Marriage is one of the greatest investments most people will ever make – emotionally and financially. Unless you are fortunate with parents which has offered to cover the bill or just won the lotto, chances are this day will be one of the priciest in your life.
In this post we will be visiting some useful tips to pay attention to as you begin planning your budget.
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Investigate what things actually cost
The first thing to do is to check what the essential costs are – and remember that “essential” is only really what you need to be legally married.
Examples of essential costs for weddings will be the place, the food, marriage officiant, transport, accommodation, wedding rings, photographer.
Do you even need a conventional wedding? The option of eloping is a conversation worth having whilst figuring it all out. Not having to feed and seat 100s of guests, enables you to fulfill what is most important for your unique ways of signifying your commitment to each other.
When you look for vendors, make sure that you know exactly what their fee includes. If you want a comprehensive list of all the questions to ask your vendors, check this post out.
image credits: 100 layer cake
2. Establish what you can/ want to spend
Is it fair to spend more on a wedding than six months of salaries? Only you can decide!
Remember that not everything which is expected in a wedding is really that necessary to make your dream day come true – so decide as a team what you think is worth what.
Very often the most memorable wedding days are those that are made to be truly and uniquely about you, as opposed to a display of glitzy trims.
Is your wedding or your marriage be happier if you wear a designer dress that costs the same as a down-payment of a car?
Answer these kinds of questions now, and be frank about your needs for a cookie-cutter wedding, or if you can skimp on some aspects to make it more about you.
Related:
>>>Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding Details Without Compromising on Style
>>>25 Ingenious ways To Save On Wedding Flowers
3. Distribute the balance between all remaining areas
Once you have made initial financial plans of the first chapters of wedding planning, it is time to figure out what goes into the rest of the day.
You’ll now have the list of essentials and you more or less know what you can spend.
The remainder will be split between your dress, grooms clothing, entertainment, bridesmaids outfits, decor, flowers, stationery and a long list of smaller costs – everything from gifts to families, tips, ushers, confetti, chair decorations, ring cushion and your manicure.
Alcohol is a big expense – are you having an open bar? Will you serve cocktails or just wine and beer?
An open bar with spirits will definitely end up wondering if you need to sell a kidney – at least it feels that way anyway when the bill arrives.
So how you choose to serve your booze – and what time of day your wedding is – can have a significant impact.
Related:
>>> Overwhelmed by wedding planning? These 7 steps will quickly help you gain control
image credits: vouge
4. Track all expenses
There will be a lot of payments to keep track of – so start a spreadsheet as soon as you start paying for things. We highly recommend you to grab our budget tool because it not only lists all areas and keeps track of what you have left to spend, it also suggests how to split the budget in between the various areas. Be sure to check it out!
By having an overview of your budget with the approximate amounts you can expect to pay for each wedding day aspect, you can keep track of actual costs, paid so far and amounts due and easily figure out where to save. So clever and FREE!
Download your Budget Tracker here
5. Staying budget-wise
These food-for-thought tips will be worth keeping in mind when setting forth and throughout wedding planning.
Be wise with wedding-related social media time.
Inspiration overload is a real thing, our blogging team can attest to that fact!
Gorging in beautiful wedding inspo is great and a perfectly normal past time for the first month or so of being engaged, but try to set your limits or your horizon will risk getting too broad.
Tune out and ask yourself what you really need – ask your heart, your Groom and not Pinterest.
Consult with your spouse to what details are necessary and which are maybe-maybe nots. Narrow the core of your wedding ideals, and try to forget about the many fancy extras you have seen online.
Be smart with the guest-list
Guest list is by far the easiest way to control your wedding budget!
Whilst this sounding brutal and selfish, your wedding day is not a high school reunion. It is gonna be a busy day either way – wouldn’t it be nice to be able to talk and catch up with every guest for a few minutes?
Intimate weddings are often the most memorable, and much more affordable which means you can fulfill other must have-elements.
Be a team
Remember to involve your partner the the decisions, and family if they will be paying.
This is not the right time to have disagreements with your loved ones so discuss the expectations and limitations as soon as possible.
Sharing a Google document with all of those involved is a great management tip and can help to prevent overspending.
As in all happy marriages, remember to be honest with yourselves, communicate and compromise as you plan your budget. That is what love is all about, in the end of the day 🙂
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