GETTING STARTED:

It's no doubt that financial planning will play an integral part of the success of your wedding, and subsequent life together. Many couples initial thoughts once they discover the enormous cost of undertaking such a task, is to elope (see destination weddings).

Once the decision is made to move forward with the wedding planning, much thought has to be given to the overall budget of the wedding. However, financial planning goes beyond the scope of the wedding planning. You have to consider the day after the wedding, and the years to come after the wedding. Where will you live? Did you break the bank to have the wedding? These things will impact the overall wedding budget but they must be considered. Obviously, if you have no budget restrictions (for instance, your parents are paying for the wedding and they already have bought you a house), then you don't need to read this page. In fact, brides that have no budget restrictions often do not get into the nuts and bolts of planning. They simply hand off a list of things they want, so people can fetch them. But, we digress. We assume that if you are reading this page, you are in the real world of the millions of brides who are planning for AND paying for your own wedding.

DIGGING DEEPER:

It is estimated that the average wedding in the US cost about thirty thousand dollars-$30k. This is a big chunk of change especially if you are footing the bill yourself. Just remember, it is worth it! And, after the wedding you WILL have something to show for it (not considering the many happy memories that money can't buy!). You will have the wedding dress, the rings, the photos and the videos, among other things.

In terms of the wedding budget itself, there are ways to reduce the cost. The first major way to reduce the cost of your wedding is to cut down the guest list. And, since you are paying for the wedding yourself, do not let parental units or other family and relatives influence you or even pressure you to invite certain people. The second way is to have a cash bar. And of course, you can always resort to a buffet style meal, as opposed to a served meal which are always more expensive. With respect to your wedding food, many couples today are having 'cocktail' style food stations. None of these things are wrong or right. It's basically what is important to you.

READ OUR BUDGET ADVISORY:

This financial planning page goes hand in hand with our budget recommendation on how to invest your money wisely within your local wedding community. Please click here to read!