Everyone understands that a wedding can be expensive. The cost of the dress, the venue and the catering soon adds up. The expense can be difficult to afford, especially if you have a limited income.
If you have credit problems as well, this can be an additional issue to overcome. In order to address the issue, you might be thinking about a loan for people who do not have great credit or credit cards for bad credit. Before you make any decisions, there are certain factors that you need to take into account.
The importance of being honest about money
No matter how you decide to progress with paying for your wedding, you need to ensure that, as a couple, you are completely honest about your financial situation.
Ideally, you should have ensured that you had this understanding long before a proposal happened. However, if this is not the case, you need to change things now.
Almost everything you do as a couple is going to be impacted by money. So, you need to have a good understanding of where you both are financially and how you are going to move forward together. For instance, are you going to have joint bank accounts and joint financial responsibilities? If you are even thinking of trying to take on more credit, you need to understand what this is going to mean for you both.
Talk to each other about money
In order to develop a good understanding of your current financial situation, you need to talk about your finances together. This can be a difficult thing to do for many people. After all, money is not always an easy thing to discuss with someone who you love.
When you start to talk, there are certain points to remember that will help to make things easier.
Being judgmental is not a good idea
You need to make sure that you both have a mindset that is non-judgmental. It’s easy to be critical about your partner’s financial decisions. However, acting in this way is only likely to cause friction and lead to animosity.
This is obviously not the way that you want to start out in life together. You need to listen to each other without judging. You then need to calmy discuss any changes that need to be made, in order for you both to make the best possible start to married life.
Taking a break can be useful
Discussing money can be intense and stressful, especially if you are in a situation where getting credit is difficult. If this causes one or both of you to become distressed or angry, the conversation is unlikely to be productive.
For this reason, you should not be afraid to take a break. Spending some time away from the discussion means that the situation is less likely to get out of control. You should also take a break if the conversation is set to take a lot longer and one or other of you has something that you need to do. You should never rush to get the conversation finished and risk missing important points.
The important things should be the focus
Any conversation about finances should focus around what is important. If you start getting carried away with petty issues, you are not going to be able to deal with the major financial considerations.
For instance, if you are thinking of using credit to pay for your wedding, you need to focus on the wider impact. You need to ask yourselves if adding extra features on the day is going to leave you in financial difficulties for years to come. If you decide that the answer is yes then you need to start looking for a solution.
Opt for a more affordable wedding instead
One option that you may have, when it comes to affording a wedding, is to consider money saving possibilities. There is nothing wrong with opting for a simpler wedding. The most important thing is that you and your partner enjoy your special day. There are several tips that can help you to plan a more affordable wedding.
- Keep the guest list down.
You should never feel obliged to invite anyone to your wedding. You should put your financial situation, and your own happiness, first.
- Ask for help instead of presents.
Getting some assistance with your wedding is often a better option than being given material items as a present. For instance, you could ask a friend who is an expert photographer to capture your images.
- Do your own catering.
This may sound like a big ask, but if your guest list is not large you can make it work. Enlist the help of family to put the menu together and prepare the food.
- Check out the sales for outfits.
Yes, you want to look good on your big day. However, this does not mean that you need to spend a fortune. Buy outfits that are on sale, or even buy used. It’s a great way of getting a fabulous dress at a reduced cost.
- Do not go overboard on the honeymoon.
Your honeymoon should be about spending quality time together. You can do this by staying at an affordable hotel and choosing free activities. You do not have to opt for luxury. You may even want to postpone the honeymoon to a more affordable time of year.
In summary
If you are thinking of taking out credit to pay for your wedding, you need to consider your options carefully. In order to do this, you need to talk to each other and develop an understanding of your joint finances.
Part of your conversation should involve considering all of your options. This means that you need to include the possibility of reducing the cost of your wedding. There are simple things that you can do in order to make this happen. This could be a viable alternative to taking out credit if you decide against that option.
