Planning a wedding should be an exciting time for each person in the couple. But it can come with some stress too, especially if you don’t have much to spend. Luckily, with careful consideration, planning, and saving, you can still have the wedding of your dreams on a budget.
Saving for a Wedding
If you don’t have much in your savings, the first thing you need to think about is saving for your wedding. According to Hitched, the average wedding cost in 2023 was £20,700, with 65% of couples spending over £15,000 on their wedding.
With this in mind, saving up is a vital step to having the wedding you want, even with a low budget. Here are our tips for saving for a wedding:
1. Do Plenty of Research
You need to do plenty of research to know exactly what you want for your wedding and how much it is likely to cost. It’s also important to know the lead times and booking process. So contact wedding suppliers, read blogs, talk to others, and join online groups to find out as much as possible. This will help you to map out all the expenses you need to consider when planning a wedding on a budget.
Create a list of the expenses and ideas of what you want, then categorise them into wants and needs. That way, you know what expenses you 100% need to save for and those that would just be nice to have. Make sure you talk about this as a couple so you know what you both want from a wedding.
Related: Commonly Forgotten Wedding Expenses
2. Have Realistic Expectations</h3>
<p>Once you have your list, you need to be realistic when it comes to your goals. So think about how much you can afford to put aside each month and how long you have before you get married. You want to give yourself time to save but don’t want to be saving for the perfect wedding forever. It’s also important that you don’t save so much you make it difficult for yourselves. So, set realistic expectations when it comes to what you want and when.</p>
3. Set a Budget
After your research and expectation setting, you can then set a budget. Calculate what is the minimum amount you need for your wedding. This is your minimum target – if you save more, you can either keep that for a rainy day or add more of what you want to your wedding.
Next, you need to calculate how much you need to save each month to reach that minimum amount. Do this by dividing the amount by the number of months you have. For instance, if your budget is £15,000 and you will need to have everything paid for in 12 months, divide the 15,000 by 12. This will mean you have to save a total of £1,250 each month to achieve your goal. You may need to reduce your budget or give yourself more time to make this achievable.
4. Create a Wedding Fund
Set up a joint savings account and commit to putting in a set amount each month. Saving together will ensure you are both saving towards your goal of the wedding, and you can encourage and remind each other to put in the amount you have committed to.
Having a separate joint account for your wedding will also stop you from dipping into it if you want to buy something. Leave it to grow, and don’t touch it unless you are paying for something for your wedding.
Related: How to Save When You’re Bad at Saving
5. Make Some Sacrifices
If you’re planning your wedding, you may have to make some sacrifices to afford everything you want for the big day. Curb your spending in other areas of your life to make it possible to save. This could be foregoing the holiday abroad this year, skipping the nights out, or getting rid of old subscriptions. There are plenty of things you can cut out to save money, and you might be surprised how much you save!
You don’t have to sacrifice everything, though; you still want to enjoy life! But if you decide to skip a takeaway one night, why not add that saving to your wedding fund? All these little additions will soon add up.
Related: How to Stop Spending
6. Check-In with Yourselves Regularly
It’s important that you check in with yourselves regularly to see if your savings for your wedding are on track. You can set yourself monthly goals and sit down with each other monthly to see if you have achieved these goals.
Regular check-ins will allow you to see if you need a little more time to save or need to cut back on something to save more.
7. Don’t Let It Take Over
Your wedding is important, but don’t let it become an obsession that takes over your life; that’ll only serve to take the enjoyment out of it. Saving for a wedding shouldn’t give you unnecessary stress or financial worries.
If you find that saving for your wedding is having a negative effect, be sure to talk to your partner, family, and friends. You may need to take a step back and take the pressure off by reassessing your savings plan and timeline.
Planning your wedding should be an exciting and enjoyable experience. Saving for your big day shouldn’t negatively affect the planning.
Budget Wedding Tips
When it comes to saving for a wedding, how to save money is also an important factor to consider. If you can save in one area, you can spend more elsewhere. Have a read of our full guide to planning a budget wedding for ideas. But, for now, here are our tips for having a wedding on a budget:
- Prioritise: Spend time prioritising your wants and needs. What can be sacrificed, and what needs your money spent on it? Having your priorities will help you to decide the minimum amount you need to save.
- Keep it simple: Weddings don’t have to be big and bold; simplicity can be sophisticated. Having a simple wedding and only spending on the things you really want can keep the price of your wedding down, making it easier to save for.
- Reduce the guest list: Don’t be pressured into inviting your great uncle’s cousin twice removed whom you met when you were 5. Instead, keep your guest list small and invite those closest to you to keep the cost down. It’s your day, so don’t let people pressure you into a big wedding.
- Consider a wedding package: A wedding package can be a great way to get a budget wedding. These have all the basics included for a set amount of guests. They can be a little restrictive, but most have some options to choose from.
- Get crafting: If you are, or if you know someone, crafty, why not ask them for help with making things for your wedding? Use your skills and those of people you love to bring down the cost of your wedding. There are many parts of the wedding that can be DIY’ed to cut costs.
<p>Whatever kind of wedding you want, it’s important to save for the wedding in a way that doesn’t negatively affect your life elsewhere. For more money tips and life hacks, check out the rest of our <a href=”https://sunny.co.uk/good-vibes/”>good vibes blog</a>.</p>
