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Base your wedding off of your budget, not your budget off of your wedding. If you're planning an event that's already outside of your means, maybe you should revisit some of the selections that you've made and cut back.

I actually planned my paychecks for several months out and really saw how much I could put into the wedding. Took that money out in cash every check and hid it in a piggy bank. It wasn't in my bank account and I didn't spend it unless it was wedding related. I also wrote down what I took out and such to stay on track. 😊

I have auto transfers to my savings account each month. We're 10 months out and need to save around $10,000. Based on our monthly drafts, we will be over that. Just have to be honest with yourself and really diligent in not touching the money you put away

You need a zero dollar budget (one were every dollar you earn has an assignment). This app/website is an easy one to use: https://www.everydollar.com

Then take how much money you need and divide by the number of months until the wedding. You have to save that much a month and put that in the budget.

Some easy ways to reduce spending include: cancelling subscriptions, don't eat out or by any food out, stop buying new clothes, don't buy any unnecessary items, buy store brand at the grocery store.

The other option is to increase your income with a side hustle. Options include: selling house old items you have but don't need, delivering pizza, uber, door dash, ref youth sports, etc.

Best of luck!

FH and I opened a joint savings and put a certain amount away each check. We actually have enough for the wedding, honeymoon and will have extra left over to start our house down payment fund. We opened the account late July, so in 5 months we were able to save for our February wedding. All of our payments are due in January. I made a spreadsheet on excel so we could see how much we paid each vendor and how much money was left to pay and divided that amount by the months, then divided that per check. FH gets paid bi-monthly and I get paid bi-weekly, so to keep it even we both put in on the 1st and 15th, based on FH pay periods.

I used the app Acorn to help with small savings. It rounds up all card purchases to the nearest dollar, then invests that money every month. I didn't even notice the round ups and after our engagement had $500+ saved. We also each saved $200+ from our paychecks in a savings account, and cut out purchases like coffee & eating out (made coffee at home & ate at home). You could also do things like uber or lyft or food delivery for extra money?