What is the best way to budget for our wedding? We are paying for our wedding ourselves and trying to buy a house and we don't have too much to play around with.
Here are some general rules for getting more out of your budget...
* Plan your wedding for an off-peak time of the year. May, June, August, Sept, and Oct are the most popular, and therefore the most expensive, months for weddings to take place. With supply-and-demand, many of the wedding professionals do charge more during these times of year.
* Plan a Friday night wedding. This is a big trend right now, with couples saving 15% to 20% off the costs of their weddings just by having it on Friday night. Another plus, sometimes you can save on honeymoon travel expenses by flying on the Saturday after your wedding.
* Plan a smaller wedding. I know, that's not a whole lot of fun, but since the reception is the biggest part of most budgets, you'll save a bundle if you keep your guest list down.
* Start off your planning process by sitting down as a couple and really planning out exactly what you want for your day. Too many couples waste money by wandering into a coordinator's office or each of their vendors' offices with no clear ideas on what they want. Then, they get talked into purchases that are more than they might like to spend. If you sit down and really sketch out what you want -- and more importantly, what you *don't* want -- you'll be in a better position to plan your wedding on a budget.
* Get a hold of one of my wedding books. I just wrote a new book titled How to Have a Fabulous Wedding for $10,000 or Less which came out in April 2002. I also have a money-saving book out titled 1001 Ways To Save Money...And Still Have A Dazzling Wedding. It will give you tons of ways to stretch your budget, get things for free, and remain happy during the process even during money stress times.
* Think about hiring a wedding coordinator, which you can find through NJWedding.com. It may seem like an extravagance, but so many couples have found this to be well worth the investment and a huge savings of money and hassles overall. A good wedding coordinator can help you find great ways to get more from your budget, and you can even hire a coordinator to help you just during your search for your wedding professionals or on the day of the wedding only. Research well, ask plenty of questions, and see if the savings will add up well for you.
