According to recent surveys, the average couple spends $29,583 to have a wedding in Canada. With such a high price tag for the wedding it's no wonder so many couples start the new lives off with a lack of financial stability. With financial issues being one of the leading causes of divorce, this can put unnecessary strain on a new relationship. With that in mind is the perfect wedding really worth starting your new lives together with a mountain of debt or is wedding debt getting in the way of wedded bliss?
If you're concerned that the high price tag for your wedding will lead to financial hardship during the first months of your marriage, you should consider if a dream wedding is really worth a long-term financial burden. Fighting over financial issues can spell disaster for a new marriage, so why put yourself into that kind of position as a new couple? If your dream wedding is not worth the risk, you need to take steps to reduce wedding costs to avoid problems with debt at the beginning of your marriage.
Start by looking at the time and place you plan on holding your wedding, since these two factors can mean the difference between a reasonably priced wedding and an expensive wedding. Holding the ceremony at off times of the year, week or even the time of day can help save you money on almost every aspect of the wedding. It also helps you save money on the reception. For instance, if you hold a wedding early in the day, you can save big on food and drinks for your reception with a brunch or lunch reception instead of a dinner. Fall or winter weddings are almost always less expensive than spring or summer weddings. As for place, if you can either find a friend or family member with a big backyard, or hold the ceremony and reception at the same place, you can save money as well.
Following time and place, reducing cost on your wedding plans is really just a matter of figuring out what you can and can't live without for your nuptials. For some tech-savvy couples, printed wedding invitations may not be a big deal. You can skip printed invitations and send e-vites to your guests. For other consumers, they can live without having a perfectly matched wedding party, so they allow the bridal party to choose and wear their own dresses.
Make sure to keep a running total of your costs and adjust the numbers as needed. If you can't cut enough costs by giving up parts of the wedding that don't really matter to you, then the only solution left is to reduce your guest list. Reducing the number of guests reduces your total costs, so you can have a more extravagant ceremony in front of less people. Just make sure that you calculate how big of an impact your reduced guest list number will have on the final total for your wedding budget.
Once you have said "I do" you should start making plans to pay off your wedding debt. Research options for debt consolidation that allow you to combine your outstanding wedding debts into one low monthly payment. This helps you avoid financial hardship where you have to juggle bills and struggle to make ends meet in the first few months of your marriage. If you need to consolidate and you're not sure which option you should use, contact a not-for-profit credit counselling agency to speak with a trained credit counsellor about your situation.
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