About The Budget Savvy Bride
Meet Jessica Bishop and the story behind The Budget Savvy Bride: budget-honest wedding planning help for real couples since 2008.
Our story
Wedding planning help for couples with a real budget, since 2008
Savvy isn’t about being cheap. It’s about being smart and intentional with your spending, so the money you do spend goes to the things that actually matter to the two of you.
18 years
helping couples plan the savvy way
265,000+
copies of the book sold
Millions
of couples have planned with us
Meet the founder
Hi, I’m Jessica.
I got engaged in 2008, at 24, and went looking for help planning a wedding I could actually pay for. Everything I found assumed a much bigger budget than mine. So I built it.
The Budget Savvy Bride started as a blog about planning my own wedding. I got married in 2009 and kept going. 18 years later, millions of couples have come here for budget-honest planning help.
I’ve worked in the wedding industry since I was 15, starting at a wedding cake bakery and moving through catering, photography, invitation design and day-of coordination. I’ve never been a full-service wedding planner, and that’s kind of the point. I see weddings from the couple’s side of the table: where the money goes, where couples later wish they’d spent less, and which brands actually deliver.
I started The Budget Savvy Bride to plan my own wedding. I kept going for yours.
What you’ll find here
Everything we wish we’d had when we were planning
We did the research so you don’t have to read forty tabs. Start wherever you are.
Real weddings with real budgets
Couples share what they actually spent, line by line, so you can find a wedding that looks like yours and copy what worked.
Wedding deals
Codes and discounts on everything from rings to invitations, plus a weekly deals email every Friday.
Free printables
Invitations, signs, menus and planning sheets you can edit in Canva and print for free.
Planning advice that respects your budget
Checklists, budget tips and step-by-step guides for every stage, from just engaged to the day after.
The Savvy Weddings Budget Blueprint
Our Google Sheets template builds your budget around what matters to each of you, not the national averages.
The Savvy Wedding Guide
A vendor directory for finding wedding pros near you who are upfront about pricing.
The book
The Budget-Savvy Wedding Planner & Organizer
In 2018 I put my best tips, checklists and worksheets into one book. It has sold more than 265,000 copies, it’s been the #1 wedding budget book on Amazon, and both The Knot and BRIDES named it a must-have for couples.
It walks you through every decision, from setting your budget to the thank-you notes, with the same no-guilt approach you’ll find here.
As seen in
A trusted voice on wedding budgets
I’ve shared money-saving advice on Good Morning America, been quoted in national bridal and lifestyle outlets, and appeared as David Tutera’s featured expert at his Your Wedding Experience bridal shows.
More from The Budget Savvy Bride
Learn, listen and give back
The Savvy Weddings Summit
Our free virtual summit for engaged couples, with finance, relationship and wedding experts. It returns February 27 and 28, 2027.
The Bouquet Toss podcast
I co-hosted this wedding planning podcast through 2025. The full archive of honest conversations is still free to listen to.
VOW for Girls
Every month since October 2021, we’ve funded a full school year for a girl through VOW for Girls, the nonprofit working to end child marriage.
How we work
Honest picks, clearly disclosed
We earn money through affiliate links, display ads and brand partnerships, and we only recommend things we’d tell a friend about. You can read exactly how that works in our editorial policy and advertising policy.
Are you a brand that wants to reach engaged couples? Work with us. Have a story idea or a question? Get in touch.
Just engaged? Start here.
Get our free 5-day Wedding Quick Start Guide and plan the wedding you actually want, without the financial hangover.