Planning ahead, budgeting

I would do the cash envelope budget system to help you stay on budget. Then hopefully you can save some for the wedding

View Quoted Comment What is that? Could you maybe explain further please. Thank you

Agree with Emily. Google Dave Ramsey and you will see his budgeting system. In my opinion, this can work for anyone. But if your wedding is soon, you may prioritize wedding over something else like retirement. Just be sure you consider avoiding any financing charges if you have any debt. Those will get you in the end.

View Quoted Comment Ok great thanks 😊

I would think about all the elements of your “dream wedding” and pick out the ones that are actually most important to you. I had my dream wedding visualized since I was very young... I’d get married on the beach, barefoot, teal bridesmaid dresses, elaborate starfish and sea glass centerpieces, etc......


I ended up getting married in the ballroom of a historic inn 20 mins from where I grew up. The only thing consistent from my “dream wedding” description was the teal bridesmaids dresses (lol). I gave up the beach wedding idea because the beach was too far for my grandpa to travel to. I realized my grandpa was more important to my dream wedding than any location.
Really, it sounds cheesy but, if we did our wedding over with all the people that were there, and I got to marry my husband, and we hosted it next to a dumpster, it would still be my dream wedding. The important thing (especially if you’re on a tight budget) is realizing things like centerpieces and elaborate decor isn’t (or shouldn’t be) the dream. The dream should be marrying your fiancé and being surrounded by your loved ones have the people that matter, bring them to a nice venue and serve them good food and good drinks. everything else you can manage to afford is just a bonus!

View Quoted Comment You're so right, I know some things aren't going to end up being as important in the end just wanted to get a head start on saving money for the big day; thank you so much for the advice, greatly appreciated

My husband and I grabbed overtime work whenever we could to make money specifically set aside for the wedding

Fiancé and I started budgeting like crazy. Basically we figured out what we could reasonable save by the time we wanted to get married, and then made that the budget for the wedding. I made a spreadsheet with our wedding budget on it, including rough estimates for each area of wedding costs, then a separate sheet of monthly savings goals next to a column of money actually saved. Planning it out like that made it all feel doable.
All my extra $$ went into the wedding fund: coaching, teaching summer school, saving by not eating out, etc.
Cash envelope is basically, plan out to your last cent how you will spend your money each month. Then, for any bills/payments not just taken right out of your bank account, take that budget $ out in cash, keep it in an envelope just for that budget area. That way you physically see how much you spend and how much you have left. So, make a grocery envelope, gas envelope, eating out envelope, etc.

I set up our account to remove a certain amount from checking to savings account every Friday. Is money you don’t see so you don’t plan with it or even assume you have. It adds up a lot just see it as $100 a week for example is $5200 a year for 52 weeks.

My hubby & I opened a bank account and every month put in a contribution. We preset what we would each contribute. Although ours was each the same amount, it makes sense for couples who have very different salaries to contribute a percentage of their salary instead of an equal amount.


We saved money for 15 months. That, and a cash gift my mom gifted us, was our initial budget.

What’s your dream wedding? If you had to choose the #1 priority would it be: gorgeous venue, big guest list, amazing floral decor, a destination wedding, or something else?


This community is great at sharing cost-sharing ideas!