Money is an important aspect of every wedding. It doesn’t matter whether you decide to have a secret wedding at a registry office with two witnesses, or a full blown church wedding with every single family member. You still have to think of the cost.

Traditionally speaking, it falls to the father of the bride to pay for most of the things required at a wedding. But nowadays many couples decide they would prefer to pay for things themselves. This could be for a variety of reasons. For example it could be that the bride’s father cannot afford to foot the cost of an extravagant wedding. So even though it flouts tradition it is not surprising that many couples foot the bill themselves.

Whatever you decide to do it is important to make sure that you are up front about money and about what everything will cost. If the bride and groom to be want to follow with tradition they will need to discuss this with the bride’s parents to see whether they are able to follow through on this. If they cannot then alternative arrangements need to be made.

Of course it could be that the bride’s parents are willing to contribute towards the cost of the wedding, but not in any traditional sense. They may simply give the couple a sum of money to put towards the wedding itself. Alternatively they may agree to take care of the celebrations afterwards and pay for all the food and drink, but everything else must be taken care of by the bride and groom.

In reality modern times call for modern decisions, so don’t worry too much about having to do things the way they were done years ago. Just because it is tradition for the brides father to pay for the flowers, it doesn’t mean this has to be the case. Similarly you might choose to follow tradition for some aspects of the wedding and not others.

The main point here is that it is your wedding and you must decide and agree on who will pay for what. If you and your partner want to pay for everything yourselves you can do so. Indeed some couples opt for this so they can take control of their wedding. Some eager parents decide that if they are paying for something they get to choose what it will be and how the wedding will progress. And this may be in direct contrast to what the couple wants.

As you can see, honesty and transparency are the best things to keep in mind at all times. If a relative wants to contribute to the wedding they can do so, but they must be clear on what the bride and groom want. If you think that someone might take over because they are contributing, you need to be clear with them and even turn down their kind offer if need be. Sometimes this is the only way to protect your wedding from turning into something you don’t want.

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