How to Pay for a Wedding: The Ultimate Guide?

Today is the day you’ve been waiting years for. Your loved one got down on one knee and proposed to you. Congratulations to the happy couple!

Now you’ve got to plan a wedding together. Nothing will try your relationship more than getting all the expenses together and planning the event.

It can be tough knowing how to pay for a wedding if you’re on a tough budget. No matter how much income you have, there are ways to have a beautiful wedding without going into your marriage in horrible debt.

We can help you out with it. Keep reading this financing guide to learn how to say “I do” and keep a little money in your pockets at the same time.

1. Decide on a Budget 

Before you get to the fun parts of planning a wedding, you need to get the not-so-fun part out of the way. You’ve got to sit down with your partner and figure out a budget for the ceremony.

The best way to do this is to make a list of your must-haves, your maybes, and your don’t needs. Your must-haves are things that the wedding can’t go without, like the cake or a photographer.

The maybes are stuff that would be great to have, but you can go without. It would be nice to have a live band play at your reception, but you could also use a Spotify playlist. If you have room in your budget, you could come back to the idea of hiring the band, but right now, it’s not that pressing.

They don’t needs are things that your ceremony could go without. Maybe you have a friend who’s a great cook, for example. If this is the case, you could ask them if they can provide the food at the reception and skip out on the caterer.

2. Get Assistance From Friends and Family

Once you have a budget in mind, you can begin to secure your financing. It can feel overwhelming to have to tackle everything on your own. There’s no shame in asking friends and family to help you with the wedding costs.

They love you and want you to have a beautiful ceremony. There is a certain etiquette to this. Take the people you want to ask for help out to lunch or dinner. There you can discuss the details.

If they seem a little hesitant, assure them that they can forgo getting you a wedding present to help you pay for the ceremony. While that pot and pan set would be nice, having beautiful photos of your wedding day that you can look back on for years to come is even nicer.

If they agree to pitch in, ask if they can pay an entire expense off. Don’t ask for anything major, maybe the caterer or the band. This way, you can cross an entire vendor off your list and never look back.

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, though. If all they can do is give you cash, that’s fine. You can still use that for whatever you need.

3. Learn to Cut Back 

If you want to be able to afford a beautiful wedding, it may be a good idea for you to consider cutting back on your expenses a bit. There are other ways to get exercise besides paying for a gym membership. Drop it and go on a jog before work every morning.

Eating out is convenient because it saves you from cooking, but it gets expensive. Maybe reel it back some and only go out to eat for food once a week. You’ll save a lot by bringing lunch from home.

Those 5 dollar coffees you get don’t cost a lot, but they can add up if you get them every day. If you live close to work, consider walking instead of wasting gas on driving.

If you need to buy new clothes, thrift stores have some great stuff if you’re willing to search for them. Get in the habit of clipping coupons to pay for groceries and other things you need as well.

4. Extend Your Engagement 

You’re still several months away from the wedding date, but it doesn’t look like you’re going to be able to pay for everything. Instead of stressing yourself about it and starting your marriage in debt, extend your engagement.

This will give you a little more breathing room to get the vendors and everything else paid off. If you need to, you can also take this time to renegotiate payment terms with the vendors. They might be willing to let you make small payments over time instead of forcing you to come up with all the money at once.

5. Make a Few Sacrifices

Sometimes a few sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. If that means moving back into your parent’s place so you can use the money you would have paid on rent to put toward your wedding, so be it.

Do you and your fiance both drive a car? Sell one of them. Not only will carpooling around save you money, but without that second car, you won’t have to spend as much on auto payments and insurance.

These are all pretty drastic measures, but if you’re both willing to go through it, the extra money you’ll have in your pocket at the end of the month will pay for a good chunk of your ceremony.

6. Pick Up a Side Job

If you don’t want to go to extreme measures to raise enough money for your wedding, you could take up a side job. You don’t have to go to extremes. Taking a few DoorDash orders after your 9-5 is done for the day will give you a bit more padding in your pocket.

There is always remote freelance work that you can do too. They give you the power to choose when you work, so it’s easy to make them work around wedding planning and your regular job.

7. Plan Smart

If you want all the bells and whistles for your wedding, you can have it as long as you’re smart with your planning. Get married during the off-season.

You won’t have as much competition when it comes to booking a venue and chances are, vendors will give be offering their services at a lower rate. See if there are any tasks that you can delegate to your friends and family instead of hiring a service.

You’ll still need to compensate those who help you, but it won’t be as bad as paying hundreds of dollars to hire someone. The company you get the venue through may offer you all-inclusive packages.

Skip out on those if you can. There’s most likely a lot of hidden costs. You’d be better off shopping around for your own vendors.

If you’re crafty, consider DIYing some of your decorations. Just make sure that you only attempt this in your area of expertise. Don’t try to experiment with something as important as your wedding.

8. Consider a Personal Loan 

If you really don’t think you’re going to be able to pay for your wedding without having some extra funds, you can take out a personal loan through Plenti. These are also known as wedding loans.

You can find some with reasonable monthly payments and interest rates. At the end of the day, it might be a better alternative to maxing out a bunch of credit cards to pay for everything.

You do have to be careful, however. You’re only going to get a good rate if you have an excellent credit score. They sometimes come hand and hand with hidden fees as well.

9. Take Advantage of Credit Card Rewards 

You don’t want to come out of your wedding in a heap of debt, but that doesn’t mean that credit cards are evil. As long as you pay back what you use, you’ll be fine.

In fact, if you make regular payments, you’ll build up card rewards. You may be able to get enough to help you with your honeymoon if you’re lucky.

10. How to Pay For a Wedding and Enjoy Your Big Day?

Figuring out how to pay for a wedding isn’t easy. There’s so much to factor in like the vendors, cake, music, food, and of course, the venue. It adds up to the point where it almost feels impossible.

It doesn’t have to be. Use some of the tips that we’ve talked about here today to finance your big day without any stress, and if you’re looking for more ways to save up for your wedding and honeymoon, visit the Finance section of our blog.

Read Also:

• How to Set up a Successful Wedding Photography Business
• The Business Of Weddings: An Array Of Professional Opportunity
• 8 Things You Should Know About Credit Score