Thursday, March 27, 2008

How Much Wedding Can You Afford?

How Much Wedding Can You Afford?
by George Meszaros

Your budget is one of the most important influencing factors in your wedding planning process. Long gone are the days when the bride�s parents would pay for everything without complaint. Today, it is much more likely that the bride and groom will share the majority of the costs of the wedding. If you are luck, your parents may be able to share some of the costs, but mature couples should not count on it.

Before you do anything else you must set your budget. Unless you know how much and what you can afford, you can�t begin your wedding planning. Without a budget, you�ll end up estimating and that can be risky. If you are estimating how much money you have to spend, you may be surprised somewhere along your wedding planning project. Instead of estimating you may be underestimating how much everything will cost.

Be realistic. If money is no object, you have it made. If money is tight you may have to be more creative, but it is not necessarily a bad thing. You may need to ask your parents to help paying for your wedding, but don�t expect them to take on a second mortgage to pay for your dream wedding. You don�t want your dream wedding to turn into your parents� financial nightmare. If your parents give you a figure as to how much they can afford to spend, don�t ask for more.

If you don�t want or can�t ask for financial help from your parents, don�t worry. Take an honest look at your financial situation and set your budget accordingly. If you have a limited budget, decide on what is and isn�t important. Make a list of the essentials and work your way down. If you want to have a big crowd, perhaps you need to think about decreasing the per guest cost. You may need to make some compromises, but you can still have fun. Use a wedding budget worksheet to plan out what you have to pay for, and how much you should budget for on each thing. Wedding budgets are essential; they allow you to make a decision on the total amount you can afford to spend.




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