Home › Planning › Etiquette Advice › Etiquette Qa

Wedding Budget Q&As

Answers to who traditionally pays for what, who pays for whom, and other issues of wedding finances.

By: Diane Forden, Editor-in-Chief

Q: Our parents have generously offered to cover most of the wedding costs; which costs are my fiancé and I supposed to cover for ourselves?

A: These days, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to who pays for what. You may determine a specific budget for each contributing party — it's common for the bride's family, the groom's family, and the couple to split the wedding costs evenly. However, here's a traditional breakdown of what the bride and the groom should cover:

Bride:
The groom's ring
The bridesmaids' luncheon
Gifts for the bridesmaids
Wedding gift for the groom

Groom:
The bride's rings
The marriage license
Officiant's fee
His formalwear
Personal flowers: the bride's bouquet, boutonnieres for wedding party, corsages for mothers and grandmothers
Gifts for the groomsmen
Wedding gift for the bride
Gifts for parents
Honeymoon
Transportation to the honeymoon

<< More Wedding Budget Advice

Pages

Comments

Connie Ross replied on

My question is: if renting a house for the brides family are we expected to pay for the grooms family? One 6 bedroom house will take care of our family, the grooms family would require another another 4 bedroom and then his attendants, or do they pay for their own????? Help! If I could get a response ASAP that would be awesome.

Related Articles