Right then, I’d previously sacked off this blog because frankly I’m too lazy to update it, but today I really need to get something off of my chest. I’m pissed off. And I mean really pissed off, not just my normal ranty why-do-I-have-to-get-off-the-sofa-to-get-my-own-biscuits? kind of pissed off.
I recently proposed to my girlfriend and she “yes” (of course, why wouldn’t she?), so now we’re getting married. We don’t want to be one of those couples that get engaged and then put off getting wed for any great length of time. Those people are annoying; I don’t know why, they just are.
I knew that getting married would be expensive, but I also firmly believed that we could arrange a wedding that was just what we wanted and was also within our budget. I don’t think I want to divulge our budget, but let’s just say I’m not talking actual ‘budget’ in the colloquial sense, but I’m also not talking of £20k-£30k ridiculousness either. For that money I would expect ownership of the church to be thrown in with the service.
Not that we were ever considering a church wedding of course. We’re not religious, we’re not christened, and we’d likely be struck down by the wrath of God if we’d tried to worm our way into a church on the proviso that it was the “cheap and pretty” option. I’m not a believer, but I’m not taking that risk, I’ve heard heavenly smiting puts a dampener on a wedding day.
We’re also not really after anything particularly lavish; we just want it to be ‘nice’. We don’t have a huge guest list; from what we’ve discovered so far our numbers are about average, if not a bit below average.
Anyway, what we’ve now found after trawling the internet for venues, asking friends, family and acquaintances for their ideas of where’s nice, is that we simply can’t get what we want in budget. And let me tell you, that fucking sucks.
Every time we think we’ve found the place that ticks all our boxes another caveat is thrown in, usually with an unreasonable and hefty price tag attached. This also fucking sucks. It’s really frustrating and pretty depressing, but ultimately isn’t the actual reason I’m pissed off.
In order to have the exact wedding that we want all we need is a bit more money. It’s mercenary, unromantic, and materialistic, but sadly it’s also true – money will buy you the wedding you want. And this is why I’m pissed off...
We can’t quite afford the wedding we want to have, but I don’t understand why, especially when I see so many other people getting married and having everything they want.
I don’t think of myself as poor; I have savings, I’m on the property ladder, I have my own car that I own outright and aside from my mortgage I have no other debts and never have done – I’ve never, ever owned a credit card. I don't have any student debt as I didn't go to Uni; I didn't know what i wanted to do so I thought it sensible not to take on a load of student debt and a place in the further education system just to do some bullshit degree my heart wasn't in and that I'd never use like most students do. I have worked practically since the day I left school when I was 18 and have never been out of a job in the 12 ½ years since. The longest I’ve been off work in that time is when I’ve taken about 10 days off as holiday.
I work hard; I’ve had promotions and pay rises, and would consider myself as pretty highly skilled. My salary isn’t huge, but it’s decent. I’ve never had any significant commuting costs to fork out on, and for a fair chunk of my adult life I lived an almost hermit-like existence. I didn’t piss (or vomit) away my income every weekend, and I’ve never ever bought a top-of-the-range anything. If I’m ever going to buy anything I’ll always look for a deal. I’m not tight, I do spend money (sometimes whimsically – just check out my Star Wars collection), but I am frugal.
I’ve never claimed benefits or been on the dole. I’m a non-smoker and far from a heavy drinker, I’m never ill and have never put any strain on the healthcare system or been in trouble with the law (apart from that £25 fine for using a bus lane in Reading which was blatantly my TomTom’s fault).
In short, I’m a fucking amazing citizen and I feel like I’ve lived my life “the right and proper way”, but look where that gets you. I can’t even afford get married in the pretty reserved, non-extravagant, yet nice way I want to. Now THAT pisses me off.
And do you know what really tops it off? Every other fucker seems to be able to afford it no problem. How? Seriously, how? Am I the only mug around here earning less than £40k and not sponging off their parents? Is everyone else contributing to the country’s spiralling debt problem while I’m the only one sticking to my principles of “if you can’t afford it, you can’t have it”?
We’re now getting to the point where we’re fed up of trying to fit what we actually want into our budget, and we’ll end up settling for something we don’t want that’ll be shit just because we can’t face being made to feel so inadequate by every venue and added expense being thrown our way.
