photo from nathancolquhoun

Learning to create a proper and realistic working budget for a wedding is tough, but it is something that is of the utmost importance if you want to have a successful and happy first year of marriage, unlike Jack and Claire. Jack is a successful sportswear designer and Claire is a busy project manager. The happy couple met almost 5 years ago and after a 2 year courtship Jack proposed.

At first the excitement of getting engaged and married was overwhelming, but soon work started to take over and every day life began to take its toll. Instead of creating a plan, they just took things one day at a time and did what they could when they could. This plan, or lack thereof, resulted in no wedding.

Only 2 years later did they realize that nothing had been done, and time was ticking along. They began working furiously to plan their wedding and Claire went to buy her dress once they had set a date and found a venue. They made plans to look at cakes and flowers and choose a theme and found the perfect DJ, fabric, catering company and table d?cor. Jack and Claire?s wedding was amazing.

When they got back from their honeymoon in Aruba, however, reality sank in. They had spent almost all of their savings and there was very little money left to do anything else. Jack was optimistic and reassured Claire that everything would be fine, once they started saving again, but then more bills came in and they began arguing about why the flowers were so expensive, why Claire needed a $3000 dress, and why Jack booked them into a luxury hotel in Aruba.

With no savings, the dream house they were planning to buy was sold to someone else. Claire wanted to have a baby soon because she was already in her early 30?s, but this was impossible with no savings.

At the moment the couple is still in debt and still fighting – mostly about money. Does having a wedding seem off-putting? Well, there is a way to still have money once you have had the wedding of your dreams and this is simply done by planning your wedding properly and sticking to your budget.