Planning a Wedding

At some point during their lives most people need to save some money to pay for an extraordinary event. Perhaps one of your children is getting married or you''ve decided that you''ve got to go on that round the world cruise while you''re still young enough to enjoy it!

Even if your regular family budget is in a healthy state, you''re not going to be in a position to pay for a special event without some forward planning. The earlier that you can start planning your budget for the event, the more room you give yourself to maneuver. If you have the time to save towards the costs, some personal finance planning will go a long way to helping you achieve your goal.

Planning a Wedding

When planning a wedding budget, you will almost certainly need to trim back your household budget to compensate.

Look at areas where you can cut back household expenditure, at least on a temporary basis:

• Reallocate the money that you normally budget for luxuries and holidays to the wedding budget.
• Postpone major purchases such as new cars or home extensions.
• Resist the temptation to use your credit cards.

Wedding Budget

List the different expenses that need to be accounted for, including, but not limited to, the following:

• invitations
• bride''s dress
• bridesmaids'' dresses
• hairdressing and make-up
• flowers
• transport
• wedding ceremony costs
• photography
• wedding reception
• honeymoon.

When you see this list, you may be concerned at its length.

Don''t panic. These costs don''t all have to be paid at the same time. The secret is to spread the payments over as long a period as possible, without incurring any penalties. If you can do this, your finances are less likely to be overstretched.