This week, I asked my daughter Allison if she would share her perspective on the plans Michael and I made to help her when her wedding day arrived. Did it work – or not? Here is what she had to say:

Susan Beacham is a nationally recognized children’s financial literacy expert and co-founder with my dad of Money Savvy Generation – and she’s my mom. So it will likely be no surprise to you, that she was putting a plan into action for (potential) future wedding costs way back when we were in our freshman year of high school. More importantly, she shared these plans with my sister and I many times over the years whenever weddings and cost came up in conversation.

In the past year, my sister and I have had back-to-back weddings. Sticking to their plan, my parents gave us each a check for an amount they had saved towards the cost of a wedding. And no more. It was up to us to manage the money. Last week in Steve Rosen’s Kids & Money column, I shared how I have creatively managed costs to stay within a budget my fiancé and I set for our wedding. While we have added to the money my parents gave us, we were able to plan a wedding that was within our own budget and allowed us to continue to save for a down payment on a new home. My sister did not need to add to the money mom and dad gave her. She had a small, family-only wedding. Point is, we both got what we wanted – a wedding that was our dream and no family drama.

This week was mom’s turn to share with Steve Rosen what my parents did – and why – to plan for our future wedding costs. My lesson from this whole experience – always, always have a plan.

Here’s this week’s Kids & Money column by Steve Rosen: A savings plan to avoid pricey weddings

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