# Wedding and House! Possible?



## western (3 Jul 2008)

*Age:*
30
*Spouse’s/Partner's age:*
31

*Annual gross income from employment or profession:*
€36,000 raising on payscale rate each year
*Annual gross income spouse:*
€34,000

*Type of employment:*
Both public sector employees

*Expenditure pattern:*
Only really started to earn relatively ok money in the last 2 years so only have a years worth of saving experience so far.

Pay out €775 rent each month + standard esb, gas bills. Have car but do not drive to work so not much expenditure on petrol.

*Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc*
None

*Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month?*
Yes

*Savings and investments:*
Have €10000 with Halifax maturing next week, will be investing a Rabo direct 6 month term deposit account in a few weeks. Will continue to save roughly about €750 a month in a new credit union account in a month or so.
€8000 in current account

*Do you have a pension scheme?*
Me: Standard public sector pension. 
Partner: No

*Do you own any investment or other property?*
No.

*Ages of children:*
None.

*Income Continuance*
Me Yes
partner no

*What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?*

Will be getting married in October 2009 and hoping to buy a house in Galway at the end of this year or early next year. My partner is currently job hunting.

Assuming my partner gets a job paying between €25000 and €35000 a year in the next few weeks, my question is do you think it’s possible for us to afford a wedding of about €20000 and a deposit for a house which going on current trends will be €25000 in the time frame above?


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## extopia (3 Jul 2008)

western said:


> my question is do you think it’s possible for us to afford a wedding of about €20000 and a deposit for a house which going on current trends will be €25000 in the time frame above?[/FONT][/COLOR]



From what you've posted, you'll only have 30k in cash by Oct 2009. And you'll have a combined income of about 70k.

20k on the wedding? Are ye mad or what?


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## Mpsox (4 Jul 2008)

You currently have €18k in savings, you are looking to have saved €45k in 15 months, that means you need to be saving €1800 a month to achieve that target.(ecxcluding any interest you'll get on your savings)

Therefore at first glance, not a hope. I'm assuming with this that you'll get no dig out at home for the wedding from either of your families.

You could be quite mercenary and ask for cash wedding presents only, especially as you probably already have enough towels and toasters. Alternatively, you could ask family to pay for bit and pieces at the wedding, my brother in law when we were getting married paid for the car for us.


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## deedee80 (4 Jul 2008)

Hi there,

I think that you would be putting a huge amount of pressure on yourself.  If I was you I would continue to save as much as you can afford but I would hold off buying a house until after your wedding.


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## ClubMan (4 Jul 2008)

western said:


> Have €10000 with Halifax maturing next week, will be investing a Rabo direct 6 month term deposit account in a few weeks.



Double check that this is the best rate on offer for that sort of term now as new products have been coming onto the market recently and the _ECB _rate hike yesterday may also impact things. Some c. 7%/8% regular saver accounts have no restrictions on access so you may be able to use such an account to maximise interest returns by drip feeding it from money otherwise in a high rate lump sum account (via a regular current account in most cases).


> Will continue to save roughly about €750 a month in a new credit union account in a month or so.


Why the _CU_? They are unlikely to offer a competitive rate on your savings.



> €8000 in current account



Why? Unless it's, say, _Halifax _who pay 10% on the first €2K (there are a few other non negligible interest bearing current accounts too) then you are probably earning little or no interest on this money so keeping all of it in your current account is crazy.


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## BoscoTalking (5 Jul 2008)

we managed what you are considering (ish) but it was not planned that way.  
We got married on a shoestring - roughly 12k for 130 people and traditional Oirish wedding - we just shaved off a lot of the extras. What we genuinely had not thought of was the cash gifts - not to be crass but the amount of gifts we got in €€ made a big start on our house deposit (and we did not ask for it by the way). We borrowed 20k for the balance of the deposit (not a good idea in this climate but we were buying in beginning of 2005 when the prices were really rising) anyway we paid the 20k back asap as it was a family loan and then begged and borrowed the furniture etc when we moved in. 2 years on the house was kitted out (work in progress) and we are in the black. 

So its do'able, but it won't be easy, may not be prudent and will involve a lot of nights in and dates in the park or at the beach (For free) and shopping at Aldi and homebrand food places etc. But i am glad we did it that way...

Good Luck


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## autumnleaf (11 Jul 2008)

A couple I know were in this situation a few years back. They decided to go for a small wedding, immediate family and close friends only, came to about 40 people. They found a small church for that cosy feeling and had dinner in a nice restaurant where everyone got to talk to everyone else. It sounded very romantic to me actually, more so than the big crazy show. They've promised to have a big party for the 10th anniversary.


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## rmelly (12 Jul 2008)

OP, is your spouse currently a permanent public sector employee? Is he now looking for a private sector job? If so, is it advisable to leave the public sector in the current economic climate, for what appears to be the same money (or less) but potentially less stability in private sector? 

Also, how realistic is the 'next few weeks'?


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## Yachtie (14 Jul 2008)

> A couple I know were in this situation a few years back. They decided to go for a small wedding, immediate family and close friends only, came to about 40 people. They found a small church for that cosy feeling and had dinner in a nice restaurant where everyone got to talk to everyone else. It sounded very romantic to me actually, more so than the big crazy show. They've promised to have a big party for the 10th anniversary.


 
This is exactly what I would do (I have been very vocal about the madness of Irish weddings) if I wanted to get married AND buy a house. €20k for a wedding will make a huge dent in your finances and we're talking money you'll need for not only the deposit but also solicitor's fees, furniture,... When you're kitting out a house even as 'little' as 5k goes a long way.


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