Gifts, loans, and student debt: the importance of being clear about money
Ariel was recently quoted in an “Ask Brianna” article over here. The issue was how can someone pay for a wedding while they’re really trying to pay down their student loans at the same time. It’s a sticky issue with the hugely rising costs of college AND weddings.
Here’s what Ariel had to say about communication regarding financing with your family.
Are your parents helping pay for your wedding? Have them read this.
The only rule is to talk openly and honestly about expectations clearly before accepting any money — is the money a loan? A gift? If it’s a gift, does it come with stipulations or expectations? Talking about money is uncomfortable and awkward for everyone, but it’s critically important for parents who might be contributing to weddings to be VERY clear about what their expectations are… and to watch out for predatory marketing that targets parents…
Self-funded wedding budget: one couple’s lessons learned
We got married October 2016, and we paid for 90% of the wedding. We have a few self-funded wedding budget tips and examples for making it work when you’re on your own budget. The biggest thing I found for saving is networking and negotiating.
Most importantly for us was picking our “thing” — the one thing you want to splurge on/don’t want to have a wedding without.
Plan your $20k wedding with this sample wedding budget spreadsheet
Wendy and Robert rocked a steampunk-themed costume wedding that we loved. We featured their steampunk duel recently. Wendy shared with us their $20k wedding budget that we felt would be an awesome sample wedding budget for anyone rocking that general area of price tag. Let’s take a peek…
Planning tools 101: wedding budget calculator
We launched a comprehensive and totally customizable document of wedding planning spreadsheets if you’re the type to get down with spreadsheets like I am. First we featured a big ol’ wedding timeline, then we featured the guest list planner, and now we’re showing you the wedding budget calculator for all your costs and figures and savings.
10 realistic wedding budget tips to stop budget ballooning
You’ve probably realized it already: weddings are expensive. No matter what your budget is, chances are it’s slowly creeped upwards from your original estimate — maybe by a lot. As a bride in the middle of planning, here are some realistic wedding budget tips that have drastically helped to keep the budget from ballooning out of control.