It is no secret that weddings can be incredibly expensive, but what many people don’t know is that there can be bigger savings by using wedding planning services than doing it themselves. 

Wedding planners can often negotiate special rates because they work with the same companies and venues hundreds of times a year. Setting a budget is one of the most important things to do before you get stuck in planning and putting down deposits. 

So how can you make sure that you still both get the wedding of your dreams, but without blowing a Hollywood blockbuster budget on it?

Talk about it 

Sure, you have gotten engaged, but do you know what your partner really wants? Do they want a million flowers or balloons? What about eloping? Get down to the finer details – where do you want the wedding to be? Who do you want there? 

What about colors? 

Start dreaming together so that you get a good idea of the non-negotiables for you both. Always keep in mind that a wedding is for you both! 

Surprises 

There will be a range of surprises that are going to cost money, and often you don’t think about these things in advance. Try to put at least a thousand dollars or more aside so that if there is something that comes up or even smaller miscellaneous stuff that didn’t have a budget assigned to it can be taken care of. 

Saving 

Manually saving can put a lot of pressure on the person who says they will take on the responsibility of doing it. If you choose to set up automatic savings, there is no pressure on their part to make sure that it gets done. 

Automatic savings use an algorithm to work out how much you can save without cutting into anything else that you need to pay. One of the biggest bonuses is that when you do automatic savings, you won’t be tempted to spend it because it goes into another account that you usually don’t have instant access to. 

Honeymoon 

Almost everything about your wedding will need to be practical, and if you want to go on a honeymoon, you’ll need to factor that in too. Setting up a separate savings fund for the honeymoon when you start the wedding fund is a good idea, and instead of gifts, you can ask for anonymous cash gifts instead. 

Many modern weddings have trees that people can peg envelopes of cash to. They don’t have to have names on them so that people who want to put more or less don’t have to be worried about others judging their gift. 

Set goals 

One of the biggest ways to keep yourself on track is to set both savings and ‘things’ goals. Put final dates for taking deliveries or ordering, and try to set realistic savings goals that correlate with your automatic savings and the amount of room you have in your budget. 

Weddings are known to be one of the most stressful times, but here are some tips to reduce that: Seven Things Couples Can Do to Take the Stress Out of Wedding Planning.