Hello all! I want to give you all our little love story, but for those who want the short and sweet…

TLDR: my partner and I are getting married! Eeeee! BUT Weddings are a major expense, even a small and simple one, which we are planning. We are saving and DIY-ing AMAP! It’s still so much, so we both plan to take on weekend jobs in the upcoming summer… Help me surprise my future husband with our dream wedding + minimal stress. ❤️

Heres the long version:

Picture this… It’s 2019. I am crying hysterically because I am STRUGGLING with analytical chemistry, the school doesn’t have a tutor for this subject atm so I turn to the chem club. And there he is. He’s cool, he’s casual, he knows analytical chemistry! Is anyone shocked I joined the Chem club after that?? That was the first time I met him, but not where our story really started. I had to leave school for a while after that to help manage a family medical emergency, but after everything, I went back and finished my degree.

Its now 2022. I am getting ready to graduate, I’ve secured a job in my field, I don’t think much of that boy I met anymore. I move in with my parents to save money, I’m getting my feet under me! My new work friend says it’s time to check out the dating pool, and this tinder is downloaded on my phone… I kid you not, the third person…it was him!! I swipe right, he swiped right! But does he remember me?? I remember dying for about an hour until he messaged. He did remember me. We had our first date shortly after that. I will never forget when he walked me to my car that night, he looked me right in the soul and said “when can I see you again?” I saw him the next morning for coffee, btw he doesn’t even drink coffee.

Two years later he proposed to me in the chem club room where we first met, and I cried again.

Here we are now at the end of 2025, I am mending and revitalizing my grandmothers 70 year old dress myself, making decor or finding it on FB marketplace/thrifting, doing everything we can to save and make this wedding our own. So, this is where I ask for help. I want to be able to have a professional photographer, a pretty cake, good food, and I want my future hubby not to have to take on so much financial stress.

This is the breakdown of why I am asking for what I am asking for:

Venue- $1600 + tax

Professional Photography- $4000 + tax (crying screaming throwing up)

Bulk flowers( Costco/Sams club)- $500?? + tax ( I am making the bouquets and boutonnières with these)

Food- $1600 + tax

DJ- $2000 + tax (he REALLY wants a DJ so we don’t have someone from our families running around trying to play/pause/change songs all night)

Grooms Suit: $300?? (I don’t have the skills to make this)

Liquor/Dry Bar: $2000 + Tax

Cake: $500 + tax (I also don’t have the skills for this, but will be decorating the outside myself with some flowers and DIY-ing a cake topper)

We are saving our little tushies off too! Packing lunches, coffee at home, date nights at home, we canned/frozen/dried as much of our produce from our garden as possible to lower grocery bills, there are lots of blankets happening to keep the energy bill low, I’m cleaning houses for a little extra cash, we asking our parents for any help they can give. We are DOING IT! Any help, anything at all, would be so amazing.

Thank you all for reading our story❤️ Please share even if you aren’t able to contribute, that’s a contribution in itself.

Much love and appreciation

-L