Love is always in the air\u2026 for someone you know, if not yourself. No matter how strong the bond, weddings can quickly become the bane of many flourishing romances.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re planning your big day – and planning often kicks in now because of the amount of people who wed in December – you know how strongly money features in wedding prep. Don\u2019t worry \u2013 with a few savvy tweaks, you\u2019ll be able to smile all the way down the aisle.<\/p>\n
Here are five things that\u2019ll help you have a great wedding and still save cash for what truly matters – starting your new life, together, strong.<\/p>\n
1. Have \u2018the talk\u2019 with your parents<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2026 and your parents-in-law-to-be. It\u2019s important to establish who is paying for what before doing anything else. It may seem scary, especially with your future parents-in-law, but it\u2019s vital to voice expectations now and to set clear boundaries. It\u2019s important to say things like: \u2018I know it used to be tradition for the bride\u2019s family to pay for the wedding and the groom\u2019s to pay for the honeymoon. Can we talk about that? Who feels comfortable doing what?\u2019<\/p>\n Don\u2019t let people come to their own conclusions, that creates room for conflict.<\/p>\n Equally important? Telling your mom and whomever else you need to; \u2018just because you\u2019re putting money in, doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s your day.\u2019<\/p>\n Once the conversation has been had, set a budget, with clear definitions on who pays for what.<\/p>\n 2. Do a \u2018top ten\u2019 exercise<\/strong><\/p>\n Now that you have your budget, here\u2019s something important to do with your spouse-to-be: sit down together and write out every element of a wedding you can think of. Start with generics like \u2018dress\u2019 and \u2018venue\u2019 but drill down to specifics like the chairs at the reception, the menu and what pastor or master-of-ceremonies you want. Take that exhaustive list and separately write down ten items that are most important to you about the wedding, in descending order.<\/p>\n Come together and look at your lists, taking common ones from both lists and coming up with a final list of just five non-negotiable priorities. Splash out on only those top five and spend as little as possible on everything else.<\/p>\n 3. Grill your guest list<\/strong><\/p>\n Another thing that will save you the most money is the amount of people coming. Your \u2018per head\u2019 count in terms of alcohol, venue hire and food all adds up to the biggest expense in most weddings. Discuss with your significant other and determine who is most important to you and get the list down to as small a number of people coming as possible\u2026 And don\u2019t choose based on: \u2018Who will be offended if they don\u2019t get invited?\u2019 Rather, think: \u2018Who will I look back on in ten years\u2019 time and feel happy they were there?\u2019 The less people you have, the more you will get to appreciate each guest on the day.<\/p>\n 4. Remember to be flexible<\/strong><\/p>\n You now have more than enough to battle the wedding budget bulge, but before you go off planning, remember one last thing: it pays to be flexible at times. Whatever your budget is, make sure there is at least an extra 15 percent of the total amount extra for unforeseen expenses. You don\u2019t want any nasty surprises on one of the best days of your life.<\/p>\n And, thanks to some savvy money-saving, you may now have enough money left over to plan a few more \u2018best days of your life\u2019 in years that are still to come\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \t\t\t\tLove is always in the air\u2026 for someone you know, if not yourself. No matter how strong the bond, weddings can quickly become the bane of many flourishing romances.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3176,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,27],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-blog","8":"category-life","10":"post-with-thumbnail","11":"post-with-thumbnail-large"},"yoast_head":"\n