Budget Investment Distribution

That's completely up to you, your fiancé and if any of your parents plan on contributing to the wedding. There is no set amount, and unless they offered to help, I wouldn't assume anything.

It is the responsibility of the groom & bride to pay for their wedding. If parents or other relatives also offer to chip in and help, that’s great! I would suggest not counting on any financial promises from family though until you have money in hand. Unfortunately a number of people have posted here about being burned by relatives who promised financial help, but then never followed through even though the couple had effectively already committed that money to be spent in their budget.

View Quoted Comment Agree with this, the bride and groom are 100% responsible for the entire cost of the wedding.

The bride and groom are 100% responsible for finances. When other people contribute, you lose final say in decisions.

Totally agree with everyone- everything is up to the bride & groom. We paid for everything & I couldn’t have been happier. His mother wanted to ban her sister (bad blood) from the wedding. If they contributed to the wedding than they would have dictated the invite list. If family wants to contribute great!

At the end of the day the bride and groom are responsible for paying for everything. I knew ahead of time that I would get money from my parents because they told me and gave both my sisters money when they got married. My FH mom and dad (they are divorced) separately offered us money towards the rehearsal and alcohol and we have discussed it with them so overall we got lucky. We did not ask for any from the family, it was offered and we are so thankful.

This is highly cultural and family specific.

In America, nowadays, it is assumed that the couple will pay for the wedding, particularly as the average age of couples goes up.

That said, many families DO contribute, and some attach strings to the money, some do not. Traditionally, the bride's family paid for the majority, with the groom's family paying for the rehearsal dinner and the flowers. Again, though, this was when many couples got married at a younger age.

Other cultures may have WILDLY different standards.

Therefore, this is something you need to look around at your own financial situation, your families', and sit down and talk with your FS and your respective families.

DH and I were lucky, though I am in my 30s, I'm an only child and my father was very happy to help out. My ILs also love to host and feed people, so they covered the rehearsal dinner. We also live in one of the most expensive areas to have a wedding (NYC area), so we could never have had a wedding like we did without help.

It really comes down to your very specific personal circumstances.

Dude, that's entirely up to you and your bride. There isn't a rule on who should spend more or things like that. I can tell you about my wedding, where I paid for everything, including her dress. I had the possibility to do that, so then why not. While my brother's bride wants to split all the expenses, she doesn't want to accept him paying for everything. My brother has enough money to pay for everything, but she doesn't want that. He is way better than me at investing and saving money. He told me to read all the articles from https://www.moneyunder30.com/ as they would help me invest and save money.

There are lots of rules about who traditionally pays for what, but almost all of those are obsolete now. The way to start this conversation is to have a conversation with your partner about what kind of wedding you want to have and how much you can reasonably pay for. You can also have conversations with your parents or other relatives about if they are interested in contributing money or covering a specific cost. When you have this conversation, also set expectations about what strings that money might come with. I.e. if you're parents are covering the catering, does that mean they also want to make sure all their key friends and family are invited. If you and your partner don't like the restrictions that the money comes with, then it is best to not accept the financial help and have a wedding that you can pay for all by yourself.

For our wedding our budget is about $70K. My parents are paying for the reception, which is about $35K. His parents are paying about $5K for the rehearsal dinner and we are contributing about $30K for florist, DJ, photographer, day after brunch, wedding planner, etc. We are also paying for our own attire and rings, which isn't reflected in the total wedding budget.