How do you budget for your wedding?
How do you budget for your wedding?
How do you budget for your wedding?
Wedding gown, flowers, photographer, venue, cake, favourswhen you start planning a wedding it soon becomes obvious that your to do list is going to be long. And all this doesn't come cheap. So where should you start when planning a wedding? Before you do anything else, you need to think about a budget. Whether you decide to take a more relaxed approach, playing it by ear and spending money on the things you really want and cutting back where it doesn't matter to you while keeping an eye on the bank account, or set a strict budget for everything and stick to it, you need to discuss it as a couple.
So how do you decide? One way is to decide how much you can afford to spend and then split it up between the main components of the wedding, leaving another chunk for miscellaneous items (like gifts for your attendants). This means you know how much you have to spend for each big ticket item. The downsides are that it can be difficult to know how to split it up, and it can also tempt you to spend the budget to get the best you can afford rather than seeing where you can save.
One of the biggest difficulties when planning a wedding is that until you start planning one, most people don't know how much things cost, or the wide range of prices there is. For example, your wedding dress could set you back thousands of pounds, or a few hundred. Everything is like this weddings can be a black hole for money if you aren't careful. You can literally spend vast sums without even trying. It can take more effort to discover what the least you can spend is, and there is always the balance between trying to save as much as you can and still having the wedding of your dreams.
The companies selling wedding services often aren't much help when it comes to budgeting. If you ask how much the flowers, or the food, or the photography will cost, the answer is often "what is your budget?" The difficulty is that, for example, from the florist's point of view, how much the flowers cost depends on what type of flowers and displays you choose, but the choice available depends on how much you have to spend on them. From your point of view, you want to know how much things are likely to cost before you decide how much you are willing to spend.
It's a bit of a catch 22, but there are ways round it. Ask your married friends how much they paid for things. Visit wedding fairs and ask how much the items on display cost, or ask them how much the average price is, or the budget price. With a bit of research you should be able to get an idea of how much you want to spend on your wedding dress or your venue so that you can decide on a budget. It is also important to work out which are the parts that really matter to you, and then save money everywhere else so that those parts are perfect.
There are many guides online and in magazines that will tell you how you should split your budget. For example, I remember reading one that said 50% should be on the venue and food, 10% on the wedding dress and accessories, 10% on the florist, 10% on the photographer, 10% on the cake & 10% on everything else. The truth is a little more complicated. Every wedding is unique, and every couple's priorities are different. Don't spend money on something just because you think it's what you are supposed to have. It's your day you get to decide what you want to spend your money on.
Ideally the budget should be something you consider over and over again for as long as you both shall plan the wedding! It is worthwhile remembering that although it should be a wonderful day for the two of you to share your love with your friends and family, creating memories to treasure, you don't want to start out married life in debt.
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