There are a number of different strategies to pay for a wedding including cutting back on your monthly expenses, taking a break from travel, creating a spending and savings plan and outlining the contributions from both sides of the family.

– Cutting Back On Monthly Expenses

Many couples give up eating out at restaurants or ordering food in for a few months in an effort to save a little, while some couples decide to give up their expensive gym memberships and opt for working out at home. Couples saving and planning for a wedding find that by cutting back on just a few important things can add up to big time savings.

– Taking A Break From Travel

Many couples decide to cut back on travel for the time when they are saving for their wedding day. Even cutting back on one trip can help add thousands to your wedding day fund.

– Creating A Spending/Savings Plan

Just as important as creating a wedding budget so is creating a spending or savings plan. Sitting down as a couple and outlining areas where you can cut back on spending and areas where you may be able to add to the savings is the key to having your wedding day funding not be a stress. If possible each person in the couple should be able to find one area of spending where they can cut back (gym membership, eating out, monthly subscriptions, coffee shop trips etc)

– Outlining The Family’s Contributions

You can’t just hope or assume that both sides of the family will help pay for wedding day so it is important to be clear and have an outline of how each family will contribute. It is highly suggested to sit down with both sides of the couples family and gain some real insight into how much of the wedding the family can help pay with and how they will be helping. Make sure you understand if they will just be handing over a check to you and your partner to spend on the day or will you be asked to have the vendors send the bill directly to them. The more upfront and honest this conversation is the better!