How to Pay for A Wedding: 11 Tips

Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life. It is normal to want to make it as beautiful and memorable as possible. There are so many questions that are asked, from when to have the wedding, is it going to be a fancy or more affordable, and probably one most wonder about: how to pay for a wedding? With all of the wedding preparations and expenses, weddings are no doubt a pricey affair, so we have compiled a list of 11 tips on how to pay for your wedding. These tips will help you budget for your wedding while still being able to achieve that magical wedding you’ve always dreamed of!

How to Pay for a Wedding: Budgeting Ideas

1. Communicate with your partner

The key to a successful relationship is communication and the same goes for wedding planning. It’s important to have a discussion with your significant other about expectations, what your goals are, how much you are each willing to chip in, and how much you will ask for your parents and in-laws to support. Make sure that you are on the same page throughout the entire wedding planning process to avoid misunderstanding and disputes. You can do this by having weekly check-ins with each other!

2. Create a budget

It’s good to have an overall sense of your budget as soon as possible because it will make the planning process much easier. A tip for this is to have a checklist and also break everything down into categories (i.e. venue, food, music) that way it is easier to compartmentalize and divide up expenses. Having separate budgets for different categories will allow you to see how important each aspect of your wedding is, ranking them this way can be helpful when prioritizing expenses.

3. Do it yourself

If you are not in a financial position to pay for your wedding without any assistance but would still like to be able to pay for your wedding, there are ways to do that too. “Renting” is a great option! There are plenty of places nowadays to rent a tuxedo or a wedding dress. Another tip is to differentiate your wedding desires into “wants” and “must-haves” and then focus on prioritizing the necessities. Get creative! DIY whenever you can (i.e. making the wedding favors). DIY-ing is not only a great way to save money but it can also be a nice creative outlet and a fun way to personalize your wedding.

4. Take up a temporary side job

Although it is not the most glamorous option, taking up a temporary side job to earn a little extra money to pay for your wedding is not unheard of and is totally acceptable! Just make sure you are managing your time as well as you are managing your finances because no one wants to get overworked and add to the pre-existent stresses of planning their wedding! Remember: a temporary side job could be as simple as selling your extra clothes online!

5. Split it three ways

One way to pay for your wedding is to split it into three ways between the bride, the groom, and the in-laws. Come up with the total cost of the entire wedding and split it evenly amongst the bride, the groom, and in-laws. This way, everyone is paying for an equal portion of the wedding. Deciding on the total amount early on makes it easier to come up with a budget and can serve as a solid reference point in the future.

6. Ask for help

Dividing up the financial load can make planning your wedding a lot less stressful. It is okay to ask for help and it is very common. Sometimes you don’t even need to ask for help. Your friends and family have a good sense of how important your wedding is to you and they may even offer to chip in - don’t be embarrassed or afraid to accept their offer if they do. Sometimes they may want to chip in if it is for a specific item or aspect of the wedding. Letting them know where their donation would go/how it would specifically be spent is usually a good method to use when asking for financial assistance.

7. Lay low during your engagement

The period between an engagement and a wedding is typically a decent amount of time that you can use to save money for your wedding if need be. There’s no fixed time on how long an engagement should be and if it means extending your engagement so that you have more time to save money for your wedding to avoid going into debt, it may be worth considering.

8. Cut back & prioritize

Cutting back on lower-priority wedding items can go a long way in terms of saving you money. Downsizing in any way can save you big bucks. For example, having a smaller bridal party or having smaller bouquets. You can also cut back expenses in your everyday life to save money like eating out less or by spending less money on non-essentials.

9. Use your credit cards

Making use of multiple credit cards can be a strategic way to finance. So long as you pay off your credit card debt monthly, your wedding expenses won’t generate any additional debt. Keep in mind, some credit cards have rewards and cashback that you can redeem and use to contribute to paying for your wedding expenses.

10. Determine by headcount

How this approach works is that the partner who has more invitees pays for a larger portion of the wedding. For example, if the bride invites all of her extended family and friends, and the groom only invites his extended family, the wife would be responsible for paying for more of the wedding since she has a higher headcount. This can be a feasible way to determine who pays for what wedding costs. It's a good option as long as you and your partner are on the same page.

11. Get a personal loan

Taking out a loan is a solid option if you need the extra money for your wedding. There are relatively low-cost loans available, sometimes they are even labeled as “wedding loans”. These types of loans generally have low-interest rates and fixed payments. However, it is imperative to do your research before deciding to take out a loan. Keep in mind that low-interest rates are usually reserved for customers that have very good credit scores and that while taking out a personal loan may have short-term benefits it can also have long-term drawbacks.

How To Pay For A Wedding: Conclusion

Weddings can be very stressful. From the initial planning to coming up with some wedding ideas, and then figuring out the favors, and then how to pay for it, it can be a lot, but luckily, there is no one way to pay and finance your wedding because everyone has different visions and financial goals regarding budgeting for their wedding. We hope that we were able to provide some useful ideas for how to pay for a wedding! At the end of the day celebrating love with the people you love is most important, and everything else will fall into place.

Written by Sarah Donahue