It may be years until the day my dreams will match up with my pay

I'm having a small panic moment. How do people afford weddings?? I thought that the amount of money we had set aside seemed like a perfectly respectable amount. Then I started using the budget tool on Martha Stewart Weddings. Going through each item, adding a piece here, a piece there...before you know it, I'm way over what I thought I would need. Favors? Band for the reception? Limos? Hotel rooms for out of town guests? How could anyone ever afford to do all these things? Between the food, the clothes, the venues, the photographer and the flowers, I'm tapped out. It sucks. I wish I could pull out all the stops for my friends and family, but I just can't.

But I can tell you right now that our reception music will be provided by an Ipod. Or, at most, a friend wielding a laptop with a pre-programmed itunes playlist. No way I'm paying some random $600 to play "Baby Got Back" or "We are Family" at my wedding.