Planning for a wedding can be an incredibly stressful and difficult process and is something that requires a huge amount of time and organization. Many couples will get engaged at least a year before getting married and the reason for this is often that it simply takes that long for a wedding to come together.
Getting started as soon as possible then is an important way to make sure that you start to make the whole thing seem a little more doable, and step one is to come up with a budget – an amount of money that you think you will realistically be spending. While this doesn’t have to be exact, coming up with a figure based on how much cash you have at your disposal and how much you expect everything to cost can help you to then decide things like the number of guests you’ll invite, the number of ushers and bridesmaids you’re going to have and the kind of venue you’ll pick.
So to get you started and set you on your way, let’s take a look at the requirements for a wedding and the other things that will affect your budget.
What Your Budget Has to Cover
The first thing to do when budgeting for your wedding is to look at the various costs you need to expect so that you can then start to assign rough amounts to each to come up with a ball-park figure. It’s easy to forget elements, so for your convenience here is a near-comprehensive list of elements you need to keep in mind…
Venue (Ceremony)
Venue (Reception)
Suit for the Groom
Wedding Dress
Hair, Makeup, Shoes and Accessories for Bride
Ushers’ Suits
Bridesmaids’ Dresse
Catering (Including drink)
Music (String quartet, DJ etc.)
Transport
Flowers
Stationery (Invitations, place names etc.)
Wedding Photography/Wedding Cinematography
Think about how much you want to spend on each of these things and then remember that there will be other elements you will need to spend money on that don’t directly pertain to the day itself – for instance you will need to pay for a hen do and stag party and of course your honeymoon all of which might be quite expensive.
When you start to look how much you want to spend on each you will come up with a rough figure that may be higher than you hoped or within your budget. Your next job is to decide whether you can afford this and whether you want to spend that much. Look into combined savings and what proportion you want to spend on a wedding, and then the bride’s parents if they will be contributing. It may feel rude to ask, but the sooner you know for sure the sooner you’ll be able to come up with a suitable budget.
If you find your costs exceed your budget then it comes time to start finding ways of reducing these without compromising on your big day. This might mean using friends to help with things like the flowers, it might mean reducing your number of visitors, or just reducing your number of ushers.
Martha Taylor tries real hard to sneak in a little time from her busy schedule to write blogs. She likes blogging and sharing her experiences with the readers.