How did we get into this mess?

Hello! Welcome to our blog, we invite you to join us on our journey of planning a DIY wedding for under 3k.  Who are we exactly?  Sunny and Phil, wedding planners extraordinaire. No, not really. Neither of us have done this before. While we both have some DIY projects under our belts (Phil does freelance web design, and Sunny has a small jewelry store on Etsy), we’ve never tackled a monster as big as a wedding.  Why do we have such a small budget? The simple answer is: College.

We both decided to try to better ourselves (and our pocketbooks) by furthering our education, and in the process we racked up some pretty hefty student loan debt. Together our debt amounts to a little over $100k. We both attended private colleges. Myself (Sunny) at a very traditional 4-year private school for a degree in American Sign Language interpreting, and Phil at a very overpriced technical school for Graphic Design.

We approached school in two very different ways, Phil went to Chicago which is pricey to begin with and thought that since he was in an accelerated program he wouldn’t have enough time to work (even though I completely disagreed). He paid for everything with student loan money.  I attended school in Tennessee and while I took out student loans to cover the cost of tuition and room+board I worked an on campus job as well as taking off campus babysitting jobs to fund my daily living needs.

So here we are, newly engaged and on a super tight budget. We both work full-time jobs and supplement our incomes with Phil freelancing websites and me babysitting at a fancy schmancy resort. Thankfully we are able to pay all of our bills with our 9-5 jobs and now all of the supplementary money will be going toward the wedding.

So right now this is where we stand, ready to embark on a DIY adventure of sorts. Our goal is to show that you can have a great wedding without going into debt or draining your savings. While you may not have a rock like *insert celebrity here* adorning your finger, the most important thing to remember is that no matter what your wedding looks like, at the end of the day you will be married. It’s easy to lose sight of this and get wrapped up in planning leading to some bridezilla-esque moments (What do you mean I can’t cover everything in pink glitter? This is my day, I’ll do what I want!!!). Trust me I know, we’ve only been engaged for two weeks and I’ve already had a few moments! Phil is not very happy about this, I’m sure you so will not be either.

Thanks so much for checking out our blog, I hope you come back to see us, and maybe our ideas and thriftiness can give you some ideas help you plan your special day.