Once you decide on a budget for your wedding, how will you pay for it? Perhaps you have money already saved. Or, you were planning to use a credit card or take out a loan. The wisest plan to spend only what you can afford -- you don't want start life off together as deeply in debt as you are in love.

Experts recommend opening a separate account solely for your wedding fund. With such a short time to save and the interest paid on savings so low, put your savings in a money market account so it will be both safe and available. You can check the best rates in your area using Bankrate's market surveys. Our calculator makes it easy to see what it will take to save for your wedding.

Before you look into securing a personal loan to pay for your wedding, consider this. Today's newlyweds are usually 25 to 27 years old, making $65,000 a year combined. A $22,000 wedding is 34 percent of their gross income. To pay it off in two years at 12 percent interest would cost $1,035 a month. That's too much debt for anybody, much less young couples who are starting a life together.

Read this story to find out some sources for personal loans and how they work.

If you choose to use a credit card, treat it as a short-term loan. Decide how much you can dedicate monthly to pay it off and get rid of it quickly. Otherwise, your carefully planned budget will be blown by interest charges.

-- Compiled by Dani M. Arthur, illustrations by Brandy Kesl

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