My GF and I want to get married soon. Our combined salary is $3,800 after CPF. I'm worried that we cannot afford the wedding or the BTO, as her parents take 1k from her monthly. What should I do?

I do agree that it is difficult to request your gf to reduce the allowance for her parents. I am sure there are ways to work around it. My then bf was in debt when we were planning for wedding. We had other issues; like his parents were divorced and he's renting a room and also giving his parents money monthly. Our combined income were $3500 after CPF.

What we did was:

(1) We had church buffet wedding; which was much cheaper and able to allow us to invite more people. (it depends on your "beliefs" of course)

(1.1) Or even better, just ROM will do. My parents said we should have done that but we didn't

(2) We had a joint account and a joint MSA to set aside every month for the wedding (it's important to set a workable time frame for the wedding and a target amount to work towards to)

(3) I got my parents' permission to allow him to stay in my house aka living room to save on the rental

(4) Limit the spending

(4.1) what kinda food we eat on a daily basis (we cook to work everyday)

(4.2) cycle to work or walk one to two bus stops more to save on transport

(4.3) explain to friends that we may not be always going out with them for dinners or activities for the time being to save for wedding - i am sure those friends who are really close with you will understand, at least thats what i did for a year

(5) I also took up part time job almost everyday to supplement my income

For BTO, can always take advantage of the grants by staying near your parents. Or buy smaller unit at non mature area

simple answer would stay at your house first after married to save money money... if want to get a flat, then choose the most affordable BTOs... anyway you are still young.

Combined nett income at $3800 is very challenging esp. after married, then come to consider housing and kids. Need to consider to take up a job with prospect and work from there to increase income. There are many jobs are with career advancement, so increment is very limited. Then cut all unnecessary spendings to tide over. Need both husband and wife to work together.

It is difficult to reduce allowance given to parents who are not working and have little savings. So maybe lets settle that another way by helping them plan out their monthly expenses and reduce where possible. Are her parents eligible for CHAS to lower medical bills? Are there some recurring expenses like telco bills that can be combined into some family plan that could be cheaper? Could they maybe be overpaying for insurance? Could a regular JB trip help lower costs of household items? These are some things that she can look into and help to apply and lower cost, so it may potentially be easier to lower the allowance. If her parents are comfortable sharing how much CPF payout they are getting each month, that could help in understanding the base "income" her parents have without the allowance.

Wedding-wise I would suggest to have a simple wedding instead of anything large and elaborate.

BTO shouldn't be too hard due to loans and grants. Perhaps get a smaller unit first? And live near one side's parents for extra grants.