Marriage is an undeniably beautiful thing, and something to which a great deal of us look forward with our own partners. But the cost-of-living crisis has made expenditure on such a wonderful occasion harder for many to justify, given the stratospheric costs often associated with it. The UK’s economic doldrums should not be a reason for you to suspend your marital bliss, though; here are some key wedding budget tips for affording your wedding, and whisking or being whisked off into the sunset.
Getting Help?
Firstly, it can be a good idea to get the lay of the land regarding what money you may have available to you. A sensible budget is the most important part of your wedding planning and saving, and we will be getting to the specifics of that shortly, but knowing if you are getting any help beforehand can be vital to your planning. It is often the case that your parents or in-laws are happy to, to some extent, bankroll the wedding and reception.
Many parents do put a little money aside to help with the marriage of their children, but this is naturally something that not everyone should expect. If you are lucky enough to be getting assistance from family, this is great news for you to work with when it comes time to budget. However, if you are not getting much in the way of family assistance, you may need a word of caution regarding finding funding elsewhere. Try not to let your wedding be the thing that plunges you into debt!
Saving Shrewdly
Instead of creating debt sources in service of your dream wedding, you should instead be thinking carefully about the state of your finances – both separate and joint. Both of you may have your own savings, or you may have already brought your savings together in order to build your ideal life together. First and foremost, you should ensure that your wedding spending does not majorly impact the progress of your wider life ambitions or milestones.
A good move here would be to create a separate savings account for your wedding planning. If you so desire, you could sequester some of your savings into it right away, as the start of your savings; from here, you could commit to putting a certain amount each month towards the wedding fund, thus building up an amount that can serve your ideal outcomes.
A Friendly Budget
Speaking of which, it is now, at last, time to address the budgetary elephant in the room. Weddings come in a great many shapes and sizes, from private affairs to all-invited booze-ups and beyond. You might have your heart set on a particular kind of wedding, which might bring with it a particular kind of budget. If you cannot see an immediate path towards it, even with familial help on top of savings, this might well be a cue for you to compromise a little. No wedding is worth going broke over!
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