Avoiding Money Fights When Planning a Wedding

Every year, hundreds of brides report in on the money fights they're having with their families and fiances regarding wedding plans. Here's the reason: Money equals power, control and love. In order to break the emotional hold money has on you and your family members when it comes to your wedding, you've got to put everyone on even footing. Just because, say, your dad is contributing more than you are shouldn't mean he has more say than you do in the plans. That said, everyone who contributes should have his or her opinions and ideas respectfully considered, and implemented whenever possible.

Here's a stress-relieving strategy: Open a checking account, as early as possible in the wedding-planning process, and earmark it strictly for wedding-related expenses. Ask everyone who has plans to contribute to your wedding costs to designate an amount he or she feels comfortable with and deposit a check into this account. Once the money is pooled, there's no chance of your mom's taking control of the flowers, for example, because she "paid for them," or your mother-in-law nixing your song selection because her check is paying the band bill. When everything is paid for out of this one account, everyone's money goes toward the larger cause.