Weddings: Who Pays For What?

Weddings can be very expensive, so who pays for it all? There are many different ways to divide up the expenses of the sacred event. The most important thing to remember is to decide early. Divide up the expenses, make a budget and stick to it! Here are a few ideas of how to handle the “who pays?” question:

The first option is to go with the traditional way. The parents of the bride pay for the wedding ceremony and reception and the parents of the groom pay for the rehearsal dinner and the alcohol at the reception. This option, however, puts a lot of financial responsibility on the bride’s parents, so if you are looking to make the cost more even, one of the other options might work better for you.

Another option is to have each set of parents decide which parts of the wedding they are going to pay for. For example, The groom’s parents are going to pay for the cost of the items involved during the ceremony while the bride’s parents pay for the items associated with the reception. Be careful with this situation, though. If you give them specific items to contribute to, they may want to voice their opinions on what you should spend their money on. Make sure that they understand that, even though they are kindly contributing money, the decision of what centerpieces to use is not entirely theirs.

Option number three is to sit down with both sets of parents, either together or individually. Find out how much they are willing to contribute to the wedding and have them give the money up front. This way, you don’t have to worry about them pulling the “well, I am paying for it” card. If the parents can’t just hand 10,000 dollars over to you at the beginning, then keep a log about how much money you have spent in their name. This way, you are still getting help financially and you still have control over how your wedding turns out.

If neither of the parents are willing/able to pay for the wedding, then the entire expense may land on you and your fiancee. This is not an uncommon situation and you will have to be prepared to deal with the situation. The key is making a budget and sticking to it. There are also plenty of ways to save money on weddings. You may be surprised, the parents may not have been able to commit to such an expense at the beginning, but they might be willing to pay for a few things along the way. Any assistance is helpful!

So, whether you and your partner are paying for the whole thing, you and your parents split the cost, or the parents pay for the whole thing, weddings take a lot of work and planning and without a plan for a budget, could be a nightmare. Decide who is contributing, and decide early!