Women in the Green is now on Facebook! We have a group and Fan Page. Lots of info to come, stay tuned!

If you find yourself purchasing something online, be sure to do an internet search for “(company) online coupon”. You may get a percentage off or free shipping. Take a look!

Are you paying the “Standard Rate” on your credit card? If you’ve been a good client (i.e. you haven’t missed any payments). Call your credit card company and ask them to lower your interest rate.

Do you have a credit card that gives you rewards like Airmiles or Cashback? If you take away these features and get a “No Frills” card that may automatically lower your interest rate, since credit card companies tend to charge a premium for these “special” cards. And, you may save extra money by forgoing an Annual Fee!

Since June is the month that the most weddings happen, I’ve decided to write a series of blogs on how to have your dream wedding without nightmare debt!

This week: how to have a wedding on a budget.

Step 1: Plan

Ask people you know who’ve gotten married lately, or check the internet/call local venues, catering, flowers, photography, etc to get prices and an idea of how much each category will cost you. It also gives you an opportunity to “shop around” and try to get the best prices.

The main point of step 1 is to give you an idea of how much this is all going to cost you.

Which brings us to . . .

Step 2: Save

The only way to have a wedding without going into debt is to SAVE FOR IT. Once you have an idea of how much its all going to cost, divide that amount by the months until your wedding, and that’s how much you will have to save each month. If its way to much to afford to save every month, you can try and save on some of the expenses, put off the wedding until you have the money saved, or both.

These days, there’s no guarantee that you’re going to get back all that you spent on the wedding (unless, of course, one of your wedding guests is Paris Hilton) so the only way to have the wedding and not go into debt is to pay for it in cash.

Next week: ways to save money on the wedding.