Weddings are expensive — and not just for the bride and groom. In 2015, the average cost of attending a wedding was $673 per guest, and if you are in the bridal party? Well, you really better start saving. If you are attending the shower, engagement party, bachelorette party, and wedding weekend (it's never just a day anymore), you can expect to spend just short of $1,000 celebrating the couple . Financial experts are advising millennials to save 15% of their income per year, but with most of our money going to student loans, rent, and food, few are actually saving that much — and it gets even more difficult when you factor in all those weddings. When I first sat down to figure out how to afford all these celebrations, I was living in NYC on an entry-level salary. There wasn’t necessarily a lot of extra money to spend, but I was determined to figure out a way to make it work. At first I tried picking up some extra side jobs, but sometimes having a full-time gig you love is all you can handle while having a life (and time to go to weddings). Next, I made a promise to myself that I would save $500 before the next wedding, but it’s hard to make a vague goal a reality.So I sat down and really looked at my money . I was already contributing to a 401(k), a vacation fund, and my nest egg. The logical solution was to dissolve my vacation fund and use that money for attending weddings, but I still wanted to have a chance to travel the world in my 20s and 30s. If I wasn’t willing to give up either, I would just have to spend less in my day-to-day life. I created a new budget that included a wedding-guest fund, and started contributing 6% of every paycheck.