Powering through a wedding budget in a year already isn’t easy—so it might sound crazy to suggest you can save $20k or more in just six months.
Well, I’ll be honest: you will look and feel crazy doing this. But it can be done.
Be warned, however—there’s nothing easy about this plan. There’s no “take it at your own pace” option. And many of the steps and tips below will be exhausting and difficult.
Before comments swarm in saying, “This isn’t sustainable!” take note: I know it isn’t. It’s not meant to be!
While most financial advice and savings plans take the marathon approach (which is wise, for long-term goals), this is a short-term one with a finite timeline.
It’s a sprint. And it’s intense.
So be sure you’re ready to slam down that gas pedal, and not let up until you’ve reached your goal.
10 Steps to Save $20k or More for Your Wedding Crazy Fast
1. Break down your goal into monthly, weekly, and daily targets.
$20,000 divided by six months breaks down like this:
- Roughly $3,334 per month.
- About $833.50 per week.
- Or $119 a day.
This isn’t perfect math, of course. It actually overshoots the goal by about a grand, leaving you with $21,420 if we just roll with the daily figure as-is (assuming 180 days, give or take a few).
It’s not meant to be perfect, however.
This target is just that: a target. Something to aim for. If you strive to hit $120 and fail some days, or if you find an avenue that pays weekly or by the project—that’s okay! Ditto if you decide you need more or less than $20,000.
For some brides, that weekly goal will sound easy. Maybe they have a second job lined up that, combined with their fiancé’s side hustle, will easily bring in that much.
Alternatively, a few couples who thought $20k would be chump change might see this breakdown and realize, “Oof. This is gonna be harder than we thought.”
This step is meant to give clarity, one way or another. You can’t formulate a plan without all the facts.
2. Set up a wedding-only debit account.
You need a central place where all wedding funds live.
This is for both ingoing and outgoing purposes. Any money you earn towards the wedding goes straight there—whether it’s via direct deposit from a main paycheck or side hustle, or manual deposits made on a regular basis.
And of course, all wedding expenses will come from this account.
A wedding debit card keeps your wedding expenses separate from the day-to-day ones. This simplifies the process of contesting incorrect charges, balancing the budget, and making sure you’re still on track.
As a bonus, this joint account shared by you and your fiancé can be converted into a savings account or main household spending card after the wedding. It’s a good start to learning to manage and marry your finances (pun intended).
Note: obviously, a lot of couples utilize credit cards to pay for their wedding, which I don’t recommend. Starting your life together with a mountain of debt leaves a sour taste to the honeymoon. Studies have also shown you spend more when using credit vs. debit.
That said, personal finances are exactly that: personal. If you want to use a credit card, that’s entirely your call. This post assumes you’re looking to cash-flow your wedding, hence the recommendation for debit.
3. Decide which of you will earn the bulk of the $20k in six months, or if you’ll split the wedding savings goal evenly.
Students still earning their college degrees, interns or new hires breaking into their field, and people with demanding jobs or medical conditions might not be able to press the gas more than they already are.
If you or your fiancé fall into a category like that, it’s okay if one partner shoulders more of the financial goal.
It’s also totally fine to split it right down the middle: each partner earning half of the $20k in the next sixth months.
Alternatively, if one of you is a high earner and the other isn’t, you might decide to split the wedding savings goal proportionately. For example, $15k from the partner earning $100k annually, or 15% percent of their income—and the remaining $5,000 from the partner earning $34,000 a year (also 15% of their income).
Again, this isn’t perfect math. It can’t be.
There’s no way of knowing what the next six months hold for you two, or if saving $20,000 will come more easily for one partner than planned. An unexpected layoff or bonus at work can turn the tide quickly in either direction.
In sum: don’t be afraid to adjust and pivot over time, as needed. But do decide now, as a starting point, what your individual contributions to this goal will be.
4. Forget your old mindsets about money.
If you want to save $20,000 for your wedding in only six months, you have to first believe it’s possible.
As hippy-dippy and cornball as that sounds, it’s true. You can’t accomplish something you think, deep down, is preposterous or impossible.
Run the numbers, again and again, until you see that it really is possible.
Hard, yes. Grueling and draining, and possibly insane? Sometimes.
But doable—100%.
