How to Start Your Wedding Budget
So you are engaged!! This is such an exciting time, as you will begin saving your favorite wedding pictures on Pinterest and Instagram; wanting to dive deep into all the small details of wedding planning. Before you do , it is so important that you, your fiancé (and sometimes family), discuss the wedding budget. Talking about money can be quite stressful for people, but it does not have to be! Here are some tips to get you started in determining your overall wedding budget.
#1: Determining who is contributing to your wedding.
In the past, tradition was that the brides parents pay for the wedding, but this is not how things are today. Perhaps it's just you and your fiancé or your parents may want to contribute to some of the wedding costs. This is a conversation that needs to happen before you even start the planning process for you both to know how much you will be responsible for.
#2 Figuring out the numbers.
Once you know how many financial contributors you will have, it is important as a couple to decide on how much ideally you two will want to spend. As it is important to have the wedding of your dreams, it’s also important to make sure you can cover your real life expenses. A few questions to ask yourselves:
How much can we realistically afford to spend along with our monthly expenses we need to cover?
Based off of your monthly income, how much can you both reasonably save between now and wedding day?
Do you have any existing savings that you can pull from to be put towards the wedding?
#3 Determining Estimated Guest Count.
Your guest count is going to be a big factor in determining your wedding budget. The number of guests will determine both the size of your venue as well as how much food and beverage you will need to provide. Your guest count will also generate the number of items you'll need to pay for—including invitations, table and chair rentals, cake slices, and wedding favors. You will want to look at your wedding as a “per-person” expenditure.
#4 Choosing your Non-Negotiables + ranking vendors in importance.
You and your fiancé are going to have different opinions when it comes to what’s most important to you on wedding day. Whether that’s having the open bar or wanting an elaborate floral design, it’s important to rank how each vendor starting with the most important on your priority list. Doing this will help with determine how much to spend on each vendor and will help you with the initial planning process.
Once you decide your top priorities, you can allot a bigger percentage of your budget to them—which will also solidify how much you'll have left for the other wedding items.
Leave it up to us to help plan the wedding you’ve always dreamed of! We are here for you!