How to Save Money For Your Wedding
Everyone dreams of their big day and what they want it to be from the decor to the type of food that will be served. For some, the dream might be more extravagant than others. Whatever the dream may be, the reality is that weddings cost money. But with some foresight, planning ahead, and strategies for saving money for your wedding, you can be ready when the big day comes and not even have to touch the money that hasn’t been allocated for it. Keep reading for our best tips to save money for your wedding.
Decide How Much You’re Willing to Spend
This is highly personal for every couple. Some will be willing to spend a couple thousand and others significantly more. Whatever your price tag is, decide on it and make sure you’re both in agreement. That way there is no squabbling down the road when you begin the planning phase for the wedding. Make sure your budget is realistic and affordable for you both.
Decide How Long You Have to Save
Sometimes you may not have very long to begin setting aside money for your wedding. When that happens, you may have to sacrifice some things to save large sums of money to reach your goal faster, or you may have to decrease your goal. If you have a year or several years to save, then reaching your goal will be easier because you can save smaller sums of money at a time.
Decide How Much You Need to Save Monthly
Once you have a goal number in mind and you know how long you have to reach it, you can divide that number into smaller monthly goals to figure out how much you need to save each month to stay on track. For instance, if your wedding date is set for one year from today and you don’t want to spend more than $25,000 total, that means you have to save just over $2,000 a month to reach $25k. If that isn’t feasible for you to set aside that amount every month, then you may have to recalculate your goal, figure out ways to decrease your budget, or push your wedding date out further, so you have more time to reach your goal.
Automate if Possible and Separate Your Wedding Funds
Granted, not everyone can automate a lump sum to be transferred to a savings account every month. But if you can, it makes it infinitely easier to save because you don’t even realize the money is gone. You can also set up small, micro-deposits to be transferred daily or weekly that can help move you towards your goal. Set those up in addition to your regular monthly savings transfer and forego a couple of lattes every week.
Send your funds to a savings account that is separate from your normal bank account. If you send it to an online bank account, it’s tempting to withdraw money on impulse because it takes a few days to transfer the funds back to your regular bank account. You can also find other ways to cut your costs of living down to save more.
Maybe that means eating out less and staying in more. Maybe that means hosting a garage sale to get rid of things you don’t need. Or perhaps it means picking up some kind of side job like babysitting on weekends or dog walking for neighbors. Whatever you can do to bring in some extra cash to add to the wedding fund is worth it if it means making your big day vision come true.
If you find you’re struggling to save enough to reach your goal, it’s time to consider how to plan an affordable wedding. You might really want that $25,000 wedding, but realistically your budget allows for something closer to a $5,000 wedding in the time frame you’ve to save. That means it’s time to reassess where you can cut costs.
Determine What’s Priority For You
This will be different for everyone. Some couples absolutely refuse to skimp on their wedding attire, while others think a bigger budget for the wedding photographer is more relevant and meaningful. Some couples could care less about the venue as long as there are good food options like organic catering and plenty of booze, while others dream of finding the perfect venue for a picturesque wedding with lots of pretty locales for photos.
Still, other couples are less worried about decorations and flowers and are more worried about hiring a great caterer and a DJ that gets people dancing. You could also decide that a honeymoon is less important than the ceremony itself or just elope. There’s definitely a case to be made for eloping. It’s like the wedding and the honeymoon all rolled into one event. And it’s definitely less expensive than a wedding that takes you months or years to save for. There’s plenty of cost factors that can be eliminated, but it’s up to you and your significant other to determine which options suit your preferences most.
You can drastically limit your guest list and save a bunch that way. A large part of the wedding costs stems from catering and the number of people in attendance. More people equals more mouths to feed and in some cases, it can cost thousands of dollars for food alone. Many caterers charge by the head, so to reduce wedding costs, you need to reduce the number of guests.
Yes, you might have a few people that are offended but you can’t really worry about that. It’s your wedding after all. You have to do what’s right for you and your spouse-to-be. This means to set an appropriate limit on the wedding expenses. Selling your left kidney just to afford a wedding isn’t a good start to the rest of your life. Figuring out how to save money for your wedding isn’t the hard part. It’s figuring out what you want and who you want to be there to witness.
https://www.moneyunder30.com/wedding-planning-saving-money-wedding-budget-spreadsheet
https://www.brightpeakfinancial.com/marriage/7-simple-steps-start-wedding-savings-account/
https://www.discover.com/online-banking/banking-topics/money-saving-tips-wedding/
https://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelwmiller/insanely-smart-ways-to-save-money-on-your-wedding