Unless you’ve just won the lottery, one of the first things you and your fiancé need to do is sit down and create a wedding budget. Yes, this is a very unromantic task, and will initially take some time, and some phone calls, but it is a very important step in planning your wedding.
Photo by ID 27732748 © Mjlp4337 | Dreamstime.com
And, in the end, it is worth the effort so you can have the wedding of your dreams.
So, how do you create a wedding budget? Where do you start?
1. Know What You Both Want
First, sit down with your fiancé and discuss what type of wedding you both want. Formal or informal? Small and intimate, or a huge blown-out party? Church ceremony or Grandma’s backyard? Dinner and dancing, or just cake and punch?
Talk about the month or season you’d like to have your wedding, what colors you have in mind, size of the wedding party. . .
If you’re not sure of any of these answers yet, that’s ok. Just make sure to go back and talk about it again at a later date, and keep the lines of communication open.
2. Know How Much You Have To Spend
Since you can’t create a wedding budget without knowing how much money you’ll have to spend determine how much money you have to spend on the entire event, so your next step is to determine the total dollar amount you will have. This includes money you and your fiancé can comfortably take from savings, and what you’ll both be setting aside from your paychecks, as well as any outside contributions from either set of parents (or someone else). Put this money into a separate wedding savings account so you won’t accidently spend it on something else.
Photo by 3. Adjust and Tweak
Make a list of all the different expenses you will have on your wedding day (ex. caterer, photographer, gown, dj, and invitations), and assign a dollar amount to each. A quick way to do this is to take the total amount that you have to spend on your wedding and determine an amount to allocate to each category by using national percentages.
From here you can adjust the numbers to fit what you are comfortable with spending, and to fit in with your preferences and priorities. Is having fantastic music more important to you than the flowers? Then go less expensive with the reception décor by using candles instead of floral centerpieces, and add the difference to get a great band. You can also make adjustments if you need to scale back somewhere so the numbers fit.
4. Avoid Overspending with an Incorrect Budget Style
When you start to create a wedding budget, make sure you avoid the types of budgets that are little more than an ongoing “expense report.” This is the kind where you enter your “estimated” budget and as you make your purchases and start hiring vendors, plug in your “actual amount spent.” This type of budget ends up is nothing more than a tally of your receipts. With this method it is too easy for your wedding expenses to get out of hand. You don’t want to end up paying more than what you wanted to, or what you could afford.
Then, when you create a wedding budget that is well planned and thought out, if you come in under budget in a particular category, you can reallocate the difference elsewhere, and if you go over budget it will be by choice, not by accident.
Hearts, Joy, Love!
Jean
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