Devan

I married my best friend on October 12, 2019. It is no surprise to me that I became a wife. From a young age, I knew I wanted a family of my own. I always dreamt about what my life would be like with me and my handsome husband, but I never really put much thought into the actual wedding day. I am sure some women are different, and they have dreamt of their wedding day for years and years, but I was not that girl. I had no idea what I was doing! To be honest, it felt so overwhelming. And expensive.

I began to plan out a big, traditional wedding, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt disconnected from the whole idea. My heart wasn’t in it. My aunt did a destination wedding, and my mom mentioned that as an idea. I liked the idea of going on an adventure, and putting our money towards the trip of a lifetime. At the beginning, Dean wasn’t into it because he was nervous our close family wouldn’t be able to attend. We knew it was a stretch, but everyone was so supportive and excited for us. They approved, so we finally started to plan our dream wedding!

Dean and I set an overall budget of 10,000 for wedding and honeymoon. We picked a location our family has always wanted to visit. We chose Ireland. Planning a wedding in Ireland was suprisingly easy. I’ve recieved a ton of questions about what we spent, so it is important that I share the details. Our wedding wasn’t perfect. My hair curlers were not heating up, I didn’t hire a makeup artist and I should have given myself more time to get ready, and I forgot my wedding day perfume. Those are all minor inconveniences. There were so many emotions I went through on our wedding day. I woke up calm. I got nervous as I started to do my makeup. I was excited while walking down the aisle. I whispered to Dean “this is the coolest thing we have ever done.” I cried off and on. I felt all the feelings that day. I wouldn’t change a thing. To some our wedding budget may be too much. To others our budget may be cheap. Either way, it doesn’t matter to me. I simply thought the truth was worth sharing. So, here is the break down…

Venue: 725 euros, Officiant: 550 euros, Harp: 250 euros, Marriage Certificate: 200 euros, Wedding Planner: 1500 euros, Photographer: 900 euros, Wedding Dress: 900 dollars, Deans suit: 650 dollars, Tickets for 2 Adults: 1455 dollars, AIRBNB for 15 guests: ~1900 dollars

Everything above was completely necessary. Dean and I are fortunate to have parents who took care of the rehearsal dinner and reception. My parents bought flowers and miscellaneous items. The remaining money was fun money we budgeted. Dean and I went to Ireland with a healthy food budget, so that expense is personal preference of the traveler. It was important for Dean and I to avoid debt while planning our wedding, and we did just that! We made several sacrifices. We said no to a lot of things in order to pay cash for our dream wedding. There were several back and forth emails of me taking certain things away to save money. Like I said earlier, I did not have a make up artist. We did not have a videographer. I did not want to be recorded anyway, so that was easy to turn down. I did not have a bridal party, and I did not have a bachelorette party because it felt too forced and unnecessary. It wasn’t perfect, but I wouldn’t change a thing. Looking back, everything happened just as it should have.