these next few weeks are proving to be stressful just from nerves alone. I was wondering how any of you are dealing with the last minute money drama that comes from realizing you are spending probably too much;) We can afford what we have gotten, we haven't gone over budget really and our parents have contributed quite a bit, thank goodness, but having the money and writing the checks are two different things, if you know what I'm saying;) How have ya'll tried to keep the stress at bay before the wedding? I know we are just getting nervous and hoping everything works out, but I would also like to not worry about things that really don't matter in the long run...I mean we had a stupid argument last night over what fragrence to use in our party favors LOL, seriously like any groom could tell the difference between gardenia and fresia! Any suggestions to destress?
Money drama and minor details; how to keep it from stressing you out?
I am also getting married July 14th and I am making sure I take lots of time to just relax and making list upon list to make sure I stay VERY organized. Get things together now and dont be afraid to use multiple lists from books and different sites to make sure you stay on track.



Take a night to go to dinner and dont talk about the wedding or the honeymoon...just be together and enjoy each other's company. Go get a massage or a mani/pedi (for you lol) and take a long hot bath with lavender essence. Dont forget to take time to reflect on why you decided to marry each other. Most of all just breathe... good luck girl and congrats!
Reply:Laugh. Alot. It's the only way to get through it the last 2 weeks. Oh my, the last week of mine was just AWFUL. We were still tracking down people for RSVP's. Our location, which I loved %26amp; they worked really hard %26amp; in the end everything was perfect %26amp; they were fabulous, but I booked the place in September for the March wedding, %26amp; they waited until the week before to really involve themselves. They kept calling with 500 options for everything. Plus, I was 2 hours away from my hometown (where my wedding was), so everything was phone calls %26amp; email pictures. The real kick in the head was the chair covers. She quoted us it'd be about $2.50-$3.00 per cover. Well, she forgot to order them %26amp; when she did it turns out the price she quoted was a price for just the chair covers, not the ties, which were a main thing for our room %26amp; colors. To have the ties in the decent material, it would be $6 per cover total. So we went from $300 max to a $600 chair rental fee. Then, the day before the wedding, we are having to describe exactly what gold we wanted to the woman over the phone. I didn't know how many golds there were until then! Of course the really fun part was when we found out the new chair cover cost we had to tell them THAT DAY if we wanted them, because otherwise it would be too late to order. It was already 3:30, I'm on the road for work, %26amp; I had to track down my dad, who was also on the road travelling, to check with him because there was no way at that point I could just write a check for $300 extra, so to do it I needed his help. But it worked out, %26amp; at like 4:45 I had the covered ordered. And they were nice, so they were worth the trouble!



Of course about 3 weeks before the wedding, when the florist wanted to order our flowers, we were told that our cake with a pink flower wasn't possible...because it was a computer generated color, the closest match was red. Well, the colors were pink %26amp; gold. We had planned around this cake basically, only to be told we planned wrong. So there, in the florist shop, we had to go through %26amp; pick a totally new cake. Of course the price for that went up, too, because the new cake we selected, to have pink, was covered in roses. Roses are expensive.



I've rambled, but I wanted you to see you aren't alone. Everything goes wrong the last 1-2 weeks before the wedding, just to test you %26amp; drive you nuts. It was really either laugh or cry. Find the humor in these things, because I promise they exist!
Reply:We paid for our whole wedding ourselves, since we were mature, working adults. Because of that, we had saved almost a year, as well as having our savings, and were careful with where the money went, and were inveterant listmakers to keep everything organized. We had a traditional church wedding, and hosted 200 people for the dinner and reception with a full open bar, so we had a lot to deal with in regard to our budgeting. However, we made sure we kept some money open for those 'extras' which were bound to pop up, and surely they did.

Good luck to you - only two weeks to go!!!

p.s. I would worry a 'bit' about a man with fragrance preferences!
Reply:I remember being so ANAL about my wedding costs...I would freak out that the dress of my dreams was $700, then I would go to wal-mart and see these cute favors and want to buy 8 million! Its like I was bi-polar with my wedding!



In the end, I came up with a good solution. I made payment arrangements with every vendor...and I arranged it so that I would make 2 payments every two weeks (for example, the cake and reception hall got paid this week, the pastor and the caterer got paid 2 weeks later, etc). I had a credit card that gave me frequent flyer miles, so I would put the more expensive purchase on that and pay with a check for the other. By the end of the month I'd have saved enough to pay off the credit card (avoiding interest) and gaining miles, which paid for our international flight for the honeymoon! It worked pretty well for me :) Good luck!