There is no escaping it. At some point during your stroll down towards matrimonial bliss the subject of money is going to come up. How much should you spend on the cake? How much on the entertainment, and how much for the honeymoon? Every individual will have their own opinion, and in most relationships, never the two shall meet. Who should control the money and who should make the decisions? Should it be the person who earns the most, spends the most, has the loudest huff of frustration, or can abstain from sex the longest? There really is no solid answer, which clearly explains the substantial conflict when couples try to budget a wedding together.
Men have been known to make compulsive decisions on the purchase of vehicles and sports equipment. Women, on the other hand, go out shopping for hours on end and come home with five picture frames (on sale), a juicer that she will never use, a vase, and another winter jacket to go along with the other 63 stuffed in her hallway closet. And yes, I did say “her” closet, as chances are all your jackets are stored down in the basement with the stale fruitcake leftovers from Christmas’ past. But don’t look to any ghost of Christmas past to fix this injustice. Your best strategy will be to follow these three simple tips to budgeting your wedding.
1. Designate a Master Account for the Wedding– The easiest guideline for a newly engaged couple is to set aside a master account to handle all the major expenditures and bills of the wedding and then have their own separate personal accounts to spend on what they choose. This will eliminate many of the fights about what each other is buying as long as the necessities and basics are being taken care of. This is a good base from which to start, but the ultimate guideline is to initiate good communication and patience when it comes to all major purchases. Sometimes even the smallest purchases should be talked about when money is tight.
2. Communicate Your Needs– In both engagement and marriage, a couple is learning how to combine their lives to complement each others separate personalities, needs and desires. To accomplish this, you cannot buy on impulse. You have become a partnership, a team. If you were the quarterback during an important game and you had a particular play in mind while the rest of the team had another, you would not score any touchdowns that way. In marriage, you must follow the same practice of communication and patience as that of a successful sports team. This will ensure a successful partnership and overall winning marital strategy.
3. Compromise Until You Find Middle Ground– Planning your wedding is a prerequisite to the rest of your lives together. This is why you should take time to begin your partnership fostering equal participation in the decision of the wedding budget. Discuss what each other wants, how much it will cost, and then compromise if you must. You will have enough problems coordinating wants and desires in the beginning, so don’t add to the problem by purchasing mysterious toys, cars, and unnecessary sound equipment unless you’re sure that racking up the fruitcake stains on your jacket will be worth the bargain.
