My parents raised me to be thrifty with money, so in my pre-wedding planning stages I've been looking for reliable wedding cost calculators. I found one from ProjectWedding.com. This is the link: http://www.projectwedding.com/cost-calculator.

What I like about this calculator is that you can enter your number of guests, budget, and your zip code for comparison costs. Then the calculator breaks down each cost for you based on your budget, and the "average" budget in your zip code. My goal is to have a wedding that costs $5,000. Thanks to this calculator's ability to show me how much I will be spending in each category, I honestly think I can do it.

I'm lucky to have really talented friends: my fiance is a graphic designer, so he will design and print the invites; two of my best friends are bakers, so they have already volunteered to make the cake; a friend from high school is a professional organist and has offered his musical services; and my cousin is a professional hairstylist, and she offered to do the bridal party's hair. So there's four costs that I can cut out already!

I'm having fun with the calculator. I hope you find it to be of some use, too!