You walked down the aisle and promised to each other “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer”. Don’t let poor money management skills be a reason for marriage struggle. Dig deeper and discuss how you and your partner can put a plan in place. This will create healthy financial habits and a lifetime of successfully managing your finances. Here are some tips to help with your wedding budgeting.

Discuss Your Income and Expenses

Talking about your finances as a couple can be difficult, especially when you were only responsible for your own financial needs before marriage. We recommend having this conversation before you walk down the aisle. This will be very helpful when you are doing your wedding budgeting. However, if you have not done so, it’s better to have the money talk sooner rather than later. Starting your discussion off by going over your accounts, debt you may be carrying, listing all of your sources of income, and being transparent about all of your finances. This will set a healthy foundation and clear picture of where you both stand financially before creating a joint account.

List Your Financial Goals In-Depth

It’s important to set long term goals as a couple. These goals include: buying a house, going on a dream vacation, starting a family, growing your business and planning for retirement. Setting goals are important. If you are just limiting your spending and saving without a goal in mind, it is easier to justify overspending on a regular basis. Creating a financial plan with clear goals will help you both stay accountable. This will help you to reach those goals within the timeline you have set for yourselves.

Track Your Wedding Budgeting and Follow Up Monthly

Creating a budget is the first step, however, following through is critical. Create your budget on a spreadsheet and keep track of all of your expenses and spending for the month. Setting some time to discuss what your budget looks like for the month can strengthen the communication in your relationship as well as your level of trust with each other. Discussing your finances will alleviate any stress about where your money is going

Reaching out about your finances and actually putting a plan in place for you and your family is something most of us tend to put off.  And I get it, sometimes you can feel nervous– maybe you haven’t made the best financial decisions. Or maybe you are pretty good with your money but you’ve just never had a financial coach check it over with you.

Come visit one of The Wedding Ring’s Wedding Expo’s to talk with wedding vendors in person!