How can I save up for a ticket to a wedding in Utah and then give a dinner to my daughter?

Question

My daughter is a Mormon. I am a Catholic. She chooses to have her wedding ceremony in Utah. My son and I will be attending the ceremony. The plane tickets and hotel for this trip for both my son and I should run about $1,000.00. I would like to give her a dinner celebration when she returns home in the summer. This should cost, on the low end for the dinner about $1,500.00, plus flowers - $100.00, invitations - $20.00. My dilemma is that I don't want to charge anything on my credit cards. I am feverishly trying to pay them off. At this time, I can only put the minimums on them and put the rest on my daughter's expenses. What can I do to raise more funds? I presently work 2 jobs. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Thank you all for your solutions and ideas. As to what the consensus was from many of you, I have cut down. I have been trying to pay down my credit cards for the past year. I have done all of the things you mentioned: cutting out dinners, taking lunch, cooking at home more, stopping cable, reducing my telephone expenses, buying only what I need not want. I have been living frugally for a while now, and I have no problem doing that. I kind of like it.
As to the ceremony, I am aware that I cannot be in the temple with her. But, I would like to be there when she comes out so she will have some family around.
Yes, I may have to cut out some guests and make it a more intimate dinner.
I know I can't do it alone, and may have help from my family, but I don't like to depend on anyone. My ex is cheap and wants nothing to do with it. Thanks again.

Answer 1

Try cutting something small out of your budget. For me it was not having manicures as often. It is amazing how much you can save just by doing that. I also looked at the weekly grocery ads and found out what was on sale. Then I would cook with the ingredients that week that were on sale. You are just going to have to do a little research and cut in your life where you are spending more.

Answer 2

My family are all Mormon, and live in Utah, and my sister is getting married at the end of January--we live in Kansas City--so I can TOTALLY empathize with you on the cost of getting to Salt Lake--we're trying desperately to find a plane ticket under $250, and so far no joy.

Some simple things you can do to save money:
Start taking your lunch to work--those $5-10 lunches add up quickly. Put that $$ towards the celebration in the summer.

Since you're spending the $$ on getting there and all the related expenses for her wedding, then scale back this year for Christmas. That's what we're doing (because my other sister is getting married in Atlanta in April...AND our oldest daughter is graduating from high school in May.)

Don't charge on your credit cards! Good for you for doing that!!

If you have cable, turn it off--if you're working 2 jobs you don't have time to watch much tv anyway. Instead of going to the movies--rent them. Instead of renting from Blockbuster, find a Redbox--you can rent movies for $1 a night. They're popping up everywhere.

Make sure you've got the cheapest phone plan out there.

Use gasbuddy.com to find the cheapest gas in town.

When you go grocery shopping, make a list and stick to it!

If you've got stuff lying around the house--have a garage sale. Or, list on ebay--just make sure you cover your shipping and time costs as well. Do your research.

Also, realize after the wedding part is over, you'll have some more time to save for the dinner this summer.

Congratulations on your daughter's marriage! Enjoy your new son-in law!

Edit: and if she's getting married in a LDS temple, no, you won't be allowed inside the temple to actually witness the ceremony. However, many couples will wait to exchange rings outside of the temple. Please don't consider NOT going simply because you can't go inside the temple. My grandparents did this when I got married, and it hurt not having them there. I'm sure your daughter will do everything she can to include you as much as possible. There's also usually pictures taken outside of the temple, and I'm sure you'll want to help your daughter get ready that morning.

Answer 3

You should look into a debt management program. I had tons of credit card debt so I decided to talk to them. They went through my entire budget with me along with my debts and then worked with my creditors to lower the interest rates. Now I just pay them once a month and the divy it up to my creditors. I have been doing for almost two years and am on a five year plan. They are strict though, you cannot open new credit cards or charge anything while you are on the plan or they cancel it. It helps keep you on the straight and narrow. I recommend it to lots of people because it really helped me. I swear I'm not advertising for them! It really helped and it's free. www.moneymanagement.org is the one I used or there are others you can look into.

Answer 4

You need to investigate if Non Mormons can actually attend a wedding the the Mormon Temple. Some material I read indicated that was not permitted.

I recently (last year) learned, through my genealogy that I have some distant Mormon relatives in Bountiful Utah.

Answer 5

Realize that you can't do everything! It's noble that you want to but hurting yourself in the long run isn't what you daughter has in mind.

Scale back the dinner by cooking at home, spend les time in Utah at the hotel, leave the son.....you need to scale back somewhere. I know it's hard but I'm sure she will understand.