Photo by : Pinkerton Photography
Most weddings will take around two years to organize – that’s a lot of time to save up if you know how to. To help you build a wedding fund that’ll afford you the day of your dreams, here are three key things to keep in mind.
Understand how much you need
The first step on your savings journey is to understand exactly what you’re saving for. Creating a budget early on in the planning process can help encourage you to stay on track with your spending and give you a rough final figure to aim for. In the U.S., the average wedding costs upwards of $20,000, with couples in Arizona expected to pay around $285 per guest.
These are just rough estimates and it’s important to remember that the size of your wedding budget is completely down to you. Lots of couples like to mark the occasion with a grand affair, while others prefer a low-key event with just a handful of loved ones present. If you haven’t already, it’s important to have these conversations with your partner early on in the process, to ensure you’re both on the same page when it comes to setting a budget. Think about all of the elements – large and small – from the venue to your musical choices throughout the day. Start with the bigger expenses, or the elements that are most important to you, and work backwards from there.
Cut back on unnecessary expenses
Your wedding day is hopefully a one-off occasion, and will be one of the most special days of your life. So if that means cutting back a little in the build-up to help your budget stretch that little bit further, it’ll be well worth it in the end. Perhaps that means forfeiting a regular restaurant visit, or maybe holding off on your annual holiday booking. It can be a good idea to first understand your monthly expenses, then you can more clearly identify areas where you could tighten the purse strings.
Holidays and eating out can be two quite large spending categories. However, when looking to save for your wedding, why not see it as an opportunity to make some smaller spending decisions that’ll help your money to continue to go further after the event? Take this chance to adopt good savings habits, and by the time your wedding comes around, you might notice a huge difference. These might include canceling subscriptions you don’t use, switching to a cheaper phone contract, or even topping up your income by selling your unwanted items/clothes.
Set up a dedicated account
To make it easier to track your budget and monitor your savings progress, you might look to open a dedicated savings account for your wedding fund. To help your savings grow, compare high-yield accounts to see how much interest you can get. It’s worth remembering that often banks will impose a limit on how many withdrawals customers can make from these accounts, so think carefully when making deposits.
Plus, lots of online banking apps will offer tools to help you manage your money and track your savings goal more clearly. You can even set up automatic direct deposits each month – just ensure you’re not leaving yourself short day to day. If you feel like you’re struggling to save enough money, consider pushing the wedding back, and/or asking family for support.
Article By: Faith Cormier
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