Hello all! I got engaged March 2018, and have been planning a wedding for July 2019. We just sent our save the dates and were about to book a caterer when I made my fiancé sit down and look at the budget. We initially only wanted to spend 12k, but then upped it to 15k. Now we have to your to 18k...

Part of me is disgusted at this sum of money... WE COULD PUT A DOWN PAYMENT ON A HOUSE WITH THAT! But there’s also a part of me who has waited a long time for this day (I’ve kissed a lot of frogs if you know what I mean)... people keep telling us to elope and not spend the money, but I know I would regret it if I didn’t have a wedding.

So my question is: do you regret spending money on your wedding and wish you’d have spent it elsewhere? Or do you think it was money well spent? For reference, I live in LA, I’m 31, a high school science teacher, and I work as a waitress on the weekends to make more money for the wedding.