Wedding Budget Planner

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! Getting married is an incredibly exciting time. Planning your wedding can be both exhilarating and stressful, but creating a budget and talking through it with everyone involved in your nuptial finances can make it a breeze.

1. Create an account

SmartyPig is for people who want to save for specific goals and have the support and incentive to achieve them. Just tell us what you’re saving for, how much you want to save and when you want to reach your goal, and we’ll suggest an automatic monthly deposit you’ll make from an existing transaction or savings account until you reach your goal. We pay a really competitive interest rate to help along the way and have retail partners that can give you an added reward when you reach your goal.

2. Set up goals

First of all, it pays to work out how much you need. This will make conversations with your parents and partner that much easier. Use our wedding budget calculator to work out how much it’s all going to come to so you know where you stand.

Now you know how much you need to set aside overall, you can start thinking about how you’re going to get there. Will your parents be contributing? Do you have anything saved now to go towards it? And when will you need each amount by? In most cases you’ll require a deposit and will then pay the full amount closer to your wedding date.

3. Start saving

SmartyPig can be a great way to help you pay for your wedding in cash and start your lives together debt free! Here’s how:

  1. Create a SmartyPig profile for you and your partner (although you’ll need to do it in just one of your names). You can link a bank account from any institution in Australia. This is where your direct debits will be drawn from to make regular contributions towards your goals.
  2. Set up goals for each of the categories you’re going to be spending money in. eg. Create one for flowers, one for invitations, one for the reception and so on. All you need to do is enter the amount you need and when you need it by. SmartyPig will work out how much you need to put aside each month to make it happen. Don’t forget that if it’s something you need a deposit for, you’ll need to create a goal for that AND for the remainder. Each month, on the day you nominate, SmartyPig will activate a direct debit that will draw your monthly contribution out of your bank account and into your SmartyPig goal.
  3. As you’re setting up your goals, you’ll notice that you can notify friends and family. Using this feature will send them an email notifying them of the goal you’ve started and showing how far toward it you are (either as a % or $ amount). This can be a great way for the people closest to you to contribute towards your special day and actually be able to see what it’s going toward.
  4. If you’d prefer not to use the email feature, you can also add widgets for each of your goals to your blog, Facebook or Myspace page, or many other social networks. This allows your friends and family to see what you’re saving towards. If you’re lucky, they might chip in!
  5. Obviously, with all these ways your friends and family can get involved, SmartyPig can be a fantastic gift registry or wishing well. If, like many modern couples you already live together and have a lot of household things, the social side of SmartyPig can allow your friends and family to contribute toward your wedding or honeymoon. Better yet, they can actually see how they helped you meet your goal as your SmartyPig widgets fill up!
  6. If you find yourself with some extra money one month, you can add that toward your goal before you have a chance to spend it on something else using SmartyPig too. In the case that you have contributed extra towards your goal (or your friends and family have), you’re able to reduce your monthly contributions to the minimum amount that would allow you to still reach your goal on time.
  7. As you’re working towards your goal, SmartyPig will help you out by paying you interest on your savings. Our current interest rate is available on the homepage.

4. Reach your goals

When you’ve reached your goal, you can have your savings transferred back into your savings account as cash. Alternatively, for more ’bang for your buck‘ you can take your savings as a gift card with an extra % on top with one of our retail partners. These include great companies such as Blue Holidays (upgrade on your honeymoon, anyone?) or David Jones (gorgeous designer bridesmaid dresses and wedding shoes!).

So what are you waiting for? Start your SmartyPig goals today and get on the way to having your dream wedding and honeymoon!

Let’s Get Started!