Weddings are probably the most expensive events that people ever throw. With so little experience in what is effectively events management, many people find that they blow past their budgets, but the cost of a venue, catering and other such items is often way bigger than what couples budget for. As we will discuss later on, you have to know what the most important items are in your budget so that you can save for your wedding with a realistic target in mind.

Break it Down

Now, you obviously have a budget in mind. What you need to do now is to break it down using a simple trick. What you do is take your budget target and divide it by the number of months till your deadline. So, for instance, if you are working towards a $20,000 wedding which will be a year away, then you say $20,000/12 which gives you $1,700/month to save. If you think that that amount is a bridge too far, then you either have to push your date back, or, reduce your budget, or, cut down even deeper into your spending. Having a monthly target gives you a more instantaneous signal to tell you how far or close you are to achieving your goal. 

Figure Out How Much the Typical Wedding Costs

You have to work with the average wedding cost to get a sense of the number you should be aiming at. As you are saving for your wedding, you have to be assured that your budget is not too high or too low. Create a special account for your wedding preparations. Do your research for your area to determine what the average wedding costs. Then, you can use that as a starter and either add on to that or reduce from that, knowing how it will affect your wedding compared to the typical wedding.

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Reduce Your Expenditure

For many people, throwing a wedding is a big deal. It usually requires sacrifices on the part of you and your spouse. You have to be prepared to reduce your expenditure on all non-essentials, from gym memberships, cable. And other things. You could even change your data plan for your cell-phone to reduce costs even further. By now, you should regularly look at your data plan to find better plans for your budget. Even minor cuts add up thanks to the power of compounding. $20 saved per month adds up to $240 a year, for example. AT a time when the cost of acquiring a new customer is on the rise, companies have an incentive to get you the best possible deal, in order to keep you in the fold. Reducing expenditure should not entail cutting back on essentials like insurance of healthcare plans!

Cut Back on the Small Stuff

As you save for the top event space, best catering and other elements of your wedding, it can seem like making cuts to small things doesn’t help you much. As we said above, the small stuff adds up. Spending on coffee, eating out, drinks, bottled water and other seemingly trivial expenses, can have a huge effect once you add them up. You need to look at your spending and carve it up with surgical precision, throwing away all the excess, no matter how small.