You know about the hidden costs of a wedding and how to cut them down. You even know that your wedding will cost a lot of money, perhaps close to $100,000 if the event is several days long and held at a lavish location.
But how do you go about saving for your wedding regardless of the cost? And how much should budget for your wedding? We always go, up up up on the budget with prettier flowers and designer shoes, but as a new bride you don’t want start life in debt.
Let’s start with the basics: how long will you save for before the wedding?
Most of us plan our wedding within one year of an engagement. If we have no savings from before, or rather we keep that money for other purposes, liking buying a home, then we have 12 months to start saving.
Ignoring future husband, parents and other relatives who will pitch in, I calculate the cost based on my income first.
Put aside 50% of your after expense, after tax income to the wedding. This sounds like a lot but it isn’t. This 50% is after your rent, utilities, food, car, insurance, and taxes.
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If you feel the 50% isn’t going to help you over the year, consider doing the following to decreasing household costs and increase savings:
- Find a roommate for your apartment.
- Move in with your parents, if located conveniently.
- Cut down on clubbing and drinking out. Each night can cost $100 with entrance fees and drinks for yourself and friends.
- Drop the extraneous spending. Go to Barista or Starbucks everyday? Skip it. A frappuchino may cost $4, and over a month $80, and over a year $960. Now that’s enough to buy a pair of fancy couture shoes!
- For a more drastic move don’t buy any new shoes or dresses over the year unless you can find a way to use it at your wedding and honeymoon. Instead, take that $50 or $100 and put it in a savings account for every dress, shoe, purse you want but don’t buy. AND make a print out of that dress, shoe, purse and create a college. By the end of the year, you have a booklet of stuff you didn’t buy in exchange for weddings clothes you WILL buy.
Read Penny Wise Dulhan‘s article on living frugally. She has LOTS of great ideas on cutting costs at home.
Go in halfsies with your future husband on wedding costs.
Disregarding his family for the moment, discuss with your husband if he will pitch in on the costs of the wedding. Everyone is on equal footing when you and your future husband decide to share costs.
Have him create a savings accounts that is reserved for the wedding or honeymoon. Throughout the year, he can see how much has been put towards those accounts.
Parents, in-laws and other family members – Getting help and treading the ground for covering costs.
It is very tricky to know how much your parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and future inlaws will spend for your wedding.
Unfortunately there is no magic bullet to predict their expenditures on covering several days. But your parents probably know and will do their best to cover as much as possible. So will your extended family in their own ways.
My extended family all pitched in on small and large costs of the wedding. An aunt covered the mehndi costs for guests, while an uncle covered the Sangeet, and many other pitched in.
But the best bet is to place the financial burden on yourselves and work as if you will cover everything. That is why is keen for you, and your future husband to save enough to cover for the wedding and not take out loans or max out credit cards.
And if your families know you are working together to save for the wedding without begging them to pay in, they will be more likely to help out. They will respect you for working hard and being responsible.
Do you have any tips on how you and family saved for a wedding?
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