This is a guest post from Anna Nguyen, Marketing Specialist and soon-to-be bride.

With all of the details to mull over like what your wedding colors will be, which flowers to choose, or where you will find your dream dress, how much a wedding will cost may be the last thing on your mind as a bride-to-be. The fact is that the cost of the wedding is something you simply cannot avoid. According to theknot.com, couples are spending an average of nearly $28,000 to walk down the aisle!

To avoid a post marital financial crisis, consider the following tips while planning your big day:

Create a wedding budget (and stick to it!). Creating a reasonable wedding budget is one of the first things you need to do when you begin planning. Once you establish who will be contributing and how much you can afford, you can base your decisions on that amount. Wedding sites like theknot.com have budget calculators that can help you figure out how much to spend on each category based on the number of guests expected and your budget.

Book your vendors as early as possible. Early planning will allow you to research and compare prices of any vendors you may want to use. It will be more likely for you to be able to reserve the date you want for all vendors and avoid having to pay more or be less happy with any alternative choices. Keep in mind that a Saturday night will be the most expensive time to have your wedding.

Hunt for discounts. Great deals can be found through joining the mailing list at various wedding sites or at bridal shows where vendors offer specials to attendees. Also, bridal boutiques frequently hold sample sales where you can choose the designer dress of your dreams for a significantly reduced price. Or if it’s in your budget, a good wedding coordinator can provide references to many vendors who will be willing to give you a discount based on your relationship with the coordinator.

Do-it-yourself. When it comes to the details of your wedding, such as invitations, favors, or even flowers, consider doing it yourself. Printing your own invitations has become more acceptable and you can find all kinds of ideas online. As for favors, consider not having any or donate to a charity of your choice in honor of your guests. If you need inspiration, here are a few of my favorite sources: snippetandink.blogspot.com, swsmag.net/blog, and beautifulpaper.typepad.com.

It’s hard to not let the excitement of a wedding get the best of you, but you don’t want to spend your days as newlyweds worrying about the debt you built up to pay for your wedding. It’s also important not to forget that the purpose of a wedding is to celebrate the start of a marriage and although your wedding is in fact a very special and important event, it will only be one day in the life span of your entire relationship.

Last Thursday, the Federal Reserve Board approved new rules “that would better protect credit card users by prohibiting certain unfair acts or practices and improving the disclosures consumers receive in connection with credit card accounts and other revolving credit plans.” The rules are scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2010.

According to the Federal Reserve’s press release, the rules will:

-Protect consumers from unexpected interest charges, including increases in the rate during the first year after account opening and increases in the rate charged on pre-existing credit card balances. (Note: I believe that this will address, among other things, the Universal Default provision in many credit card agreements.)
-Forbid banks from imposing interest charges using the “two-cycle” billing method.
-Require that consumers receive a reasonable amount of time to make their credit card payments. (Note: I am not sure how “reasonable” is defined, but the rules do say that banks may increase a rate if the minimum payment is received more than 30 days after the due date.)
-Prohibit the use of payment allocation methods that unfairly maximize interest charges. (Note: This refers to how a creditor pays down your debt. If you have debts with different rates (ie. cash advances, purchases, balance transfers), some creditors are currently applying your payments to the debt with the lowest interest rate first.)
-Address subprime credit cards by limiting the fees that reduce the amount of available credit.

The Board is also adopting final rules to revise the disclosures consumers receive in connection with credit card accounts and other revolving credit plans to ensure that information is provided in a timely manner and in a form that is readily understandable.

The Board is separately proposing rules to protect consumers that use overdraft services offered by their bank. They are also adopting final amendments to to address depository institutions’ disclosure practices related to overdraft services.

So what do you think? Will the new rules help consumers better manage their credit card debt?

The speakers at Saturday’s WealthCamp have very different backgrounds, yet all seemed to convey a common message at the event:  keep it simple.

The sheer volume of financial information available today can make the decision making process seem completely overwhelming. In fact, research is proving that Americans are so overwhelmed by choices that many feel “paralyzed and confused.”   In fact, even the experts can have a tough time knowing what to do. 

From the April 3 edition of the Economist: 

“The depressing truth is that financial literacy is impossible, at least for many of the big financial decisions all of us have to take,” says Richard Thaler, a behavioural economist at the University of Chicago. Aptly for someone who has built his career on the study of irrational financial behaviour, Mr Thaler admits that even he finds it hard to know the right thing to do.
It may be true that we may never fully understand all financial options available, but perhaps that isn’t necessary.  While we have more choices, and the choices are more complex, the basic rules still apply.  Paying your bills on time and saving for your financial future are always smart financial decisions.