Besides believing, you have to adjust your current habits with money. Some might even require a massive overhaul. More on that below.
5. Create a wedding budget—and a regular one.
I can’t sugarcoat this one: if your normal-life finances are a mess, you will not save enough for your wedding in time.
You can’t operate a wedding budget or savings plan in a vacuum. Everything you do in your normal, non-wedding life will impact that savings account too.
Overspending at Sephora leaves less money for your electricity bill, so you might siphon some from your overtime pay…which means less into the wedding fund for that week.
Likewise, the reverse holds true: going over-budget on your wedding shoes might mean you have to pull some extra from your paycheck, which impacts your grocery bill or necessitates paying a car payment late, etc.
Don’t rob your future self of the wedding and financial peace you deserve, paying for current and past you’s mistakes or disorganization. Create a budget for both.
If you prefer old-fashioned pen and paper for your budgets, that’s fine. Spreadsheet-savvy brides might prefer Excel.
Most couples, however, will benefit from a budget app on their phones: a centralized hub that lets you both link to the daily-life and wedding budgets.
- Your daily budget will list absolutely everything you pay for: rent, utilities, car expenses, and—as its own line item—your wedding savings.
- Your wedding budget is similar, but instead includes everything you’ll pay for during wedding planning and your honeymoon.
Nothing is too small: include every last item. Separate them as you see fit, however. “Bride attire” is fine, or you can get granular and budget for your shoes, dress, makeup, and jewelry all individually.
Getting (and keeping) your day-to-day finances in order is the only way you’ll see success with this rapid wedding savings plan. There’s no way around it.
6. Choose how you’ll earn that extra wedding money.
Finally, we come to the boots-on-the-ground stage: getting cold, hard cash into your wedding fund as fast as possible!
The preceding steps are less exciting, of course. But still crucial. Without them, you won’t have all the info you need to decide what your income stream(s) will be: how much you need, who’s saving for what, and where your money will go.
Some simple, low-hanging fruit ways to get extra money for your wedding include:
- Slash your daily budget. Ruthlessly. (More on that later.)
- Ask for overtime at work, if it’s available. Some employers pay 1.5 times your normal hourly rate for every hour you work over 40 per week, and that adds up.
- Get a second job, and dedicate the entirety of its check to your wedding fund.
- Start a side hustle. Don’t know where to begin? Here’s my curated list of the best side hustles to earn money for your wedding (and absolutely no surveys—they’re a waste of time for horrendously low pay).
For the last two, I’m not pretending they’re easy. Just simple. And no, those aren’t the same thing!
They’re hard, period. Second jobs take tons of energy and suck up your social life, so prepare for six months of non-stop grinding. And side hustles can require a little time to build up steady income.
But these things are simple in the sense they increase your pay quickly. And when saving $20,000 for a wedding as fast as possible, earning more is often simpler than cutting expenses.
Ideally, you’ll do a mixture of these things: maximizing your income while minimizing the outgo (expenses).
7. Slash your normal/daily budget ruthlessly, at least for now.
You can do anything difficult, or even painful, for a brief stretch of time.
Knowing there’s an end in sight (six months passes faster than you think!), you can make tough calls on line items like coffee, lunch dates, subscriptions, and more.
It’s time to mercilessly cut your day-to-day expenses. Sacrifice now for the wedding you want later.
Bonus: cutting your outgoing expenses means less pressure to maximize your income. More of your normal paychecks can flow into the wedding fund for a few months, which means your side hustle or second job doesn’t need to be as grueling or time-consuming.
When cutting your budget, you can attack in two ways: slash a few big line items, or cut a lot of little expenses.
I like a mixture of both. For example, in a typical household’s budget, I would (temporarily) cut:
- All takeout, restaurant, and food delivery spending. Coffee in the morning, lunch at work, late dinners when you’re too tired to cook—nix it all. It adds up to hundreds over the course of a few weeks.
- All subscription services, except for one streaming platform if necessary. I say “if necessary” because a lot of people don’t have cable anymore, so cutting everything isn’t realistic. But this doesn’t just include entertainment. Clothing subscriptions, makeup boxes, FabFitFun—pause every last one.
- Sell the car with the highest car payment. Yes, even if it means sharing a vehicle with your spouse-to-be, or taking out a personal loan (with lower payments) to cover the rest of that car’s balance.
