Planning a Wedding in a Down Economy

For the first time in ten years the average cost of an American wedding is expected to go down. With the average price of a wedding in previous years hanging around $25,000, many brides and grooms are finding themselves unable or perhaps unwilling to spend as much on their nuptials. Whether it be fear of an impending lay off, unemployment, or perhaps just a tighter budget, couples are more apt to celebrate tying the knot with a backyard barbeque than a fabulous, dream affair.

In these days, the traditional payment plan involving the bride's family paying for everything is on its way out the door as more and more couples are paying for their own wedding and honeymoon, but how are they doing it? I took to the blogs, discussion boards and leading wedding planning websites and found out that brides get downright creative when it comes to making their day the best it can be.

The couples fortunate enough to afford a down payment on a home and a mortgage, say they used or plan to use their new home buyer tax credit to pay for their weddings, giving them a budget of $8,000, thank you President Obama! Others say they paid or plan to pay for their wedding with an interest free (for a year) credit card. They sat down and wrote out how much money they could set aside in any given month for their wedding than multiplied that number by 12 (so as not to incur interest) and whatever the number was, that would be their budget. Others simply pulled out the credit cards and paid for their dream wedding, however, this is the last way most couples want to pay for a wedding because starting a marriage in deep credit card debt is not a great plan.

The biggest theme in any budget savvy bride's money saving arsenal is do it yourself or ask someone else to do it for you, as a favor of course. Whether it's cooking your own cake, borrowing a friend's house to use as your venue, or even having your grandmother make your wedding dress, bride's are cunning when it comes to getting what they want for little or no cost.

However, even with cutting costs for the wedding, many couples opt out of going on a honeymoon. The decision for many seems to be either dream wedding or dream honeymoon. Some that want both, but can't afford it, use a honeymoon registry so that guests can pay the honeymoon instead of buying the couple gifts. The etiquette for this slightly new approach to paying for a honeymoon is still not established, some bridal experts say go for it while other say it may not be the most tactful approach.

To get help and budgeting tips for planning your wedding check out these top wedding websites: www.brides.com

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