To begin, you need to sit down with your partner and determine a reasonable budget that fits within your expectations. First evaluate your finances and how much you are both comfortable with spending on your wedding.
Now isn’t the time to determine the exact costs of each element, it’s just the first step in your wedding planning and deciding what your wedding target fund will be.
This Pre Planning Phase is a very critical step in ensuring that you are organized and on track.

Many couples overlook this very important step, and start planning their wedding without a firm budget in mind. This will make things incredibly difficult when you find yourself out of money and out of time, without the wedding completely planned and ready for your big day.

Sit down together and determine a fair budget. You can always adjust the budget later on down the road if needed, but for now, be open with each other, discuss possible numbers until you come to a reasonable budget without leaving you both struggling to pay off a massive debt once you begin your married life together.

After all, your wedding is a celebration of your love and the last thing you want to do is venture into a marriage where you are tied down to a debt that will take years to pay off.  Consider what your objectives are for the first year of your marriage. Are those decisions more important than just one big day.

Do you want to put a down payment on a house? Upgrade a home? Take an extended vacation?  You will need to thoroughly examine what your budget is going to be while allowing you both the ability to save for your future long after the wedding days over.

It’s easy to get excited about your wedding planning and take out huge loans or borrow from friends and family without considering how difficult it may be to pay it back over time. Remember it’s your future and what’s most important to you and your partner.

Consider your friends and family who may be interested in helping with certain aspects of your wedding. Perhaps you have a cousin who is a florist or an aunt who would be more than happy to play piano during your ceremony. There is always someone doing something that can help you.
You’d be surprised at just how many costly elements you can eliminate or reduced by considering friends and family for certain tasks.  Best of all, they will be thrilled that you are involving them in your wedding day!

When considering your budget, keep in mind that the majority of a wedding budget is traditionally spent on the reception.  The food, drinks, rentals and venue that you choose will take up a large portion of your budget, depending on the type of food served, the number of guests and whether you are footing the entire bill or having friends and family cook, bake and help out. And the open bar costs could surprise you.

Your wedding apparel will take up an estimated 15% of your budget as well, and your photographer and videographer another 15% by traditional pricing. You could opt to have a friend video tape the wedding for you, as well as a friend or family member that you trust, taking your photographs. This will save a lot of money on your wedding, however be careful in who you choose as you will never be able to capture your wedding again. And remember to put disposable cameras on each table for those shots the photographer would never have got for you.

If you find that your budget is far too small, start saving every week by deciding to put a specific amount away.  You could open a bank account that is used exclusively for your wedding. Think of it as a Christmas club but for your dream wedding.

Bookmark to: