Cascading white roses, fairy-tale princess gown, romantic honeymoon. For many couples, it all means saying “I do” to debt. Every couple wants a beautiful wedding, and it is easy to go overboard and fall into debt. But that is the wrong approach to marriage.
Soon-to-be newlyweds are so focused on the wedding and not focused on reality after the wedding. Couples really do need to be realistic about the money aspect of marriage. That’s almost never the case.
According to a national survey by Bride’s Magazine, couples spend $42.4 billion on weddings, plus another $8 billion on the honeymoon, every year. If you are among the 2.4 million couples getting married this year, brace yourself for a bill that averages $19,000.
Beat the Wedding Blues
You can turn wedding planning into a positive. If you and your future spouse are paying for part or all of the wedding, use it as a learning experience. Budgeting for a wedding is a good thing you can carry forward into life. It’s a good exercise, and usually couples are doing this together, so that helps. Don’t start planning your wedding without setting priorities and a budget. (If you really hate that word, use the term “spending plan” instead.) Your budget or plan is not what you’d like to spend but what you are actually capable of spending with real money — and that means no loans, credit cards or poaching your retirement savings to pay for the nuptials.
If you finance your wedding through credit cards, you’ll be paying for that chicken cordon bleu until your silver anniversary. The most ironclad wedding planning rule is that before you buy, make sure you can pay off all the current charges, all the interest and some of the past debt.
Real Money
The key to paying for a wedding is using real dollars rather than borrowing. You can consider saving for some or all of the wedding costs, although steer clear of CDs because they tie up your money. Instead, put your money in liquid investments such as savings and money market accounts. Even with a savings plan for the wedding, you mustn’t forget your later goals. You can have that extra-special cake or a $5,000 wedding dress, but you may be making the choice that that is more important to you than a house later on. In the end, it’s all about beginnings.
Your wedding symbolizes your future together. Put it all in perspective, over your whole marriage or whole life. Think about where you’ll be in 5 or 10 years. If you imagine you’ll have a house and kids, those are all high-ticket items. You have to plan for that.
Wedding Planning Checklist
- Think about your wedding as part of your overall financial future.
- Decide what’s important and prioritize.
- Set a budget amount based on available money.
- Start saving toward all your goals
