Is there a Budget Rule of Thumb?

Sarah Kat- I'm all for what you're explaining with the credit card.

My example of a bad way is that my friend who got engaged before me has opened up 3 credit card accounts to pay for the wedding because they don't have the money currently to have a wedding, which also means they don't have the money to pay off the credit cards.

By all means though like you said if it gets you points and you can pay it off right away go for it!

@Lolerskates84 We were in the same boat when we got engaged. Loans, saving for downpayment, and wedding. Loans, we both just continued to pay our normal monthly payment, but weren't rushing to pay it off during engagement.

For wedding, DH and I put $500 each a month ($250 each a paycheck/$1000 total) into a joint account. After 10 months we had $10,000 to pay for our wedding. We had a 20 month engagement, but saving up in 10 months meant we had the money to put down on deposits and final payments. You can't save up until the final day, because most final payments are due in the month prior to wedding, and about 1/2 the cost in deposits are due in the year leading up to the wedding.

Decide what you and DH can put away each month and figure out how many months you need to save the money you need. DONT TOUCH IT FOR ANYTHING ELSE.

And as @frugal_gator said, get an emergency fund. That's what you touch when you need car repairs or furnace goes out.

We decided on $1000 a month total because wanted to save quickly and needed a decent amount of money. We scaled back: rarely ate out, couponed for groceries. Didn't go shopping for "wants". Skipped movies, plays, concerts, We still did things with friends and went out now and then but less than 1 time a month. We knew the temporary pinch would be worth it. The day after our wedding was awesome because it was a great party and we didn't own another DIME on it. It was all paid for.

It's somewhere between how much money do you have and how much do you want to spend.

Thanks, this is really helpful!

Also, use http://weddings.costhelper.com/ to help come up with realistic budgets for each category.

The process is this: you say to yourself, "We could get married for $300 . How much more am I willing to spend for a big party?" As others have said, you don't have to spend an arm and a leg, but it is certainly easy to do!

You have to look at what's important to you. And look at what you can realistically save. I know a guy he told his fiance he has $12,000 for the wedding, anything more her and her family would have to provide. My FH are paying for our wedding 50/50. But one may not mind spending more than the other, I don't think anything is wrong if one wants to spend a little more and pay themselves if its something important. I'm sure most FH/DH would not like the idea of $1,000-$4,000 on just a dress which is why its not usually included in the overall weddng budget that's split between the couple. Def have a talk with your FH/FW. We all think its too expensive but its all about what you value and how much you can save. If you had a year could you each save? (not eating & going out, cutting back luxuries like cable or club memberships, expensive hobbies-ex: golf, no more nails or hair salons, getting part-time income elsewhere). For us we weren't willing to change our lifestyle much. But moving in together (my 1 bedroom apartment rent was $90 less than our 4 bedroom house payment, so we save over $600 a month just living together now), me getting a job where I make a third more money than my old job (i can save a larger percent of my income), FH's business having a great year last year.

View Quoted Comment You can pay it with a credit card to get points but only put on it what you already have. We opened a joint online savings account which we each put a certain amount in each month and get 2 percent interest then we opened a chase preferred credit card which will we will pay off in full with the money from our joint savings account.