by Candice Watters

When we got married, $10,000 seemed like a fortune to spend on a wedding. Now that amount would barely cover half the cost of the average American wedding. Is it possible to have a celebration fitting the grand occasion of your wedding while still honoring God as His steward?

I wrote a column for CBMW.org about ways to keep your wedding from breaking your budget. Here's a snippet:

To an engaged woman, the wedding is the biggest, most expectation-laden event of her life. It holds the promise of unrivaled delights, as well as more peril than she’s ever feared. OK, maybe I’m overstating it a bit. Maybe.

A wedding can seem that all-consuming, all-important to someone anticipating it. But in hindsight, it’s more easily recognized for what it really is: a wonderful celebration, but certainly not the pinnacle of the relationship. It’s just the beginning.

This is a great opportunity for self-sacrifice, servanthood and demonstrating the fruit of the Holy Spirit. At the risk of sounding trite, I’ll say what you’ve likely heard before: The more you keep your wedding in perspective, the better prepared you’ll be for what comes after that grand event: the marriage.

Planning the wedding is a good test of your willingness and ability to become one. Will you work together to meet challenges of parents who are pressing you to invite 200 guests instead of your closest 50 friends and relatives? Are you capable of working as a team, even when relatives are expecting a traditional sit-down dinner at your expense? Should you extend your engagement in order to save up more money? What if you’re committed to moral purity and avoiding debt? How will you follow your fiancée’s lead when he says you should trust in God for provision?  Are you willing to respectfully leave your parents and their expectations and demands, in order to cleave to one another?

There’s a lot at stake. ...

Thankfully there are things you can do to keep costs down, tempers from flaring, and the day from becoming more, or less, than it should be. Click here to continue reading.