- Stick to some bare basics for groceries. Beans, rice, frozen vegetables, and whatever meat you find on sale can make a variety of meals on their own. Add in a few other staples—cheese, tortillas, bread, broth, and sauces—and you can easily find 30 different dinner ideas, all super cheap and (reasonably) healthy.
- Drop to lower tiers everywhere you can. Car insurance, phone plans, any subscription you decide to keep: bump down to the lowest tier or cheapest plan possible, just for now. You might even realize you’ve been overpaying (for example, full coverage on a car that’s old enough to need little more than liability insurance) and can live without the upgrades.
- No more Amazon or other online shopping. While necessary purchases can slide (toiletry or vitamin orders, that reoccur automatically), there’s just no justification for hundreds in impulse purchases when you’re saving for something much more important. And if you really find something you love? Add it to the registry. Even if no one buys it for you, you’ll likely receive a discount promotion after the wedding to buy it yourself.
- Become homebodies. Cook at home instead of going to a restaurant. Mix your favorite drinks yourself to unwind on a Friday, instead of hitting up a bar. Stream content or visit the library, instead of seeking entertainment at the theater or out with friends.
Yes, most of these suggestions will feel boring and restrictive. And in the moment, a single cup of coffee or lunch with friends isn’t going to make or break your wedding budget.
But it adds up. Just as overspending compounds into debt and unpaid bills, these tiny sacrifices will steadily put more money into your wedding fund.
What’s more, it builds discipline. The next time you and your fiancé have a big life even to save for—having a baby, buying a house—you’ll tackle the goal head-on, falling right back into sacrifice mode with ease.
Remember: it’s just temporary. I wouldn’t recommend these extreme tips to someone who wasn’t saving for something big like a wedding. They just aren’t sustainable, and suck a lot of fun out of life.
But for just six months? They’re totally doable.
8. If you get a second job, follow these tips.
Whether you slash your budget or not, it’s wise to increase your income at the same time and maximize wedding savings from all angles. And the best way to increase income as fast as possible, for a short timeframe, is with a second job.
Notice I said “job.” Not “career.”
Simply put, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to match your current hourly rate or salary. And it’s unrealistic to expect yourself to work a second full-time job while planning a wedding.
As someone who’s worked second and third jobs frequently, here are my tips if you go this route:
- Choose a different field/job type than your main job. If you’re in retail, it’s going to feel like pure hell leaving one store and walking straight into another, doing the same thing for 60+ hours every week. But if you’re in analytics and chained to a computer for your 9-to-5, the change of pace retail offers makes perfect sense.
- Settle for less if you have to. Again, it’s not always realistic to expect a second job to match your primary income. So as much as it hurts to take that lower-paying gig, extra money is extra money.
- Give yourself one day off per week, if you can. This isn’t always possible, of course. But if you can swing it, give both jobs the same “can’t work” day. Even if it’s random, like Tuesday, or rotates based on staffing volumes. Guard that “you time” with your life!
- Don’t go above and beyond at your second job. I get it: I’m a natural over-achiever too. But you’re not gunning for promotions or Employee of the Month, here. The second job is just a paycheck, and a temporary one at that. Job #2 still gets great work out of you, and all expectations met—but nothing extra, unless it comes with extra money.
9. For side hustles, consider these quick-earning options rather than building your own business.
Truthfully, side hustles can take a lot of time to bring in money. Anything that requires an online presence or brand reputation is probably not ideal for this current season in your life.
There’s nothing wrong with slow-burn side hustles, of course, or growing your own business!
But right now, you’re on a clear path: saving $20,000 for your wedding in just six months. That means profit has to take priority over dreams and visions.
But what does that look like, exactly?
Instead of building your own brand and clientele, piggyback off one that’s already successful—use a side hustle app or business model with an established track record and presence.
These include:
- Uber/Uber Eats
- Doordash
- Lyft
- Rover
- Thumbtack
- TaskRabbit
Choose one or more and sign up, based off not only your interest in the work (ride-sharing, food delivery, dog-sitting, etc.), but also that app’s popularity in your area.
There’s no point signing up for Lyft if your area primarily uses Uber. Likewise, a rural area with lots of land might not have much use for dog-walkers compared to a dense, urban one.
