4 Ways to Pay for Your Own Wedding

A wedding is something that requires a lot of planning and forethought. So are the finances that you need to make it happen. If you haven’t planned for them you will end up not having enough money to pay for your wedding, asking your parents to fund the wedding or worse; taking loans and swiping credit cards to pay for it.

So, the question is how do you plan to pay for your own wedding? Here are some ideas that could help you prepare.

Start saving early

When you start earning, you should keep putting your money away in a fixed deposit. Do this regularly and in no time, you would have a lump sum just waiting in a fixed deposit. What’s more, it’s not going to be sitting idle because it’s going to be accruing interest on an annual basis.

If you make it a 5-year tax-saving fixed deposit, then you can even get some tax benefits out of it under section 80C. That should give you some extra money which you can put into a wedding fund.

Start investing in mutual funds

Mutual funds are a great way to invest in the stock market without having to develop all the technical knowledge needed to do so. To make it more affordable, you can even invest using a SIP (Systematic Investment Plan). The SIP takes the burden of lump sum investments off your head and makes investing easier.

Once again, just like the FD, if you invest in an ELSS (Equity Linked Savings Scheme), you could end up getting some extra money for the wedding fund. If you invest in a fund that offers dividends, then you’ll a bit more to add to that wedding fund.

Create a wedding fund

If investing is not really your thing, then you need to re-think your financial strategy. But, in any case, creating an account where you collect any and all extra money could help augment the wedding budget. Create an account where you can keep putting away little bits of extra money to help create a corpus to pay for that wedding.

It won’t be the most efficient system because the other methods help your money grow, but it’s better than not doing anything.

Keep the costs down

Once you have the money, a good way to make sure that you can afford your own wedding is to make sure you stay in budget. Don’t go for anything that would break the budget. A touch of practicality would help here because while it is an occasion to celebrate, it also shouldn’t become the day you broke the bank.

Bonus tip: go halfsies

If you have done everything listed above and still are a bit short, the best way forward is to split the expense with your fiancé. There is nothing wrong with sharing the expense, after all, it’s a special occasion for the both of you.

While all these tips will help you pay for your wedding if you start planning, saving and investing early enough, the best thing you can do is to ensure your income supports your wedding plans. And one way to augment your income would be to set up a second source of income. It can be a passive income like that from renting out a property or an active one like actively investing in the stock markets (they do offer good opportunities). 

The main thing to remember here is that while getting married is great, there is no alternative to planning and saving if you want to fund your own wedding. There is no magic formula that can give you money at the last moment so make sure you plan well.