How did you save the money?

We are paying for ours 100%. We opened a seperate money market account, we have no access to it like checks or a card, it is linked to our checking so we can transfer money into it and then back into our checking, and if we need cash we have to go to a bank branch. This helps us not really touch the money. We sat down and gave ourselves a max budget for the wedding and then looked at how much time we had from there until a month prior, and divided it, and that's how much we put into savings each month. We had to cut back on eating out and going out in general but it's worth it and now we're 3 months out and have enough saved, so we'll have a bit extra in the account by the time the wedding gets here good luck!

Wow awesome advice, I will definitely look into a money market account. I wouldn't have even thought of that! Thank you!

We are paying for it ourselves and only spending $4-5k. So we saved money everywhere, lol. We are doing everything but on a smaller scale. It's an afternoon wedding so not serving a full meal, just appetizer type snacks. That helped a lot. It's on NYE, which is a Wednesday th8s year so we saved a lot our photographer.

We are also 100% paying for ours ourselves. We have been making payments to vendors rather than paying the lump sum owed all at once. It's helping us space out payments so our wedding account doesn't disappear all at once. Also, so we are able to pay everything cash up front rather than charge it and pay for it later. We also planned a long engagement to help with this and give us time to space out expenses.

About 1/3 if our monthly income gets automatically transferred over into our wedding account every month. Luckily we haven't had to sacrifice much of our every day spending. We have just had to put a hold on any major vacations we like to take until after all this wedding business is over. Haha.

Pay yourself first. I put at least $250 in my savings account every pay day. No exception.

We are paying for our wedding as well. FH started saving a few months before he proposed. After that, we both contributed to the account. We save from our paychecks, but we also included 50% of our bonuses and 75% of our tax returns to the account.

We have been engaged 10 months. We do lump sums and as pay as we go. We have so far paid off hair, makeup, flowers, honeymoon to Maui for 7 days, cake, dj, dress, veil, FH tux, shoes, etc. Only thing we still really owe is couple thousand on venue.

Figure out your bottom line for living expenses. Go through all your bills, grocery, etc. And figure out and keep track of what you spend. Once you have that all sorted, figure out how much extra that will leave you each month/pay day, and put it away as soon as you get paid. You might need to tweak it a bit the first month or two but then you'll be good!

About 2 years ago, FH and I were REALLY struggling financially. Seemed every week we were in the over draft and counting down the days til he got paid (I'm a stay at home mom). So I buckled down, went over our entire budget - set a limit on what we could spend each week/month on certain expenses, and then we lived off cash. Every 2 weeks FH would bring me his pay cheque in cash, and throw whatever was left over back into his savings account. We not only managed to get out of the red, but I managed to save us $1000 a month.

Really helped to have a set budget for everything - I could take the $15 left at the end of the week for groceries and get just bread and milk, without buying $50 worth of other stuff we didn't really need. It really helped being able to see exactly how much I had to spend and not having any plastic to rely on or over spend with. Most months we even had enough left over to treat ourselves to a date night!

Now that was us cutting back to the bare minimum because we needed to get out of the hole, but I think it would work really well for saving if you needed it to. We aren't doing it now because FH now has a MUCH higher paying job so we're able to spend while still saving a lot, but living off cash for a year made us better spenders in general anyways!

We're fortunate enough to have my parents paying for the majority. We have been purchasing a lot of the smaller things though but it has still added up. I suggest figuring out how much you need to save each month to pay the vendors by their due dates. Then put at least that amount in a savings account each month. Also find little ways to save on utilities or groceries and put whatever you save into that fund. For the first two years we lived in our house we didn't have cable and that helped us save an additional $70 a month.

Im just working alot. I work two jobs but it equals out to the same amount as a mon thur fri job because I do 12 hours at a hospital. FH makes good as well. Havent been able to save yet but all vendors deposit is paid for except the cake dj and pastor. But everything else is just the remaining balance. Starting next month we ar going to crack down. And next year I cant wait for my w2 to come. I work hard all year and cant wait to get it all back. I have 2 babies that I can claim. So whatever else we dont have save we will just put the rest to it. Hoping we save a good amount so we can use that money for spending money and a down payment to a house the following year.

