I’m getting married. In 58 days. Wow, did I just say 58 days? Guys, I guess I’m getting married in less than 3 months!

For those of you who don’t know much about my wedding (which is probably most of you), we are going small. At a 35 person guest list, our plan is to keep our budget under $15,000. And man – is it ever hard.

I will give myself a pat on the back, because we have been running under budget on most things. I have been patient in searching for the most affordable options, and it has paid off (quite literally).

My greatest splurge so far was my wedding dress, but my amazing mother crept off and purchased this for me as a gift. All in all, we haven’t done too bad.

We have been paying for most of our budgeted items as we go, and will be ending our wedding with $0 leftover to pay. Entering a marriage with debt is not something we are comfortable doing, therefore, we won’t do it.

Now, do you see that lovely strikethrough under the “Ceremony” category?

Well, welcome to my $2000 mistake. We’re all allowed one right?

Originally, my fiancé and I had settled on hiring an elopement planner to organize our ceremony and take care of all of the planning. It was going to take away a boatload of stress, and leave us with not a lot left to plan other than the dinner. Keyword = was.

The lovely Sharon – I won’t name her company out of politeness – was anything but stress free. At a finalized cost of $5000 for the officiant, location, photographer, bouquet, champagne, and other small things I truly did not care about, we thought we were getting a great deal.

However, as things started to come together and my fiancé and I found the perfect bed & breakfast for our dinner and weekend festivities, Sharon wasn’t on board with us using other vendors.

Instead of making things easy, and moving things closer to our reception, as well as us using a different photographer to cut costs, Sharon made up a large amount of excuses for why she simply *couldn’t* do these things.

After my final request to move the ceremony and receiving the following three excuses:

• I don’t do business in that city

• It’s hard to get permits

• Traffic is bad

I realized this woman was quite simply, lazy. Within 45 minutes, I had found a new officiant, picked a location, and moved the entire ceremony over to the town we preferred (less than 30 minutes from the original spot chosen).

That evening, I emailed Sharon saying we wouldn’t be requiring her services any longer.

Unfortunately, my fiancé and I had lost the $2000 deposit.

But by making this decision, we are actually saving $2825.

Planning a wedding can be stressful enough without the added decisions of having to make changes that may be financially strenuous. As someone who is not interested in the overall idea of tradition in weddings, all I want from this day is an intimate moment with my closest friends & family, with absolutely zero added stress.

I know that things will not go perfectly, and that is fine by me.

Before diving into any large purchases for your wedding or event, ensure that you do your research. Know what you want before you start paying deposits on things or services you may not actually use. I learned my lesson, and I will certainly wish I hadn’t wasted that $2000, but I also know that sometimes these losses can benefit us in other forms. AKA – lessons.

Have you ever paid for something and then realized you no longer wanted or needed it? Let me know in the comments!