Just Married Project

Congratulations!! You just got engaged! During this exciting time in your life there are many adjustments
and planning that will need to occur in order for you to have a healthy and successful long term marriage.
This project is intended to give you an IDEA of some of the decisions you will have to make as a married
couple.

1. Education:
a. Do you plan to obtain an undergraduate degree? If so, what college are you planning on attending?
Research how much money you would need for however many years of school you plan to attend. How
are you paying for this?
a. Be realistic! If mom and dad will completely pay for school thats great, but would they pay all the way to
a PhD, probably not. You need to think about how you plan to pay for your education.
b. Explain why you chose the college you did. What factors helped you make your final decision? (Think
location, cost, is your major offered, close to home or far away?!)
c. Thinking of a future career- would you need to go back to school to obtain a Masters or PhD? How much
extra money would this cost you?
d. Student Loans
a. If you find you need to take out ANY sort of loan, research to figure out what your total loan would be for
AND what your monthly loan bill would be.
2. Career:
a. Select a future career and explain why you chose this career (about 1 paragraph)
b. Research starting salaries for your career
a. Determine what your total monthly pay is. Show where you found this information and how you
calculated your monthly income.
c. Knowing your monthly income, is it enough to live on your own? What would your partner have to make
in order to have a comfortable living?
3. Goals:
a. Assuming you have already gone to school (if that is your choice) and began your career, formulate three
goals for the future. Make sure your goals are realistic and measurable.
b. Include an additional explanation on how you plan to accomplish these goals. For example, if you plan
to travel to Italy, how are you going to save the money, how are you going to take the time off etc.
4. Vehicle:
a. Decide if you will own a car. Do you need to have a car?
a. Include a picture of the car you chose
b. Cost: Buying in full? (Probably not)- What is your monthly payment for your vehicle? Cite where you find
this information!
b. Why did you choose the car you did? Is it realistic? Think ahead to the future! Do you want children? How
many?
5. Engagement/Wedding:
a. Develop a theme for your wedding (colors, season, culture, religion etc)
b. What is your budget? (realistic, look back at other sections to determine how much money you can
actually spend)
a. Research what couples today spend on a wedding
c. Will both bride and groom pay, or just the bride? (Unusual for the groom to pay much, it is the brides
responsibility)
a. Will your parents help pay for the wedding? If you havent discussed with your parents if they would
help, go home and ask them.
d. Engagement Rings- research your dream engagement ring (for both partners)
a. Include a picture and prices with citation
b. Can you afford these rings? Explain.
e. Pick a location, develop a guest list, how many people in the wedding party?
f. Pick a dress/tux online- What are the prices? Print pictures
g. Pick bridesmaid dresses- What are the prices? Print pictures
h. Food: What type of food will you serve? Will it be catered?
a. Develop a menu for the day
b. Pricing- What would your total cost be? (You may need to call around to catering companies and get
estimates)
i. Pick a cake! (Hint: Wedding cake is much more expensive than you think)
a. Print a picture
b. How much is the total cost of the cake? Again, you might need to call around to local
companies/bakeries
j. Where would you go on honeymoon?
a. How much would the trip cost? Does this include airfare and hotel?
b. Helpful sites: Expedia, Kayak, TripAdvisor
6. Home:
a. Early married couples usually have to rent either a house or apartment due to a lack of savings. You and
your spouse are no exception.
a. You first need to select the town and state where you will be residing. Write about why this is the place
you plan on living
b. Research the cost of apartments or rented homes in the area. Select one that works for you.
a. Include a picture/floor plan of the apartment or house.
b. What is the monthly rent payment?
c. Pet policy? Are pets allowed? Does this matter to you? Do you want a pet?
d. Location: What is surrounding you? Where is the nearest grocery store? Restaurants? Child care?
Schools?
7. Children:
a. Do you want to have children? If so how many? Research the cost of children and what experts
recommend couples have in the bank before they start a family. Write on why you do or do not want
kids, how many, if its realistic financially, if someone is going to stay home with the kids or if you are
going to have a nanny/sitter, and would you have to move to a bigger space?
b. Write and explain how you want to raise your kids.
a. Who will discipline?
b. What will be general rules?
c. What kind of activities will they be involved with?
8. Family & Traditions:
a. How often will you see the in-laws? Write about how often you will see family and which family you will
see for the different holidays.
b. Write and describe your family traditions that you would like to keep within your family.
9. Monthly Budget:
a. Using your totals from your rent, school debt, vehicles, wedding, children, as well as estimating having
another income from your partner create a monthly budget. This should include how much to spend on
food clothes, electronics, savings, etc. Create a chart to show how much goes into each spending
category.
b. Write about why this budget works for you and what you had to compromise to make the budget work.
 Put all of these sections together in a portfolio displayed how you want. This is a project that will
account for a big grade. There is no minimum for how much you should write for each section however
you need to completely address each section. Each day you are working lab is 10 points! Make sure
you are using your time wisely.

Just Married Project Rubric

1. Education /40
- Undergraduate Degree, why?
- Cost, how to pay for it
- Future education?
 - Loan amount?

2. Career /30
- Which career, why?
- Monthly salary
- Reflection

3. Goals /20
- 3 individual goals and explanations
- How will you reach these goals?

4. Vehicles /20
-car selection & picture, why
-monthly payments, research behind it (source citation)

5. Wedding /50
-Budget, cost, who pays
-Engagement Rings
-Theme/location
-Dresses/food/cake
-Honeymoon

6. Home /30
- City of residence, why?
- Type of place, why? Include floor plans and rules
- Monthly rent payment
- Attractions around your place of rent

7. Children /20
-how many, explanation
-how to raise kids, explanation

8. Family & Traditions

- Whose family for which holidays, explanation
- What family traditions you would keep? Why? /20

9. Monthly Budget /20

- Chart with designated amount of money for each category.
- Explanation

10. Portfolio /30

-neatly presented
-minimal spelling errors
-dividers for each section
-Creative/thoughtful
11. Presentation to class /20

Total: /300

*Remember 10 points/day for working productively