I put away $50 every month while I worked a part time job in college and then after I graduated and got a full time job, I put away $200 every month and continue to do so. I also was very careful with the money in my checking account so after I got engaged, I transferred over what would make my savings equal $25k, which was to be used for my wedding.

Edit: I also put all bonuses and tax refunds in my savings.

I agree with the other brides. I do pay myself each month, both into the wedding account and my personal savings account. I am an older bride with a good job as a nurse, but I worked part time for nearly a year with a sick father. Now he is better and I am back at full time so it helps a lot. I always picked up extra when I could. The other thing not suggested but that goes along with paying cash for everything is saving ALL of your change, It really adds up. We toss ours into a jar and I count it up every once in awhile when it gets heavy. Roll it and deposit it into the wedding fund. We paid for a weekend getaway 2 years ago to Indy on pocket change and reward gift card from AT &T.

I sold stuff on eBay and I made some cash that way

Two ways:

1) First, I use a microsoft excel spreadsheet (have been for almost 10 years now) to control my spending. I have three columns - one for each paycheck and one for mandatory expenses/bills. Then I figure out which bill comes out of each paycheck. Then, for each column, I see how much I have leftover. I give myself $150-175 a week for gas and expenses (groceries, personal, etc.). Then, with the remainder, half went to my savings and half to my wedding. Although now it all goes to my savings. I tweak my spreadsheet if either my bills or my salary changes. Anything leftover goes into my savings account (for example, I budget $100 a month on electricity, but if I only spent $60, that $40 goes to savings). It's all about knowing exactly how much goes when.

2) I save my change. If I pay for something in cash, I put my change in a jar. But I also take very good record of my checking account using an old-fashioned checkbook register. I account for every debit card purchase I make, but I round it up. So if I spent $1.08 at Dunkin Donuts (iced coffee…yum), I'd deduct $2. At the end of every month, I'd put the leftover money directly into my savings account. I usually have around $30-40 a month, so all that extra can add up!

These are all really good ideas! Thank you everyone

We will definitely be making a spreadsheet and taking an in-depth look at every aspect of our finances. I'm hoping it will be possible! Crazy how much our monthly expenses are, and I really need a new car in the next couple of months. My Altima is at 183k miles and is hanging on for dear life. Not looking forward to adding a $350 or more car payment to my bills each month!

We are paying for most of ours as well. I started putting $100 -200 of every pay check away for my FH and I. Anything extra like a bonus or my expense cheques, I put straight away into my savings too.

And we had to talk about what parts of our wedding are most important and willing to spend money on too. We are not having a photo booth or anything so that saved us $500. We asked around from everyone we knew if they had friends and family who were photographers, musicians, etc so we got great deals that way. Our photographer is my FH's best friend's sister in law and actually has a wedding service business so she was willing to give us an incredible deal for our package. Basically I got photography, makeup and hair all in one. I saved about $2000 dollars doing this. My mother in law happened to be friends with a florist so we saved another 1000 on that. Idesigned and printed my own invitations because I'm a photoshop geek. I only spent about $100 on all my materials. Also, I went to one of those sale bridal places for my wedding dress so I didn't have to pay $2000 for my dress and I still loved it even though it was part of a 2012 line.

Just little sacrifices here and there and A LOT of networking. It helps too to make a timeline of when you are hiring vendors. I saved some money for deposits enough for 2 major vendors at a time each month while continuing saving so that the next month I can find another vendor and have enough money for it too.

Create a wedding account and cut out unnecessary shopping. I also have been racking up credit card points and using them to get gift cards for places like the grocery store. The FH and I also cook at home.

We're paying ourselves and just paying off mostly inclusive venue each month. I'm renting my house and living in his so the rental money will go towards paying for it.

Quick money saving tip for invites: use post cards for the RSVP. Post card stamps are only 34 cents.

Also, if you haven't chosen a dress yet, if you get it at David's Bridal your FH's tux or suit rental is free at Men's Wearhouse. Groomsmen get $40 off their tux or suit rental and Bridesmaids get $20 off their dress.