Since I got engaged on Labor Day weekend, I won't be one of the thousands of women in this country who gets a sparkling ring from their significant other this holiday season.

I've been told by a number of wedding planners that up to 30 percent of brides-to-be get engaged between December and February; as many as half of those women said "Yes" in December alone.

So with many women embarking on the wedding planning journey in the New Year, I thought I'd give a little financial advice when it comes to planning the big day.

1. Make a budget. I can't stress this enough. My fiancé and I didn't know what amount of money our parents would give, and what we'd end up paying for ourselves. We're really cheap, so we knew we'd want to haggle for a good deal no matter what we wanted. We found a discounted space for the reception, and we thought we could swing the cost, but what happened leads me to my number two point....

2. Read carefully, and make decisions accordingly. We did the math regarding the outlined cost for our reception space, and knew we'd be able to cover the rental costs. But the place we chose is one of those where you go through their vendors, and they take care of all the coordination. You don't know what things are really going to cost, in terms of catering and linens, until after you sign a contract. After meeting with their coordinators (after we signed a contract) and seeing the cost they were estimating for what we envisioned, we realized we'd probably gotten in over our financial heads. We've not yet made a decision on whether or not to cancel our contract, but we most likely will. And we'll lose money for it, too. And that leads me to my number three point...

3. Consider the most all-inclusive solution for your reception. If your venue is cheap, but you have to coordinate all your rentals, catering and décor, it may not end up being the most cost effective solution. If your venue seems pricey, but everything is included, take the time to price out all those items you would otherwise have to purchase or coordinate yourself. For example, how much would your rentals cost if you were hiring a company rather than going through a hotel or another more inclusive venue? What if you had an outside caterer? How does your total estimate match with the total price the hotel or venue is offering you? You may suffer from sticker shock at that hotel's bottom line price, but consider how much you're getting for that price. If you can get all the elements needed for your reception in house, you may find you end up saving a lot of money.

4. Decide what's truly important to you. My fiancé and I had a long talk about what we wanted from our wedding celebration. We couldn't do what we really wanted to do, which was to get married in Las Vegas. Our families are on the conservative side, and wouldn't be thrilled with gettin’ hitched in Vegas. Besides, the logistics didn't really work for that kind of "destination wedding"; we had too many guests for most of the Vegas venues we were considering. But what was paramount for us was to have an event where our closest friends and family were in one space, celebrating a happy day with us. In order to make that happen, we chose to make some concessions— we'd do something more traditional, but it wasn't going to be exactly by the book, because that's not us.

We're considering not doing save the dates. We're not 100 percent sold on a cake. And the jury's still out on the wedding limo. These are things that, for us, just aren't all that important after it's all said and done. When you start weeding out things that aren't essential, you begin to trim the fat from your budget. So if you can live with two bridesmaids, or having your wedding and reception all in one place, you may see your bottom line shrink fast.

Here are some sites I’ve found extremely helpful in my wedding planning. Get organized, and I know you can have a dream wedding without the financial nightmare.

The Knot. I’d argue that this should be one of your first stops when searching and planning online. This site has everything you can imagine, from wedding hair ideas to personalized websites. Take time to search through this, as there are many resources available.

Brides.com. Brides.com is much like The Knot, but what I’ve found especially helpful on their site is the photo galleries. When you’re trying to narrow down a theme or a color scheme, look at the galleries of real weddings to see what it could look like in action.

Weddingbee. I particularly love this site for its classified listings. You can look to see if someone’s selling that designer dress you don’t want to pay top dollar for, or if there’s some special centerpieces that would look great with your theme. Searching can be time-consuming, but it’s worth the time, especially if you can land a deal that saves you hundreds of dollars.

StyleMePretty and Ruffled. These are two of my favorite blogs. StyleMePretty showcases all sorts of beautiful weddings, while Ruffled specializes in vintage and indie weddings. Both have gorgeous photography, and each have fun giveaways to enter. If you’re looking for some fresh, inventive ideas (or you’re just wanting to kill some time at work), see what real brides have done.