Of course, you can offer your services without an app—but these have the advantage of a built-in, ready-to-go audience.
The fees these apps take from your earnings are worth the convenience of jobs at your fingertips, and a higher quantity than you could drum up on your own in six months.
10. When you reach your goal, implement a HARD stop.
As soon as you and your fiancé save that $20k for your wedding, even if it took less or more than 6 months, take your foot off the gas.
Maybe your goal was higher, or your timeline longer; that’s fine to keep going until you reach those. But no matter what your finish line was, stop once you cross it.
For some people, this step sounds ridiculous. Of course you’re going to stop when you hit $20k. Who on earth would keep grinding like that?
You’d be surprised, however, at how hard it can be to quit once you’ve gained momentum.
For one thing, it’s addictive. Seeing such a huge sum of money flood in, piling up in your savings account—it’s a great feeling! And your brain starts thinking, “What if I did this for a few more months? Or a year?”
Everything seems possible, suddenly. Saving for a house. Retiring early. You’ve unlocked a new possibility in yourself and for your finances that you didn’t dream of before.
Similarly, you might get used to the go-go-go, and stopping feels…well, wrong.
What will you do to fill the time left behind by quitting that second job? Won’t it feel extravagant, spending your old grocery budget when you know the bare-bones one does just fine?
But trust me—you’ll have no shortage of to-do lists, the closer the wedding gets. Free time will not be in your vocabulary for a while.
As for the budget, you can and should loosen the pursestrings again. But it’s fine to take the lessons you’ve learned the last 6 months and apply them to your everyday life, too.
Enjoy the fruit of your labor again—but pay your future selves, by continuing to sacrifice a few non-essentials and diverting that into investments or savings.
It’s fine to keep side hustles going or evolve them into businesses over time. It’s totally cool to keep that second job, too, or even replace your current career with it.
But the grind itself—that constant hustle and bare-minimum budget? It’s time to pump the brakes.
This plan is not sustainable long-term. It’s designed to pile up money as fast as possible for the wedding, and that’s it. Sooner or later, you’ll burn out.
No one can sprint forever.
Pitfalls and Downsides of Saving For Your Wedding This Quickly
By now, hopefully, I’ve convinced you that saving $20k for your wedding in 6 months isn’t just possible—it’s smart!
You’ll learn discipline and financial skills to last you a lifetime, and create a simple go-to plan when you need to save a lot of money crazy fast—not just for your wedding.
This “savings sprint” also takes some pressure off during the rest of your wedding planning. You can focus on the details and final touches you really care about, and not just how to fund them.
However, there are some downsides to saving such a huge amount of money in such a short time.
1. It’s physically and mentally exhausting.
Even though this is, in fact, a sprint—an intense effort for a short time—you’ll still get tired. Bone-deep exhausted, and not just physically.
Emotions run high when you’re working non-stop and sacrificing all the fun stuff. You’ll feel drained and stretched thin, and that means no one will be getting your “best self.”
You might snap at coworkers or your fiancé. Friends will miss you, and vice-versa. There will be times when you’re just downright miserable, and feel like all you ever do is work and budget.
When that happens, take a break. Just for a day or so, to do things you want to do.
Still adhere to your budget—you’ll be mad at yourself if you don’t—but take the pressure off to be “productive” for a couple days. Read a book you’ve shelved, or schedule a hangout with friends.
Give yourself time to rest, both physically and emotionally.
2. You and your fiancé might argue about who’s “doing more.”
Money fights are, by far, the most common ones for engaged couples to have. For any couple, in fact.
While you’re hustling and saving, you might feel resentful towards your partner if he’s spending more than you two agreed upon, or saving less than he should.
Alternatively, maybe his side of the agreement seems “too easy”—say, if he earns so much at his 9-to-5, he doesn’t even need to get overtime or a second job, the way you’re doing.
Maybe one of you is on board with all the sacrifices you’ve made to the budget, but the other hates them and refuses to even try.
In most cases, a simple conversation is all it takes to right the ship.
Seek compromises in the budget. What are each of you willing to cut, and what’s non-negotiable?
The most important part of your wedding savings plan is that you both agree on it. If one person is gung-ho and ready to hustle, but the other wants to take a leisurely approach—neither of you will be happy with the other’s actions.
