Should we keep our wedding money in a joint account?

[goldenstar]

We had an engagement party earlier this month and we recieved a little bit of money as gifts. The money has been sitting on my dresser because I have no idea what to do with it. Should we have a joint account so that we can both access it if we need to pay vendors, make purchases, etc? What about the money we save individually that is earmarked for the wedding? Should we keep our savings separate?

I know that we are on the way to sharing everything and we intend to have some form of joint accounts/sharing after we are married. I just don''t know what to do for right now. Any ideas?

 

[janinegirly]

wow, lucky that you got $ gifts this early!

this is an easy one, YES, open a joint account and deposit it there..

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I think opening a joint account is a good idea, at least it was for us. We already had a joint account, but for the wedding we decided to open a "wedding account". We''d set a budget, knew how much each was contributing and put it into an account with the highest interest rate we could find. We wanted to keep this account separate from our savings account so that we didn''t dip into savings. It was really nice having one account dedicated to wedding expenses only and we actually came in under budget, so the leftover money we have is going towards the honeymoon.

 

[musey]

It sort of depends what you're planning to do in the long run, which is a bigger question.

All of our joint expenses come out of our joint account. We live together, but prior to moving in we opened up a joint account with which to pay all bills/rent/dog expenses/groceries/etc. That would include wedding expenses. Any monetary gifts that are intended for the two of us as a unit go into that account.

We've been doing that for a little over a year, and we're totally combining our finances one year prior to the wedding (next month!). A nice chance to get used to it ahead of time, and it'll be one less "change" to deal with post-marriage.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

my FI and I started a "wedding fund" aka joint savings account before we even got engaged! we knew we were going to so we figured we might as well start saving. We have been saving for almost three years now and our wedding is in june. we ended up with enough money after our engagement party to cover the entire reception! i think it''s a great way to start sharing a financial responsibility together and a great way to keep your budget on track!

 

[musey]

Date: 8/27/2007 3:08:06 PM
Author: Asscherhalo_lover
my FI and I started a ''wedding fund'' aka joint savings account before we even got engaged! we knew we were going to so we figured we might as well start saving. We have been saving for almost three years now and our wedding is in june. we ended up with enough money after our engagement party to cover the entire reception! i think it''s a great way to start sharing a financial responsibility together and a great way to keep your budget on track!

I''m so so jealous! You must have very generous friends and relatives. Care to share a few with me?

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Hehe, I agree with Musy and Janine! It''s nice to have a little help with the wedding account. My FI and I both come from poor backgrounds so when we started the wedding fund we knew it was all on our own, which is fine! We''re just thankful we can have a nice event for our families.

I forgot to ask you earlier, goldenstar, if you planned on combining finances completely after the wedding? Or will you just have the joint account for joint expenses? We''ve had a joint checking account for all shared expenses for a few years, and we also have a joint savings account which we recently invested (it''s mainly for a house), but we''re still figuring out if/when we are going to combine our individual savings/checking accounts.

 

[cara]

Time to start trusting each other on money. However you two decide to handle it, it is a great way to start the conversation of what you will do regarding money over the engagement and once you get married.

For us, while we kept our separate accounts through the wedding, we had lived together for several years and had shared our money enough to trust that it was "our" money even if it was sitting in one person''s account.

We set up a high-interest saving account in my name and deposited all the wedding contributions (from our savings, parents and others) there. We tried to pay for almost everything along the way out of our regular money (with only a few withdraws for some of the larger deposits), letting the wedding account rack up interest and making sure that it would cover our future obligations. Then in the last two months around the wedding, we just paid all the big bills out of that account.

Luckily there is some left over for the honeymoon!

Just a warning that if the check is made out to both of you, both of you have to sign it!