<prompt> Human: How can a relationship planning to last best balance between the obvious relationship expenses wedding, honeymoon, home and long-term goals like retirement?Backstory:Im 29 and she just turned 30, together 3 years and planning to marry within the next 2. Currently, I make 34K hopefully soon to be more but no promises yet and she just got a job with our city emergency response unit that starts at about 15hr and should also rise over time with increased union wages, raises and whatnot.Lets say were starting from the beginning. 1,000 cash emergency fund that cannotwill not be touched. Average of 500 in each savings account, and another 500 in each checking account so 2k in the bank. I have no debt at all and she has about 10k in student loans. We have already had conversations and have begun tracking our expenses, saving up as much as we can, and avoiding big, unnecessary spending. We also spoke about keeping our wedding small like 10 people small and keeping it as inexpensive as possible 8-10k. Were also planning on buying a home in the next 5 years if possible. With her new job comes some pretty awesome benefits, including a 401a. She knows nothing about it and I know the basics, but Im not seasoned in any way to be making those types of decisions She also mentioned something about since she works for the city then she can possibly get student load forgiveness?. We plan on going to meet with an adviser but I wanted to ask PF to get a wide range of viewpoints on that as well.TL;DR How do we balance retirement savings and paying down about 10k in debt while at the same time planning on getting married and buying a home in the next 5 years?  <response>: You want to spend 10,000 on a wedding that has only 10 people? What is that money being spent on? If your wedding is that small, you can find lots of ways to scale it back. You dont need to rent a large venue, you have plenty of catering options, etc. If the bulk of that money is for the honeymoon, do some research about how to take cheap vacations.Long term...you got to be on the same page about money. Not just for big stuff or long term stuff. But, getting on the same page about groceries, utilities, housing, gifts, etc. Do you make lists before going to the grocery store? If you got some surprise extra money, are you going to spend it or save it? Do either of you make impulse buys? Do you have the same long term goals? 