Whether you’re planning your dream wedding or planning to buy your dream home, both are large expenses and major life events that can seem overwhelming to tackle at the same time. Purchasing a home will require paying a down payment and closing costs, while planning your wedding will include payments to your venue, vendors, and even a honeymoon. While couples today think that it might be far-fetched to accomplish both at the same time, think again. You can use these helpful tips to get you down the aisle AND claim the keys to your new home…

Tip #1: Figure Out Your Budget

If you plan on paying for a wedding and a new home at the same time, your first step should be to sit down together as a couple and figure out what your budget is going to be. Talk to each other about expenses and how much you’d realistically like to spend on both. You can use a mortgage calculator to help give you an idea of what you can afford, or you could always speak to a loan officer to see what you’d be pre-approved for.

Not only should the couple look at their own savings, but factor in any money or assistance you might be getting from your family or friends to help you achieve both things. When you’ve figured out your budget, it’s also important to discuss your “must-have’s” and also the things you’re willing to cut back on for both the wedding and for your future home.

Tip #2: Consider a Home-Buying Registry

Instead of a traditional wedding registry filled with the typical kitchen appliances, furnishings, and flatware, many couples today have started to think outside the box with different kinds of registries. One of those non-traditional registries that you have the option of doing is setting up a fund where people can gift you money towards purchasing your new home in lieu of gifts. If people see that’s what you truly want, you’d be surprised to see how much money you could make to put towards your down payment and closing costs. The popular wedding website The Knot allows you to easily set up a cash fund registry that you can link your savings account to for guests to go online and contribute.

Tip #3: Give Yourself Extra Time to Accomplish Both

It’s easy to want all good things in life, and what them RIGHT NOW. But, if you’re trying to plan a wedding and buy a home at the same time, consider making things less-stressful by allowing yourself a little extra time to accomplish both. Think about it…even if you’re tackling one or the other on its own, it takes time to shop around for both a house and a wedding venue.  If you give yourself a longer timeline, it also allows you to save up some more and get yourself in a better place financially.

Tip #4: Be Aware of Your Expenses & How They’ll Affect Your Mortgage

When you’re going through the mortgage application, one of the important things your loan officer will tell you is to not make big purchases throughout the process. If you’re putting large charges on your credit card, it can hurt your credit score and make it a more challenging process to get your mortgage approved. Obviously when paying for a wedding, you’re going to come across down payments and final payments to your venue and vendors, so it’s best to pay in cash whenever you can. At the end of the day, the mortgage lender is going to look into your income, credit, debts, and savings, and so you want to make sure everything is in order despite any wedding expenses you’re trying to take care of.

Tip #5: Ask the Mortgage Experts About Cutting Costs

It’s so important to save money when you can in the wedding planning and home-buying process, but you might not know how. This is where you should be asking the experts! Talk to your loan officer about your mortgage options and what loan products are right for you. By choosing the best one for your situation, it can minimize your expenses, which will only help to free up cash for your wedding expenses. You can also speak with your loan officer to see if there are any closing cost and down payment assistance programs that you can take advantage of.

As far as the wedding goes, most venues assign a wedding coordinator to you to help out with the big day. These experts have worked with tons of different vendors, and can usually give helpful recommendations to ones that will give you the best bang for your buck. Venues will also give you a list of their preferred vendors, and oftentimes they tend to give discounted rates to that specific venue’s couples.

There You Have It…

If you originally thought paying for a wedding and buying a home at the same time was out of reach, you now know it’s possible. Use these helpful tips, speak to experts, and sit down and make a plan that works for you both, and you’ll find that you really can have it all!