{"id":492378,"date":"2026-06-14T13:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T13:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/492378\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T13:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T13:38:10","slug":"an-administrative-assistants-18000-wedding-will-have-a-sit-down-dinner-but-shell-do-her-own-hair-and-makeup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/492378\/","title":{"rendered":"An administrative assistant\u2019s $18,000 wedding will have a sit-down dinner, but she\u2019ll do her own hair and makeup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Name, age: Rose, 29<\/p>\n

Annual income: $66,000<\/p>\n

Debt: $250,000 on mortgage<\/p>\n

Savings: $12,000 in savings account, $70,000 in tax-free savings account (TFSA), $40,000 in registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), $20,000 in company shares<\/p>\n

What she does: Administrative assistant<\/p>\n

Where she lives: Kawartha Lakes region, Ont.<\/p>\n

Top financial concern: \u201cAfter things like mortgage, groceries and internet, maybe I\u2019ll have $200 left over. When those surprise things come up, like your car needs something fixed or your washing machine crapped out, the margin is already so small.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rose and her fianc\u00e9 have been together for seven years and spent a lot of time during the pandemic learning about personal finance. They read several books about money management, which they borrowed from the library to save money, and took a free, online personal finance course<\/a> from McGill University to wrap their heads around the basics. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe course talks about how money works and investing, things like what is a TFSA and RRSP, what is compound interest,\u201d says Rose, 29, who works as an administrative assistant. \u201cI went to school for business but didn\u2019t learn how to manage money.\u201d<\/p>\n

After that, she took her savings out of high-cost mutual funds and moved them into self-directed exchange-traded funds to save money. She also started making monthly contributions to her RRSP<\/a>, TFSA <\/a>and savings accounts. <\/p>\n

The best ways to save money in 2026, according to our experts<\/a><\/p>\n

Rose was able to save a lot of money by living at home until 27, when she bought her condo with her partner.<\/p>\n

But after her monthly contributions and expenses, she only has about $200 left a month to spend. She says she\u2019s good at saying no to things, despite the fear of missing out that can be stoked by social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been honing in on what I want to spend my money on,\u201d says Rose, who invites friends over for potlucks when they ask her to go out for dinner. \u201cCertain things I value, like travel, and if someone asks me to go to a concert, I\u2019ll probably say yes \u2013 if it\u2019s someone I want to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rose makes $66,000 before tax and deductions, and her fianc\u00e9 makes $55,000. As they plan their wedding, they have realized how hard it is to keep costs low while still throwing the type of event Rose feels she\u2019s been conditioned by society to want.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do want my dad to walk me down the aisle, and I want people to see us getting married and I want a ceremony,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have a sit-down dinner, and we do need a DJ. I thought I was pretty chill about the whole wedding thing, but I do want to have those things.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought we could do it for under $10,000 with 50 people, and that is not true at all,\u201d she adds. They now expect to spend about $18,000, which includes some sacrifices such as buying a second-hand wedding dress and doing her own hair and makeup.<\/p>\n

She notes that she\u2019s been surprised by how much pushback she\u2019s received from some people in her life. \u201cYou can easily spend $50,000 on a 50-person wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five things I skipped \u2013 and splurged on \u2013 at my wedding<\/a><\/p>\n

Her typical monthly expenses:<\/p>\n

Investment and savings: $1,000<\/p>\n

$200 to pension. \u201cMatched by employer.\u201d<\/p>\n

$200 to savings account. \u201cFor emergencies, a new (used) car when I need one and vacations.\u201d<\/p>\n

$300 to TFSA. \u201cSelf-directed investing. A few individual stocks but mostly exchange-traded funds.\u201d<\/p>\n

$300 to RRSP. \u201cSame as TFSA. I was invested in mutual funds but the fees were too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Servicing debt: $1,300<\/p>\n

$1,300 to mortgage. \u201cI split this with my fianc\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n

Household and transportation: $1,075<\/p>\n

$270 to condo fees. \u201cIt\u2019s an older building without an elevator.\u201d<\/p>\n

$292 to property tax<\/p>\n

$33 to condo insurance<\/p>\n

$20 to parking space<\/p>\n

$140 to gasoline<\/p>\n

$180 to car insurance<\/p>\n

$50 to car maintenance<\/p>\n

$45 to cellphone. \u201cMy former provider kept increasing my phone bill. I didn\u2019t realize they could do this whenever they wanted once you have paid off the tab on your phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

$45 to internet<\/p>\n

Food and drink: $600<\/p>\n

$500 on groceries<\/p>\n

$20 at coffee shops. \u201cWe rarely get coffee out.\u201d<\/p>\n

$60 at restaurants. \u201cDrive-through if we\u2019re feeling lazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

$20 on alcohol<\/p>\n

Miscellaneous: $525<\/p>\n

$100 on going out. \u201cIn the summer, I\u2019ll usually get to a concert in the GTA.\u201d<\/p>\n

$38 to streaming services. \u201cCrave and TSN.\u201d<\/p>\n

$14 to Spotify. \u201cA must.\u201d<\/p>\n

$30 on clothing. \u201cSometimes I need something special for an event, but my friends and I have been working on sharing clothes recently.\u201d<\/p>\n

$44 to gym membership. \u201cPaused in the summer when I\u2019m outside more.\u201d<\/p>\n

$25 on gardening. \u201cIt\u2019s my favourite hobby.\u201d<\/p>\n

$25 on pickleball league<\/p>\n

$10 on haircuts. \u201cI stopped dying it to save money.\u201d<\/p>\n

$13 on cosmetics. \u201cI love makeup and skincare but I try to be frugal.\u201d<\/p>\n

$17 on contact lenses<\/p>\n

$167 on vacations<\/p>\n

$42 on gifts<\/p>\n

Some details may be changed to protect the privacy of the person profiled. We want to thank them for sharing their story. <\/p>\n

Participate in the Paycheque Project<\/p>\n

\nWelcome to Paycheque Project, a regular series in The Globe and Mail that looks at how much young Canadians are earning \u2013 and where that money is going. We’d like to hear from young adults from a diverse range of backgrounds, geographic locations, and earnings ranges.<\/p>\n

If you’re a millennial or Gen Z and would like to participate, fill out the form below or send an email to Roma Luciw at rluciw@globeandmail.com. Please include your name, age, where you live, occupation, your biggest financial concern and your email. And remember, Paycheque Project is a judgement-free zone.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images Name, age: Rose, 29 Annual income: $66,000 Debt: $250,000…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[114,268,85,46,91302,266,267],"class_list":["post-492378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-paychequeproject","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}