Wedding Expense Etiquette- Who pays for what?

There is no denying that today's weddings are expensive. The average cost of a wedding in the United States is around $25,000-30,000!

Bringing up a discussion about who will pay for what in the wedding (and the reception, honeymoon, etc) might be an awkward thing to do. It is, however, a topic that must be discussed lest you get stuck with all costs.

Read on to answer questions such as "who pays for what in a wedding" and "wedding etiquette who pays for what".

Tradition's Answer to Cost Splitting

It has often been the case that the father of the bride pay for the entire wedding and reception. (Start saving now, dads!) This can take any form, but the most common situations are:

1. Bride's parents agree on a lump sum and give that to the couple.
2. Bride's parents agree to cover the cost of the wedding event regardless of price.

With both of these options, the parents usually play (or want to play) some sort of role in the wedding decisions such as caterers, location, wedding attire, guest list and so on. But that's a whole different topic for a different article!

It has also been the case traditionally that the parents of the groom financially contributed to general things for the wedding such as their own wedding clothes, the bride's bouquet and the rehearsal dinner.

Read on to learn about current wedding expense trends and to learn of the importance of a wedding budget. Also, check out the resources below to get specific details based on your role in the wedding:

Although it is still acceptable (and often the case) for the bride's parents to pay for the wedding, it has no longer become an etiquette no-no to have someone other than the bride's parents pay for the wedding.

Today, couples are paying for their own weddings more and more often. Sometimes this is done so that the parents have less "say" in the wedding organization. Most often, though, couples who are getting married are already financially secure and have the ability to pay for their own weddings because of where they are in life. 

Regardless of the reasons, couples are helping to pay for their weddings more and more these days.

Establishing a wedding budget is vital in the discussion of who pays for what. The budget can and should be based on what can be afforded by all parties involved in paying for the wedding. Therefore, budget discussions should stem from conversations regarding the coverage of wedding expenses. 

Setting a wedding budget can be a tricky thing, but many good things will come because of it. Probably the most important benefit is that it will foster solid communication between you and your future spouse!

More will be said of this in future articles, but in the mean time, take a look at the links below for some related articles on how to budget your wedding:

The above wedding took place online and costed the gamers (aka the wedding couple) $65,000 lindens!

Fortunately that's only $225 US dollars. But then again, who pays to cyber-wed an online stranger?