Who's Paying for your wedding?

There is no mistaking it, weddings are expensive! What if you can't afford to pay for the wedding yourselves?

Talk with your families about who will pay for what: Some brides families still pick up the entire tab, but more and more grooms families are participating too. How do you bring up the conversation? For many couples, talking to each family separately is the best way to have truly open discussions. When you do talk, here are strategies for determining your initial budget.

    * Ask both of your folks to commit to a specific dollar amount, and then add up all the contributions to create your budget.
    * Alternatively, it may be easier to ask each set of parents to finance a particular aspect of the wedding (such as the flowers, honeymoon, or photographer) instead of just committing to a dollar amount.
    * Decide how much you two can contribute between now and the wedding.

Once you have a final figure, it is very important to stick within that amount. Do not overspend, as not only can you end up putting yourselves into debt but you could end up dragging your families into debt too!