Choosing a wedding party can be the most difficult part of your engagement bliss, so keep it simple, and don't feel beholden to old friends or quasi-relatives.
Plan a Wedding on $400
Simply put, weddings can be very costly. In fact, as of 2011, couples could expect the average wedding to cost $27,800, according to a survey conducted by The Knot. However, while planning a wedding for $400 may be a big challenge, it's not impossible. If you are overly strict with your budget, have a bit of creativity and add plenty of do-it-yourself touches, you can create a small wedding with memories that will last a lifetime. (See References 1, 2, 3 and 4.)
Incorporate Stepchildren Into Your Wedding Vows
If you are marrying a man or a woman who already has children from a previous marriage or relationship, you may be familiar with the added complications that can arise from a stepchild's fear that he will be forgotten in the bloom of a parent's new love. As a stepparent, one of the best ways to counteract this fear is to include your stepchildren in your wedding ceremony. In this way, you can clearly communicate to them that you are not just marrying their parent, you are marrying them as well and that you consider them part of your family and as important a part as their mother or father. In this article, we will discuss how to incorporate stepchildren into your wedding vows.
Plan a Wedding for Less Than $5,000
Weddings are an enormous undertaking, especially when you're on a very tight budget. The best way to start is to envision the actual wedding day from start to finish.
Calculate a Wedding Budget
Planning a wedding can be a lesson in compromise. You don't want to begin your new life overwhelmed by debt, but you do want to mark one of the most important occasions of your life in style. This is where a wedding budget can help. You can decide ahead of time where to splurge and where to save, making intelligent decisions about how and where to spend. It can also prevent hindsight sticker shock when the bills start arriving.