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How to Set Up Your
Wedding Budget (Part 1 of 2)
Starting to think about your wedding budget is a confusing and at first, daunting task. From favours to dresses, flowers to photography, every single thing you spend counts towards your budget. Therefore it’s important that you start properly and continue in that manner.
Where to start
Before filling in your wedding budget, start to think about how you want your wedding to look. I found that my fiancé and I had quite differing opinions about what we wanted. Well, actually, he was having kittens thinking that I wanted the moon and the stars for my dream wedding.
Once we talked, he felt a bit more relieved, we didn't have any arguments and we both ended up with a superb wedding that we planned together and thoroughly enjoyed.
So, sit down with your partner and think about how you want the wedding to look. Talk about the things that have always featured in your dream wedding and make sure you agree on a theme or look and feel that you’re both happy with.
How much money do you have to spend?
Next, work out how much money you have to spend. Dare I say it, but the best place to start is your parents. Find out if they’d like to contribute to your wedding, or if there are any specific things they’d like to pay for. Make a note of this along with any savings you have put aside for your big day and this should be your wedding budget.
Fix it there. Don’t try and add to this amount with loans or extra credit as this will only give you additional stress in the run up to your wedding and at the beginning of your married life.
It might be a good idea to open a “wedding bank account” or get a “wedding credit card” as these will help you keep track of all your payments. This way each month, you’ll know exactly how much you’ve spent on your wedding. (If you do get a credit card, ensure it is one with a 0% introductory rate and that it gets paid off each month. The interest charges shouldn’t add to your budget!).
Find talented friends and family
Now, think about if you have any talented friends or relatives for things like photography, toast-master, chauffeur with beautiful car, stationery designer, dress maker, beautician etc.
You’d be surprised how much your friends and family will want to help you on your big day and it’s a special honour for them to be involved. It will also make your wedding a lot more personal for you as well as help your wedding budget.
How many guests?
The next task is to work out rough numbers of guests. This can be quite hard as it’s easy for the numbers to creep up, especially if you have to invite Great Aunt Maud, who you haven’t seen since you were five.
You’ll need to be quite ruthless here. Some ideas for keeping control of your numbers are:
- invite friends, but not work colleagues
- include relatives up to and including first cousins only
- no children
This is a difficult one, and again, one you might want to include your parents in this discussion as I can guarantee they’ll give you a few surprise invites that you hadn’t thought of.
End of Part 1. Part 2 of How To Set Up Your Wedding Budget goes into more detail.
Related articles:
How To Set Up Your Wedding Budget
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Tips To Cut Your Wedding Budget
The 5 Biggest Wedding Budget Traps
The Do's And Don'ts Of Wedding Budgets
Tips For Saving For A Wedding
Your Printable Wedding Budget
My Wedding Budget
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