How do you make extra $$ for your wedding?

April S. we had to do the same thing. A little bit gets paid back out of every paycheck, so we basically borrowed a loan from our selves. I wouldn't recommend it if there are any other options, though. We'll be paying it back for quite a while.

We will have been engaged for almost 2 years by the time we get married. So we have been able to pay off everything slowly, without it affecting our regular finances very much. To tell you the truth, we haven't been actively saving for our wedding at all. Also, for all of our expenses, we have been using a miles credit card, so we can use it for future vacations

FH is playing poker on Tuesday nights...don't ask about last night.

Keep in mind that by GETTING a tax return, you've basically lent the government your money, interest free. Better to figure out, or have your HR dept figure out your liability and only pay that. Put the rest in a savings account.

If you're in the NYC area, you can join AEREO for all the major TV stations (and some others) for 80.00 a year.

Coupons are only good if they are for things you really need/already buy. Coupons on bottled water are especially hysterical; it's water. You have it already. Don't buy more.....

Love the points cards too, but you need to be vigilant about paying them off and not carrying a balance.

Check with the off-premise caterers in your area. I know when I owned my company,we were always looking for waiters, and while it is hard work, it's not as complicated as working in a restaurant.

Both tax returns, coupons, fill out information from local companies that do studies (though I rarely seem to fit all the criteria), rarely eat or go out and FH has been talking about picking up a part time job because neither of our day jobs allow for overtime

I coupon freak not as big or dramatic as TLC and only by the things we need an have been buying things or wedding and when my grocery store has a promotion on gift cards for fuel point i buy gift cards for store i shop at regularly and rack up fuel points to get me gas to get me to and from school and when I shop online i use ebates and I don't work so when I have extra money from school I save what I can and give FH some to help with what I can for whatever is needed and then I pay for what my portion of the wedding oh I also sell stuff on Amazon and ebay and my local online yard sale.

Also check with your local colleges and universities, especially ones with medical and/or psychology departments. They are always looking for 'test subjects' for their studies. My brother and his friends did this in university. Some pay a few hundred dollars. Check the school free papers or on their websites.

We paid for ours with our tax return :] It was the biggest one we had ever received as we had a child last year and I spent this year in school, being a mommy and only working very part-time.

If that hadn't taken care of it and I worked a full time job (and we didn't have a baby) I'd ask for overtime and ask my fiance to do the same. I'd also try to sell any old or unused things as you had mentioned and picked up a part-time or odd job. (Baby sitting, bartending a couple nights a week, freelance accounting, etc.)

A did a bit of work earlier last year on Elance.com. If you have administrative skills and have time to do some random projects or work part time for someone I would highly suggest it. It is completely legitimate and I loved working with the company. I plan to work with them again in the future, I just stopped because I got a more reliable non-remote part time job.

Once we started talking seriously about marriage I started saving up. I charge everything and put the gift cards from the points toward the balances. My job reimburses for tuition so I used that money for our honeymoon. I took the money from those months when you get paid three times and put that toward the wedding. And I've been doing taxes this season for an extra cushion/spending money for the honeymoon.

For those who mentioned a "Jack & Jill" part, I live in Manitoba, Canada, and here we call it a Social. Its predominately a tradition only done in Manitoba, although it seems to be gaining popularity in other provinces. They are thrown a few months before the wedding. You make money off cheap drinks, a silent auction, 50/50's, "perfume draws". People can make anywhere from $5,000-$20,000 depending on your prizes and how many people buy tickets.

I agree with Celia, and want to add that if you want money NOW, change your withholdings so that YOU use your own money instead of waiting for a refund next year. I changed my withholdings and I get an extra $80/month. Now of course my refund will be smaller next year, but it's better that I have the money to spend now on the wedding and a new house.

0% interest credit cards are great too.

I've been lucky because fiance and I are able to put a few hundred dollars away each month in savings (our engagement is only 8 months though, so it's still not a lot) and I'm taking some money out of the savings I put together while in school. We're getting married in a park, so that's a money saver.

Other than that, our modest budget has been kept in check by wonderful family and friends. My mom's cousin, who is a retired wedding photographer, is doing the photography for free, we'll just pay for prints. A friend is officiating (I promised to pay him in muffins). We're not having cake, we're having pies and I'm hoping my aunts will pitch in and help bake them. My father imports wine, so he's bringing the alcohol. He might also have some connections for a DJ and caterer. Another friend is making our rings (we'll pay for the metal). I'm making my own flowers out of books.

I feel so blessed to have wonderful family and friends who will help us put together our special day.

I just reduce my payment into my 401k (from 30% max to about 15%) until after the wedding.

I work full time on salary, so working an additional job over 10+ hours a day at work just isn't going to cut it.

I owe the IRS $6, so evidently I did my withholdings correctl lol.

I also have been saving for the wedding since I graduated college (even though we didn't get engaged until a year later)

I am also making sure I follow my budget within reason.

DH got a side job and I worked more hours. My body is feeling it but Im glad I did it this way!