Start Saving for Your Wedding Before You Get Married

It’s official – we’re married! All of the planning and saving was worth it and some of the best news is: we’re under budget! I haven’t totaled everything up completely, but I think we overall stayed under our budget. That said, we did a lot of saving almost immediately after we got engaged, so we were pretty prepared.

For anyone planning on becoming engaged, or who has recently become engaged, here are some great tips to start saving for your wedding – before you get married!

1. Open a wedding savings account

Just got engaged? One of the best ways to start saving for your wedding is opening a specific savings account just for your wedding. Put some of your monthly savings into your wedding savings account, and you’ll have an excellent start to paying off your wedding the day it happens.

For example, if you’re able to save $100 a month and plan a 12 month wedding, you’ll have $1,200 which, depending on your budget, might pay for a significant chunk of it – or at least cover your wedding flowers!

Consider signing up with Personal Capital to get started on your wedding budget. Personal Capital will help you set a budget, track your spending, and cut back on expenses in order to save up for your wedding.

2. Prioritize what’s important to you

Speaking of flowers, are they really that important to you and your future spouse? For some people, they are, but others have prioritize the location, food, or decorations more. Make sure you allocate more money in your budget for things that matter to you, and reduce (or cut out entirely) things you don’t care about.

For example, I didn’t think invitations mattered so much, but food did, so we kept a very small stationary budget and increased our food budget to accommodate our priorities. Nowadays you’re also able to send invitations via email, a very cheap (and even free!) way to take care of invitations.

3. Save “extra” money for your wedding

If you received a tax refund, bonus, dividend payment, or if you side hustle, consider saving that money specifically for your wedding. Extra savings plus your consistent savings plan will help you quickly save up more money for your wedding with little sacrifice.

I hustled really hard in the months leading up to my wedding, and I was able to pay for half of the wedding just from side hustling. This meant I didn’t need to go into debt for our wedding, as side hustling plus our full-time incomes was able to pay for the wedding in full.

4. Have a longer engagement

If you’re set on having a bigger wedding, consider having a longer engagement in order to save up. Start saving for your wedding as soon as you get engaged and, by having a longer engagement, you’ll be able to save up more (and stash any extra savings you get from bonuses, tax refunds, etc.!)

You don’t want to start your marriage in debt from your wedding, so instead of going into debt right away, save up for a year or more in order to have everything set for your big day.

5. Sign up for a rewards credit card

If you’ve decided to have a longer engagement to save up for your wedding, consider signing up for the type of credit card that rewards you for spending a lot of money in a short amount of time. As long as you can absolutely pay off the card once you accumulate enough points for travel rewards (or cash back), using a rewards credit card is an excellent way to pay for your wedding and enjoy a free honeymoon (if you sign up for the travel rewards card!)

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How did you save up for your wedding, and what are your recommendations for people who want to start saving for their weddings now?