What was the biggest expense of your wedding? Would you say now it was worth it?

The venue we chose (Arden Hills Country Club) cost a lot, but they took care of so much (ceremony site, reception site, catering, bar, wedding coordinator, tiramisu). - Melanie, June 2007
The place we got married. It included every thing though so I believe it was worth it. (ie. Ceremony site, receptions site, dinner buffet, drinks, and an overnight stay for our wedding party including brunch and coffee the next morning). - Nona, married August 2007

The cocktail party before the wedding. I wasn't there, but the pictures are great so, yes, it was worth it. - Lauren, married May 2007
The biggest expense of our wedding was the photography (The Memory Journalists). It was definitely worth it! - Amanda, married October 2007
The biggest expense was the venue and the food. I do think it was worth it because the service was awesome, and it really set the tone for the kind of party we were hoping to have. Iâ??m sure we could have had a nice wedding someplace cheaper, but I was very happy with our decision. - Julie, married September 2007

Photo courtesy of Sharpe Photographers

Did you and/or your fiancé go into your marriage bringing debt? How did you handle that?

Yes we did, but we knew about it and talked about ultimate goals and future and retirement and are dealing with paying off debt. - Michelle, married March 2007

Someâ?¦we are a team now, my debt is his and his is mine. We consolidated and made a plan for what we wanted to do, and how we were going to get there. But we didnâ??t have anything out of control either, so it wasnâ??t hard to do this. - Melanie, married June 2007

We both have some debt. And now the wedding debt. We are both well aware of what debt we had and how we are paying for it. - Bree, married November 2007

Yes we both had debt, but that had already been out in the open from when we first moved in together. Once I moved in, we combined everything to simplify our finances. It's worked out great. We started a retirement plan and got life insurance in place as well. - Tina, married January 2008

Photo courtesy of Sharpe Photographers

Did you take your husband's last name? If so, when did you change it and was the process difficult? If not, how did your husband react to you not taking his last name?

I did not take my husbands last name, it is Smith and we already have problems with his identity being stolen. He was fine with it although I told him if he wanted me to I would change my name. Also keep in mind I am 47 and although this is my first marriage, my identity and career are tied up in my maiden name. It would be different if we were going to have children, but we are not. - Michelle, married March 2007

I did take his name, and I waited to start the process until after we got back from the honeymoon since we traveled out of the country, and we know how tough it can be to travel these days, so I didnâ??t want to get caught with one form of ID with one name, and another form with a different name. I am still working on changing my name, and probably will for some time, but all of the major stuff is done. A friend emailed me with this website that made it super easy to get the process started, it helped a great deal. (www.angelfire.com/ma/dnsassoc/need.html and www.angelfire.com/ma/dnsassoc/tools.html).- Melanie, married June 2007

I did take my husbandâ??s last name and I made the change the week we got back from our honeymoon. The process of changing my name was not difficult, it was just time consuming. - Nona, married August 2007

Yes, I changed my last name, but to Brown-Kinell because I have a business with my maiden name. My husband was perfectly fine with whatever I did, however I know it makes him proud that I wanted his last name. Yes, the process was very difficult, especially if you own your own business because not only does your personal stuff have to be changed, but all of the business stuff too. -Lauren, married May 2007

I have not changed my name at this time, but I may add his last name in the future. My husband encouraged me to choose the name I felt most comfortable with, while insisting that he prefers me to keep my name the way it was when we first met. - Amanda, married October 2007

Photo courtesy of Sharpe Photographers

What has been the most challenging issue as a newlywed (combining money, living together, etc.)?

Since we had been living together for more than a year before we were married, our wedding was more a celebration of our love and commitment to one another than a new beginning. However, in the first year of living together, our most difficult task we encountered was sharing space. It is important to allow an adjustment period for both people to get used to the new situation. Make sure to talk about expectations and goals before the wedding in order to avoid any surprise issues during that transitional time. - Amanda, married October 2008

We are really trying to save up to purchase a house, so I think combining all our bills and knowing when they are due as has been our biggest obstacle. - Julie, married September 2007

My husband is pretty domestic, but I'd say we pick on each other about our messiness more than anything else. - Tina, married January 2008

Becoming more "family oriented". -Lisa, arried September 2008

Photo courtesy of The Memory Journalists

Did you get help from friends and/or family with respect to budget?

My mother gave me $15,000 towards the event. â?? Michelle, married March 2007

Yes, both dadâ??s helped. - Melanie, married June 2007

Yes, my father paid for the entire wedding day. My husbandâ??s parents paid for the honeymoon and rehearsal dinner (not included in the budget) and my mother paid for all the excursion the week before the wedding (not included in the budget). â?? Lauren, married May 2007

Both sides of our families were able to contribute to our wedding, which was very helpful and much appreciated. Also, my mom made decorative table runners out of a fabric I chose. Not only did that help us save on decorative costs, but I have beautiful mementos of our wedding to use for decoration in our own home. The runners also made perfect gifts for family and friends after the wedding! â?? Amanda, married October 2007

My parents helped with most of our wedding, and my mother-in-law helped with the rehearsal dinner and also gave a little bit extra to help out. â?? Julie, married September 2007

Photo courtesy of The Memory Journalists

What was the biggest way you cut costs for your wedding? Would you do this again or would you have spent more in this area?

