But there is no denying that the day of your wedding is a day that most girls dream of from childhood on.  So it might be inevitable that the wedding of her dreams might run up quite a tab.  If you have a rich uncle or you win the lottery, then you can go crazy on wedding planning.  If not it might be time to consider…

Getting Family into the Act

The idea of somehow begging or cajoling family into paying for the wedding is probably distasteful if not entirely out of the question for lots of brides and grooms to be.  But you might be able to work out a way to get family members to finance the wedding by structuring a loan with the parents of the bride or groom that works like a bank loan but it benefits both the borrowers and the lenders involved.

One way to set this up is to borrow the amount you need from parents or someone in the family who can afford it but still pay interest and even fees on the loan.  You can work out an interest rate that is below what a bank or Credit Card Company would hit you with.  But that interest rate can still be well above what your loved ones would make if they put that money into a low interest CD.  In this situation both the wedding couple and the parents come out ahead.  And it is a way that your parents can be involved in the wedding so you keep it “all in the family” but you are not “pinching” them for money.  No hurt feelings and you get the wedding of your dreams while putting some money into your parent’s pockets.  That’s a nice deal.

If you do go this route, go the whole distance by drawing up a loan agreement that everyone signs. That contract makes sure you pay that loan just like you would any other credit account.  You might even negotiate late fees that would go against the loan value if you miss payments or are quite late paying your monthly amount on that loan.  But make sure everyone is ok with the terms and that you are not going to mess up Thanksgiving if you have to pay a late fee to mom and dad according to the contract.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Traditionally the family of the blushing bride bears most of the costs of the wedding.  The groom’s parents get off light with a few expenses such as the wedding rehearsal dinner and the flowers.  But that is how it used to be.  Modern weddings are often paid for by the bride and groom themselves.  So in addition to the nervous anxiety about getting married, bride and groom have the concern about how to put the biggest event of their lives on for everybody they know.

If you go by national averages, the costs of weddings continue to skyrocket.  People that study such things tell us that only a few years ago, a wedding could be expected to cost over $25,000 and the situation where the couple pays for all of that was hardly uncommon.  In recent years, that average cost for a nice wedding event has shot up to close to $35,000 and trends tell us that the average price tag to get hitched is likely to keep going up in the future.

Obviously, the wedding is something that can get way out of hand.  If you and your spouse to be are going to be paying for the wedding yourself, there is a lot you can do to get those costs under control. By sitting down before the first wedding related expense is paid and setting a budget for the event, you are showing some common sense.  Sadly, for many couples, even with a solid budget to live by, many weddings cost twice what the bride and groom planned for.  So make sure you continue your strict and sensible approach to wedding preparation to stop those expenses before they eat you alive.

Now this doesn’t mean you have to buy your dress from a thrift shop and get married in the back of a van.  But if you keep the focus of the wedding on the love that is being shared and the joining of the couple in a blessed event, you can still have a blow out party without going into your first year of wedded life with a debt that could cripple you.  The internet is a rich source of information on how to have all of the accoutrements of a lovely wedding without spending like there is no tomorrow.

Click here to see Part 2: It Takes Both Love and Money for the Perfect Wedding Part 2

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.