This is meant to be the happiest day of our lives, right now, it can just fuck off.
I recently proposed to my girlfriend and she “yes” (of course, why wouldn’t she?), so now we’re getting married. We don’t want to be one of those couples that get engaged and then put off getting wed for any great length of time. Those people are annoying; I don’t know why, they just are.
I knew that getting married would be expensive, but I also firmly believed that we could arrange a wedding that was just what we wanted and was also within our budget. I don’t think I want to divulge our budget, but let’s just say I’m not talking actual ‘budget’ in the colloquial sense, but I’m also not talking of £20k-£30k ridiculousness either. For that money I would expect ownership of the church to be thrown in with the service.
Not that we were ever considering a church wedding of course. We’re not religious, we’re not christened, and we’d likely be struck down by the wrath of God if we’d tried to worm our way into a church on the proviso that it was the “cheap and pretty” option. I’m not a believer, but I’m not taking that risk, I’ve heard heavenly smiting puts a dampener on a wedding day.
We’re also not really after anything particularly lavish; we just want it to be ‘nice’. We don’t have a huge guest list; from what we’ve discovered so far our numbers are about average, if not a bit below average.
Anyway, what we’ve now found after trawling the internet for venues, asking friends, family and acquaintances for their ideas of where’s nice, is that we simply can’t get what we want in budget. And let me tell you, that fucking sucks.
Every time we think we’ve found the place that ticks all our boxes another caveat is thrown in, usually with an unreasonable and hefty price tag attached. This also fucking sucks. It’s really frustrating and pretty depressing, but ultimately isn’t the actual reason I’m pissed off.
In order to have the exact wedding that we want all we need is a bit more money. It’s mercenary, unromantic, and materialistic, but sadly it’s also true – money will buy you the wedding you want. And this is why I’m pissed off...
We can’t quite afford the wedding we want to have, but I don’t understand why, especially when I see so many other people getting married and having everything they want.
I don’t think of myself as poor; I have savings, I’m on the property ladder, I have my own car that I own outright and aside from my mortgage I have no other debts and never have done – I’ve never, ever owned a credit card. I don't have any student debt as I didn't go to Uni; I didn't know what i wanted to do so I thought it sensible not to take on a load of student debt and a place in the further education system just to do some bullshit degree my heart wasn't in and that I'd never use like most students do. I have worked practically since the day I left school when I was 18 and have never been out of a job in the 12 ½ years since. The longest I’ve been off work in that time is when I’ve taken about 10 days off as holiday.
I work hard; I’ve had promotions and pay rises, and would consider myself as pretty highly skilled. My salary isn’t huge, but it’s decent. I’ve never had any significant commuting costs to fork out on, and for a fair chunk of my adult life I lived an almost hermit-like existence. I didn’t piss (or vomit) away my income every weekend, and I’ve never ever bought a top-of-the-range anything. If I’m ever going to buy anything I’ll always look for a deal. I’m not tight, I do spend money (sometimes whimsically – just check out my Star Wars collection), but I am frugal.
I’ve never claimed benefits or been on the dole. I’m a non-smoker and far from a heavy drinker, I’m never ill and have never put any strain on the healthcare system or been in trouble with the law (apart from that £25 fine for using a bus lane in Reading which was blatantly my TomTom’s fault).
In short, I’m a fucking amazing citizen and I feel like I’ve lived my life “the right and proper way”, but look where that gets you. I can’t even afford get married in the pretty reserved, non-extravagant, yet nice way I want to. Now THAT pisses me off.
And do you know what really tops it off? Every other fucker seems to be able to afford it no problem. How? Seriously, how? Am I the only mug around here earning less than £40k and not sponging off their parents? Is everyone else contributing to the country’s spiralling debt problem while I’m the only one sticking to my principles of “if you can’t afford it, you can’t have it”?
We’re now getting to the point where we’re fed up of trying to fit what we actually want into our budget, and we’ll end up settling for something we don’t want that’ll be shit just because we can’t face being made to feel so inadequate by every venue and added expense being thrown our way.
This is meant to be the happiest day of our lives, right now, it can just fuck off.
