...and so completely broke.
I'm not saying we're living on the streets, don't have enough food, can't afford housing, etc. But we do have enough debt (student-loan debt, in our case) that we have a negative net worth (i.e., we owe more than we have). And if you live in the United States and you're reading this, you probably do too: the Average American Household carries over $117,000 in debt, has an income of about $43,000, and has little to no savings.
Less Than Zero
If you're in the same boat (i.e., the underwater-debt-boat) and you just got engaged, try to remember this when thinking about your wedding: you have LITERALLY LESS THAN NOTHING to spend on this thing. Same goes for your parents.
So, mathematically, your budget is probably < $0.00. Which brings us to:
So, mathematically, your budget is probably < $0.00. Which brings us to:
The Magic of Interest
Again, if you're in this boat (i.e., the underwater-debt-boat), every penny you spend is borrowed. Let's say it's borrowed at 7%, and you'll take 10 years to pay it back. Doesn't sound so bad, right? But it means your $25,000 wedding is actually going to cost you a total of $34,832.54. And you're going to be paying $290.00 per month, for one hundred and twenty months. Just for one (expletive) day.
Opportunity Costs
And whether you're in this boat (i.e., the underwater-debt-boat) or any other boat, you're going to incur opportunity costs in paying for a wedding, which is just a fancy way of saying that you could've spent the money on something else. If you can downgrade from that $25,000 wedding to a $10,000 (or, even better, $3,000) wedding, you'll essentially have a bunch of extra money to take a great honeymoon, then take a couple more great trips, or buy a car, or pay down debt, or buy a $5.00 bottle of wine, drink it, then make a bonfire of 14,995 one-dollar bills and dance around them while they burn. It'll probably be a lot more fun than fighting with your fiancee about whether to include custom blotter paper in your invitations (because what the (expletive) is blotter paper anyway?!).
Anyway, by this point, you're hopefully beginning to wonder if having an inexpensive wedding is actually a pretty amazing idea. And this is just Part One! More to follow.
Opportunity Costs
And whether you're in this boat (i.e., the underwater-debt-boat) or any other boat, you're going to incur opportunity costs in paying for a wedding, which is just a fancy way of saying that you could've spent the money on something else. If you can downgrade from that $25,000 wedding to a $10,000 (or, even better, $3,000) wedding, you'll essentially have a bunch of extra money to take a great honeymoon, then take a couple more great trips, or buy a car, or pay down debt, or buy a $5.00 bottle of wine, drink it, then make a bonfire of 14,995 one-dollar bills and dance around them while they burn. It'll probably be a lot more fun than fighting with your fiancee about whether to include custom blotter paper in your invitations (because what the (expletive) is blotter paper anyway?!).
Anyway, by this point, you're hopefully beginning to wonder if having an inexpensive wedding is actually a pretty amazing idea. And this is just Part One! More to follow.
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