How to Save Money for a Wedding

Getting married will likely be the best experience of your life, and a wedding should be just as wonderful. In modern times, couples usually pay for their own wedding. You can have any wedding that you desire, no matter how extravagant or simple. The trick is advance planning! Below you'll learn how to save money for your wedding in as painless a manner as possible.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Set your goals. Once you have a date set for the wedding, think about the details.

2. Pick a location. It's best to pick a place that is special to you as a couple. If you want a lot of people to attend, it is probably more logical to get married near home. You don't want to be responsible for the airfare, or hurt feelings, of hundreds of invitees.

3. List anybody that you can possibly think of inviting, including who you must invite due to familial obligation or "knowing" the other invitees. It's important that you cut down the list to match the desires for your wedding. If you want a big wedding, keep adding to the list. Include co-workers and others if you want a huge wedding. No matter how many people you know, a wedding can be as big or as small as you desire.

4. With all the information about your wedding, get a budget together. This is your goal. Break down the amount for the wedding into how many months you have prior to the wedding, excluding the final month. You want to be able to make all expenses within a month of the wedding. Adding stress to the wedding month itself is a bad idea. You will have enough to deal with in that month.

5. Consider whether this monthly sum is realistic. If it's not, scale down the wedding. Cut down on the live DJ or cut down on the guest list. What's important is that you cut down on what matters the least to you about the wedding.

6. Make it work. If you have the wedding that you refuse to compromise on, realize that you can do whatever you set your mind on.

7. Take on extra hours at work, or get a side job for a few months. Realize this is temporary, and put the savings toward your wedding. When you have a set goal and a certain amount of time to be at a less-than-stellar job, it isn't so bad.

8. Cut back on extravagances. Instead of buying lattes, brew your own coffee for a few months. Cook at home or microwave meals. Go on picnic dates. Make it a team effort. With the two of you focused on a great start to your lives together, the sacrifices become easy and, at times, fun.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to plan your wedding a year or more in advance for the best ability to save money.
• Don't forget to keep the focus on creating what you most want in a wedding, not what you think others will expect.
• Don't go to extremes saving money. Keep a balance. A good wedding is not worth a year lived miserably.