The Wedding Series: Creating a Budget

If you read my last blog post, you know the first steps of planning a wedding. Creating a budget is the second step. It is so important to do this before booking anything.

First you’ll want to figure out who is paying for the wedding and how much each person is paying. This may be the couple getting married, parents, other family members, or a combination. Each party involved should decide on an exact number that they are willing to spend. Adding these together creates your total overall wedding budget. This number will be divided by each venue, vendor, and wedding item that you purchase.

Next, sit down with your fiance and create two lists. Make one list of your top priorities for your wedding day, and the things you will want to spend more money on. Make a second list of the things that aren’t as important to you both. These will be items that you will find for a low cost, or may be willing to sacrifice on your wedding day. Make sure that you and your fiance come to an agreement on these lists. No matter how big your budget is, you will still have to pick and choose your top priorities, and sacrifice your lower priorities.

Then, I recommend doing some research on where you want your ceremony and rehearsal. You can search online and email different venues for an estimated price quote. They will email you the price estimates and what they include in that price. I would then recommend touring venues and narrowing down to your top 2-3 choices.

After that, reach out to other vendors for price quote. You should look for a photographer, videographer, a caterer, florist, DJ or band, transportation, a photo booth, and a wedding coordinator. You should keep track of these price quotes in one organized document.

Based on the quotes you received, you should create one large estimated budget. This way, you can see everyone laid out together and you can see the total.

Make sure to also include in your budget, the cost of your wedding dress, alterations, shoes, accessories, save the dates, invitations, decorations, wedding favors, and anything extra that you want. This may also include gifts for your wedding party, wedding party proposal gifts, and a wedding gift for your fiance. (Please keep in mind that you do not have to have all of these things at your wedding, make your wedding exactly how YOU want it.)

After you have a full budget put together, your total may be much higher than the money you have available in your budget. If this is the case, it is time to look at your list of low-priorities. Start searching for more budget-friendly versions of these services or items. If your budget is still too high, consider removing some items on your low-priority list, or you may have start looking for more budget-friendly items from you top-priority list.

If after you have put you budget together, you are lower than your overall budget (which seems impossible to me lol), you can look into items that you want to add or splurge on.

Either way, I recommend having quite a bit of wiggle room in your first rough draft budgets. It can be easy to forget about things that you really want, or your vendors may have hidden costs that you weren’t expecting.

If doing all of this work and creating a budget sounds like a nightmare to you, consider hiring a wedding planner to do all of the work for you. This will cost more money to have someone do everything for you, but it might be worth it for you if it’s something you don’t enjoy, or something you don’t have the time for. I will write a blog soon about hiring a wedding planner and different packages you can buy!

Sincerely, Ava Rains