We didnâ??t do a wedding video because we are an older couple (47 and 51) with no children and after watching other videos and talking to our married friends we found out of the 10 couples we talked to only one actually watched the video more than once and they only watched it on their first anniversary and they have been married 20 years. - Michelle, married March 2007

We used people we knew for certain aspects of the wedding. I have a friend that did our invitations; Nate and his dad are musicians, so we had a live band of people that they knew so they cut us a deal on what a band normally would have costed; my bridesmaids and other friends who are already married were a great source of information for ways to cut down on costs, and what is and is not worthwhile on the do-it-yourself stuff. â?? Melanie, married June 2007

We made our own centerpieces. Yes, I think it was a good use of money & time. Also, the wedding was in Mexico, so this was the only way I could ensure that we would be happy with the outcome of the centerpieces. â?? Lauren, married May 2007

We limited our guest list so that we could have the type of wedding we wanted on a budget we could afford. In retrospect, I am completely happy with how we handled the guest list with respect to our budget and would not change a thing. - Amanda, married October 2007

Photo courtesy of Sharpe Photographers

What did you spend a lot of time on that you wish you hadn't? (part 2)

Nothing. I loved planning it all. - Jennifer, married May 2006

The programs. They wound up not being set out, so nobody even got them! But I donâ??t know that they missed them either. Also, reserving blocks of hotel rooms for the guests. Most of our guest either didnâ??t use them, or made them too late for your group rate anyways.
- Julie, married September 2007
Worrying? Not sleeping??;) - Hannah, married September 2006
The gifts for bridesmaids were totally over the top and I wish that I wouldnâ??t have spent so much time finding something different for each of them.
- Nona, married August 2007

Nothing I can think of, but I do wish that I spent more time on our vows. We put those together the night beforeâ?¦I wouldn't recommend it.
- Kelley, married July 2006

Worrying about family issues, not worth the money.
- Michelle, married March 2007

I was really set on buying my bridesmaid dresses online or at a major department store. My main goal was to have dresses that would be wearable after the wedding and not over priced. I wish I would have just ordered from a boutique and saved all the time and energy of searching for the â??rightâ?? dresses.
- Amanda, married October 2007

Photo courtesy of The Memory Journalists

What did you spend a lot of time on that you wish you hadn't? (part 1)

Cake topper, my bridesmaid broke it on accident, 5 minutes before the wedding. Always have a backup if it's important to you.
- Rebecca, married July 2003

I made our own programs for the church part of the wedding and I took so long to do them and no one really noticed or even kept them after the ceremony. I could have saved some time and stress. But also, I don't know if I would have had them done professionally because why spend a lot of money on something that no one really looks at or keeps for very long?
-Erin, married October 2003

I spent a lot of time looking for shoes. I kept telling myself that it didnâ??t matter, because no one sees my shoes. But my mother insisted that I have nice shoes, and unfortunately I gave into the pressure. If I were to do it over again, I would have spent $5 and worn flip flops.
- Alison, married October 2007

I spent a lot of time on the place cards. I loved how they looked in the end but all the layers and detail took too much time the week before the wedding. I should have started earlier.
- Kirsten, married September 2006

Photo courtesy of Sharpe Photographers

What was your total budget? Does that include your honeymoon and rings?

My dad and stepmom and Nateâ??s dad and stepmom took care of the wedding and reception. We paid for our own honeymoon, and the rings we bought as our Christmas gifts the year before the wedding. ---Melanie, married June 2007

Each set of parents gave us $10,000. This did not include the rings and the honeymoon. --Nona, married August 2007

$20,000. No, that doesn't include either. -- Lauren, married May 2007

We originally set a goal of $15,000. I know that is a little low (comparatively) these days, but I am quite a savvy girl and I was convinced I could do it. Not too long into the planning process we decided to increase our budget to a more realistic figure of $20,000, which did not include our honeymoon or rings. My engagement ring was a gift to my husband and myself from his grandfather (the ring had belonged to my husbandâ??s grandmother). -- Amanda, married October 2007

All in all, we wound up paying around $30k for everything. -- Julie, married September 2007

Honestly we didn't really set a number. In hindsight we should have. He bought my rings so he set that budget (my e-ring and wedding band cost about $1500). I bought his so I set that budget ($600). We tried to stay around $25,000. -- Bree, married November 2007

Photo courtesy of Sharpe Photographers