Creating a Magical and Unique Wedding on a Shoestring Budget

Let's face it. Weddings can be outrageously expensive. How much can you afford to spend on your wedding without going into debt? You can easily drop the cost of a college education on this one special day. However, you really can create a magical and unique ceremony on a shoestring. At the weddings I have attended, what truly made them special cost nothing.

Start by setting a budget, one that is less than what you can actually afford so you have a little room for surprises. Include in your budget all of your available assets: cash you have set aside for the wedding, financial help from a family member or friend, and your non-financial resources, like friends. Who do you know that can take professional-level photographs? Who is a caterer or great cook? Who can sew? Ask your community if they might help you with aspects of your wedding like flowers, music, photography, and so on. These contributions will not only save you thousands of dollars, but also creates a more unique and magical wedding. Include these resources in your budget.

Be clear and honest with people: If a friend agrees to take pictures, make sure you are clear if she will be paid, if you will buy her plane ticket to get to your wedding, if she gets to keep negatives for her portfolio, or any other specifics. Figure out these details at the beginning so you don't have to think about them later, when more important things like walking down the aisle will be on your mind.

One way to stick to your budget is to set up a savings account just for wedding expenses. Spend only from this account when hiring vendors and purchasing wedding items like flowers. That way you will be less likely to overspend by tapping into non-wedding funds.

Follow your agreed-upon budget as closely as possible even as surprises arise. Do not put yourself in the stressful situation of having to put your rehearsal dinner on a credit card because you splurged on your flowers. Enjoy the rush that comes from spending less than budgeted rather than the guilty high following a huge expenditure. Reject the cultural notion that spending more on your wedding assures a better marriage; creativity will lead to much greater satisfaction than will debt in the long run. If you have extra funds, gift some to charity and invest some for your future.

Following a budget and being honest with yourself about money is great practice for married life; you and your partner need to be open with each other and proactive about money, for together you will share living expenses, buy a house, send children to college, and so on. Your money patterns, if you aren't already well familiar with them, will surface like a slimy beast while you plan your wedding. Rather than run screaming, use this as a chance to grow as a person and a couple. Consider meeting with a financial advisor, whether you will be combining large estates, huge credit card bills, or something in between. Check out Suze Orman's books on creating financial freedom and wealth, Beth Kobliner's Get a Financial Life, or Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad series.

Money is a form of energy. Money itself has no value; it gains value and meaning from our intentions and beliefs. Money is merely a cultural agreement about how goods and services are to be exchanged. Some people can get wrapped up in the energy of money and think money energy alone expresses value and health, or that either spending or hoarding money creates safety. By drawing on and including in your wedding budget your other resources like gifts of time and love, you draw on a much deeper well of energy. Furthermore, abundance and gratitude creates more abundance, and by honoring the natural abundance you already have regardless of what is in your savings account, you create a field of abundance in which you live. This leads to a fully abundant life, financially as well as emotionally. Draw on all your resources and give gratitude for these gifts from the Goddess, and you will be stronger and healthier for it.

To realize the value of gratitude, try this meditation. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to center yourself in your body and the present moment. Now bring to mind all your fears about money. For five minutes think about all the ways money causes problems and what negative things you associate with wealth. Now meditate on all the things you desire, all the things that money can buy that you want. Sit in this desire for five minutes, then let the feeling dissipate. Now sit in thankfulness and gratitude for all that you have: your home, your partner, your garden, whatever fills your life with joy. Let this gratitude grow and fill your entire body. After five minutes, open your eyes.

When you fully sit in gratitude, notice what happened to your fears and wants. It is important to identify and be honest about our fears and express our desires, but in an attitude of gratitude these obsessive energies of fear and want dissolve into non-importance. When gratitude fills my body, heart, and soul, I feel awed at the amazing abundance of the universe and in my life. I know that in this moment nothing is lacking. I have everything I need. I still set goals and work to achieve them, but I do so from a place of gratitude for my life and the gifts in it.

Take a moment each day to give thanks for your life and all its blessings. What a blessing it is to plan a wedding, to live in a loving relationship, and to simply be alive!

Stay tuned for more tips on creating a wedding on a budget....