Financial Mistakes to avoid before your Wedding Day

I did my research before my wedding (probably for years) to avoid the financial mistakes I heard about when wedding planning.  Read some of these tips to avoid these mistakes.  There are tons, but I'm listing the most common ones.


USE A CREDIT CARD as much as you can for all wedding deposits and purchases (assuming you pay all balances in FULL each month).

In wedding photography and bakeries, it's standard to pay in full before the service is performed, so in case the service was shoddy or the cake was wrong/gross, you can dispute the charge on your card until the vendor fixes the issue.  It may be a bit cheaper with cash, but it is much better to use the credit card to protect yourself as a consumer.

Know EXACTLY the policies and terms of NON-REFUNDABLE deposits before you reserve anything!  Anything!!!
Deposits that are required to place an order on a gown, reserve a videographer, photographer, reception hall, view online invitation proofs are non-refundable.  Read the fine print on the vendor's policy on cancellations, change of date, etc before you make that non-refundable deposit.  On average these deposits are $500!!

Get an itemized receipt of your cake, caterer, reception costs, photography stuff, and gown etc, keep them in a safe place.


Keep an Excel spreadsheet of expenses and guest list
Dude, no joke, I showed my dad my wedding planning spreadsheet.  He took a look at it and said:

"Wow Alina...is this a business plan?"

Okay maybe it was over the top but it worked.  From the number of guests, I could pinpoint how many invitations we needed, postage, food, and other things.  It worked out so well for us.  I linked worksheets together...if one guest was added it would change numbers on my other worksheets.  Haha.  So try that or another method that works best for you that you don't go overboard with budget or lose track.