Making It All Mean Something

The AVERAGE cost of weddings today is about $20,398 and that doesn't include a honeymoon! How does one save money and still have the wedding of their dreams in today's economy? I'll tell you what worked for me!

First, clearly define what yours and your fiance's "Dream Wedding" actually is because, BELIEVE ME, if you have a clear understanding of what is going to be planned before you start planning, you will avoid some very unpleasant encounters during an already stressful time. Learning to compromise is one of the elements of a marriage so if you both can't compromise now ... better just stop planning! Share your final decisions/plans with Family & Friends that will be helping in the planning. When everyone is on the SAME page, it's a beautiful thing!

Second, set a realistic budget. Don't spend money or plan on spending money that you don't have yet. Financial stress is a huge contributer to divorce ... don't want to start off on the wrong foot!

Third, prioritize what elements of your wedding are the key players. Where is your main focus. I thought during the planning of my wedding, as long as my fiance and the pastor show, I'm OK! You don't have to be that simple minded but you get the point. If everything started to NOT turn out the EXACT way you wanted it to, what ONE thing would you say HAS to be perfect and what elements could you overlook NOT being absolutely perfect? Pick your top 5, because you want to focus on what YOU & YOUR SPOUSE are going to remember from your wedding day. The elements that fall farther down on your list are NOT unimportant, they are just elements that give you room to make adjustments. For me, the elements farther down on my list I was able to let go of, in terms of control. I ended up delegating responsibility to family and friends who were absolutely dying to participate! I can't tell you how much that meant to them ... and how much more memorable that made my wedding day! In addition, those parts of my wedding that I delegated out actually saved us TONS of money! Why? Because the family member or friend who took charge of that task also insisted on funding it! I didn't expect that, nor should you, but you might be pleasantly suprised at how much your family and friends want to give to be a part of supporting a great start to a new life for you and your soon to be spouse!

I've got a ton more tips .... you know what they say, "Live and Learn" .... and I have definitly LIVED it and now I wanna share it! More tips to come .... I hope this helps someone!

I can also recommend quite a few wedding related professionals in my local area if anyone is interested.

I'd love to hear about your wedding experiences and wedding professionals recommendations also! Let's help each other avoid unpleasant and unecessarily expensive wedding blunders! It should be as perfect a day as it can be ....