Funding wedding advice

Passiveincome

Hi All,

Wanted to get some advice on the best way to put together the wedding fund. I read the MSE website and forums regularly, so have some idea. Want to see if there is anything else I can optimize.

Situation:
Recently engaged and looking to start putting together money for wedding fund. Want to ideally pay everything with cash rather the credit cards.

Target is 20k and have ~18 months

Partner and I can probably get together 1k a month through strict budgeting, maybe a bit more in some months.

The plan:
Stick the money in current accounts and regular savers. Might open a ratesetter account each to benefit from the intro offer. Are the any other short-term hacks that would be good to look into? Nothing too risky.

Ideally want to continue investment per normal and not take out of ISAs or current investments (if possible).

Current put money in regularly into the below:
P2p - kuflink and funding secure
Moneyfarm - (not doing great at the moment, down 9%)
Regular savers - hsbc, fd, nationwide

Try to get extra money where possible:
Bank switching - almost done them all.
Amex cards - to get the bonus, make sure paid in full

Other:
Considering cutting down on pension contributions temporarily - currently (6% match and I add another 4%, so 16% in total). I'm 30 years old, so retirement isn't! that close, however on my mind if want to be FIRE.

Also doing overpayments on mortgage to get it paid off earlier. Considering slowing down for wedding fund.

justme111

It is the matter of personal preference how you do it and what your priorities are. I do not think any magic trick to create wedding money exists. Watch for falling out in a run up to it as radical tightening of a budget will create stress and tensions and difference in opinions. Another consideration is of you can create a surplus of a grand/month what have you been doing with this money up to now ? Or has there been a recent major change in circumstances that made that money available like moving in together , change of job etc ?

Passiveincome

Thank you for the response. Much appreciated. Think you are right the budget is quite optimistic, however we are both on the same page regarding saving as much as possible ahead of the big day. Hopefully it stays that way

In regards to your last question, I have been fortunate to move into another role and have a little bit more income. Also, previously we kept our saving separate, now we are looking to combine.

Mojisola

Passiveincome wrote: »

Recently engaged and looking to start putting together money for wedding fund. Want to ideally pay everything with cash rather the credit cards.

Target is 20k and have ~18 months

Wouldn't it be better to work out what you can realistically save and restrict your wedding to that price?

TBC15

Instead of investing for the big day ( statistically you may have a few of them) why not invest for a dynasty?

justme111

Not necessarily. They could determine what they want , how long it would take them to save for it and set the date accordingly. Or even take a loan.
I know it is a discretionary spending that many frown upon but that is up to op and his fiancee to determine. As long as money is used with a maximum yield of happiness per pound spent or saved over life time it's all fine. I suppose the trick is that we do not know what expenditure we will regret in the future and even retrospectively when we regret it we do not know if we did not spend it whether there would be other things to regret ... Hence a lot of money is made on important emotional occasions- weddings , divorces etc as for people those are important and they are willing to spend on them ..
20 k that op is prepared to spend on a wedding is about a year worth of living without working in retirement for me ( once mortgage is paid off and I have no dependants). A year less stress of pressure at work. No way I would have swapped being able not to work for the whole year for having a wedding that costs that money. Or a house deposit for a child. Or the whole school life expense of tutors for a child that would change their school performance , knowledge and as a result life path. Or working one day less per week for two years - imagine how much time I could spend with that child , how much squash to play , how many walks and good time mornings in bed to enjoy . Or having fillers, BOTOX and facelifts for about 20 years from the age of 40 to 60:D.
But who says the above is more important than a wedding - we all have our own priorities
Op , there was somewhere a discussion about how to save money on a wedding - often the result and the cost are not proportionate so worth perusing methinks.

Bimbly

Many congratulations on your engagement and all the best for the wedding.

You must, of course, spend your money as you see fit, but are you sure you want to spend £20k on a wedding? That is a huge sum of money. Think about your life after marriage and ask yourself if you would not be better off saving for a home or to have some savings for when/if children come along. Perosnally, I would be horrified if I ended up with a bill of £20k for a wedding.

Here are a couple of articles:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/067f5a00-1fd7-4a22-9030-c4393eb5f36b

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28368323

Please do not use your pension contributions. Sacrificing your future for a one day is not worth it. If you do it this once, what happens when you need a deposit for a house? Or to fund the extra expense of children? It can start a dangerous precident.

Just think again, is all I'm saying. Saving money to give yourself a good start in your marriage is a great thing. Blowing it all on a wedding won't achieve that.

le_loup

The marriage is the important thing - not the wedding. £20K is ridiculous unless you already have a house and everything you need for it.
You could do it for a few hundred and live happily ever after - this is a money savings website after all.

yousuf22

I respect your desires and expectation you & your husband have for your big day. But still, I would suggest not to splurge so heavy on your wedding, Have a simple and not so fancy wedding and set an example for would-be couples. And instead of splurging so heave on your wedding, try & save money for your honeymoon trip.

But still, if you like to have a fancy wedding, you can save money by tons of means. Some of them are:
You can hire students from culinary school to prepare the foods.
You can skip extras on your wedding
have a daytime event so you can save a little on lighting & stuff
Marry in the summertime so you can have your event in a lawn.

Passiveincome

Thank you all for the advice and the kind messages! This is my first post and very grateful for all of the input. The articles and pointers are very useful.

Tbh it is very early stages, so lots of important decisions to be made. The 20k number was something to aim for based on conversations with other couples. Weddings costs can easily spiral out of control, so want to ensure that we are prepared as much as possible. Hopefully we do not use the whole 20k...

Malthusian

Passiveincome wrote: »

The 20k number was something to aim for based on conversations with other couples.

Decide what you want your wedding to have and then work out what that will cost, don't work out how much money you think you can throw away and then think about what to spend it on.

This is one of the happiest days of your lives, not a government spending plan.