Sticker Shock
I think the price estimate from a local wedding venue shocked me as much as my proposal. I know weddings are generally expensive, but I thought with my bare bones guest list, my date options, and finding a venue where just about everything that can be included is (less room for surprise extra expenses) that maybe, just maybe, the cost wouldn't seem astronomical. I find myself asking if it's all, even remotely, worth it for just one day. It's not a question I can answer at this time, and I don't know how to make it any cheaper really. I just think of what I could do with that money in a year and I have a hard time justifying an event I'd dreamed about half my life. I could pay off my car, fill the gas tank for a year, take multiple road trips, and probably have spending money left over. I could work half as many hours as I do now and snowboard and hike twice as much. I could travel. I could put a down payment on a house (or a good chunk of one) or furnish an entire house. I could buy groceries for years. And now, when I think about it, financially anyway, my dream wedding (although modest) seems absolutely absurd. I'm not one to give up so easily on my dreams, but I'm honestly at a loss and if I don't book a venue soon I'm not going to have one at all. Every weekend from April through October has multiple weddings scheduled already. I thought 10 months in advance would be enough time to figure things out, and boy was I wrong. *sigh*