The laidback person will think the hustler is crazy, while the saver will assume the laidback partner is lazy, leaving them with all the work.
So if modifying your “save $20k in 6 months” wedding plan (or whatever your goal may be) is what it takes to get both of you on the same page? That’s well worth meeting in the middle.
No amount of money is worth resenting your partner, or vice-versa.
3. Many times, you’ll wonder if all this sacrifice is worth it.
As with all things in life that don’t fall into our laps instantly, you’ll wonder if all the second jobs or side gigs, budget-slashing, and penny-pinching will pay off.
In those moments, remind yourself to trust the process.
As long as money is going into the wedding fund, even if it’s slower than you like—you’re making progress.
It’s helpful to set direct deposits up, or automatically divert funds from your main accounts on payday. Set-it-and-forget-it systems like these will make the money “out of sight, out of mind.”
Not being able to see the progress in real-time means, when you do check in now and then, you’ll see that total jump by hundreds or thousands at a time—not a few cents or dollars.
Think of it like weighing in during a weight loss journey. Hour-to-hour, you won’t see much change. In fact, you’ll see that number move in the wrong direction pretty frequently! And that’s discouraging.
But on a weekly basis, those weigh-ins show the bigger picture: a pound or two down at a time. It’s just enough data to know you’re moving in the right direction, but not so much you drive yourself crazy wondering, “Is this even working?”
4. You might decide you don’t want to part with all that cash you saved.
Finally: there’s a good chance you’ll reach your goal…and absolutely hate the idea of spending all that money on the wedding.
This is a bad thing only if you then decide to fund the wedding with credit cards or other debt, to avoid touching that “nest egg” you built up.
Credit costs more in the long-run. There’s simply no point digging that hole when you’ve got cash on hand.
But psychologically, this is exactly what humans are inclined to do.
We want to save the “sure thing” as a safeguard, and keep that money as a cushion against future emergencies. And spending cash has been proven to be more painful and difficult for us than using credit.
Avoid using debt to fund your wedding. Use your savings; that’s why it’s there.
If you can get over the initial pain of spending it, you’ll be so relieved you and your fiancé aren’t starting your marriage off with a mountain of wedding debt.
Fortunately, even this downside has a silver lining: you don’t have to spend all that money on the wedding if you realize you don’t want to.
Maybe you’ll decide half should go to an emergency fund, because you like the peace of mind that much cash brings.
Or perhaps you’re seeing the total and thinking, “There’s got to be cheaper options to get married. This seems like so much for just one day, when we could use it for a house instead.”
These are perfectly fine alternatives to use your wedding savings. And it’s also totally fine to decide every cent will go to your big day, as originally planned.
Saving $20,000 In Six Months Isn’t For Every Bride
To be blunt: this ruthless, hustle-and-grind plan isn’t for everyone.
I believe anyone can do it, of course. The math checks out, especially if both you and your fiancé are on board.
But not everyone should, and that includes:
- Anyone who, after reading all these steps, still thinks saving that much for your wedding so quickly isn’t possible.
- Anyone who has a year or or more to save for their wedding, and will reach their goal with ease as long as they stay committed to their plan.
First, a couple has to believe this is possible. If they don’t, they’ll never make the necessary sacrifices to achieve it. Everything will sound too extreme or pointless.
Second—don’t do this unless you have to, or truly want to.
Cash-flowing a wedding is a great goal, no matter what your budget is. I’ll never talk anyone out of that.
But for this specific plan, $20,000 or more in half a year of intense sacrifice and second jobs? Don’t do it if there’s a simpler way.
Maybe you and your fiancé are already high earners, and $20k is just a couple months’ worth of “no restaurants.”
Or maybe you’ve still got a year to save for your wedding, and that $3,334 a month suddenly becomes $1,667—easy enough to earn with a side hustle from the two of you, no sacrifice to the budget necessary.
The beauty of this plan is that it’s entirely customizable to your unique situation. Do what I’ve outlined to a T only if time is running out and you really need that $20k.
But if your wedding budget is smaller, you’ve got more time, or you earn more already—adjust the steps as you see fit.
The important part isn’t what your plan looks like. Just that you’ve got one.
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Are you cash-flowing your wedding in a short timeframe? Share your tips and stories below!
