Wedding Budget Breakdown
…get your dream day without going broke
Money Money Money, must be funny, in a rich men’s world… Abba sang. And, occasionally, Meryl Streep (and probably you, reading this line. I did while writing it, so…).
Wedding Budgeting is quite a fundamental and delicate topic, and it’s one where most spouses get confused to start with. Besides, it’s the most frequent question the vendors will have for you, so it’s really best to tackle it right at the beginning and clear any doubt before starting the organization.
Maybe you’re starting to look up venues or you’re browsing Pinterest for the décor (don’t go and hide your mobile9 now, I’ve seen it!), but let me stop you for a second: don’t go on without planning a budget.
Don’t worry and let me reassure you: I won’t tell you that you must have some ludicrous sum for your wedding budget otherwise the wedding is cancelled. Not at all. You just need to know how much you can spend, and to have a realistic idea of what you want from your event.
This must be done both if you don’t want to spend a lot money and if you want to have a wedding worth of the English Monarchy. This will make your life easier. Believe me, it will make planning your special day way less stressful.
1. Count your money
It doesn’t matter if you want to go big or to have a smaller ceremony: first things first, evaluate how much you can think to spare once utilities, rent or mortgage, and general living expenses are taken out. You shouldn’t go in debt to have a party.
Planning a wedding is already stressful enough without having more things to worry about.
Make a budget of what you, as a couple, feel comfortable spending. If, and only if, you already know that your families want to help you, sit down with them and talk about it. Just a piece of advice in this case: make sure that their help comes with conditions you can bear with. It’s great that Uncle Sauron wants to give you your wedding rings, but make sure that he doesn’t transform you in a couple of Nazgul!
Taking a loan might be an option if you prefer having the whole sum ready and pay it back a bit at the time, but beware of the interest rates!
It’s your money, it’s only right that you do what you want with it.
2. Count your guests
Keep in mind that the number of guests influences a lot of other things in the wedding besides the cost of the food. The size of the venue, the number of invitations, of party favours, the placeholders, the confetti for the end of the ceremony, for example, all depend on how many people you have invited.
So, some costs will grow in more direct proportions (for example invitations), some will grow way faster (food cost), and some will stay the same (photographer). Don’t forget to count the vendors that will stay with you the whole day in the “food” part (so usually, photographer, DJ or musicians, wedding planner. Believe me, you don’t your photographer to be hangry…).
3. Make a list of your priorities…
… and put them in order of importance. Here are some sample questions, so you can have a guideline for the Wedding Budget Breakdown, but you should do this for every vendor you’re considering:
– Is the music more or less important than the photos?
– Are the photos more or less important than the dress?
– Is the dress more or less important than the food?
– Is the food more or less important than the number of people you can invite?
– Is being able to invite a lot of people more or less important than having a hot-air balloon? Etc.
The list of priorities will tell you where your money should go, and what you can do without. The same sum can be spent in a basically infinite number of ways. There isn’t really a right or wrong way to set your priorities: they’re yours, and no one else’s, but keep in mind that some of them can be in direct competition.
4. Don’t forget to foresee the unforeseeable.
Put aside some money for any unexpected expense, I’d say, in general, 10% of the budget you have initially thought. If you don’t have to spend it, then it’s something that you’ve left for your honeymoon! It’s better to have some buffer for any need! This is not the moment to emulate Steve Rogers and jump from planes without a parachute…
5. DIY is not always a way to save money.
Unless it’s something very easy, or you are already skilled in DIY, I can’t stress enough how disastrous the idea of “doing everything by myself” can become.
Firstly, unless you have already practice, doing some things is just way harder than it seems, and you might find yourself with a lot of wasted material, money, time, and frustrated as heck.
Secondly, sometimes the result is just not the best, because you don’t have professional machineries or materials.
Do I mean that you should never do DIY for a wedding? No way, I don’t, but talk with people who are already doing that kind of artisanal product to understand if you would get reasonably skilled in a reasonable time and if you’d really enjoy doing it, and then, still, do it only if it doesn’t add stress.
You’ll discover that there are a ton of things to do, on top of the normal things of everyday life, so take that into consideration. If everything checks out, then by all means, go for it!
Bonus point. Research the vendors’ actual cost!
It’s no use make a Wedding budget breakdown, for example, with 300 euro for a full service with two photographers, if a full service starts at 1500€. And it doesn’t make sense to allot 300 euro for the invitations if you have 25 guests and you’re going to print them at home.
So be smart, and research all this before allotting the definitive budget, so that you’ll be ready to talk with every vendor. Yes, you have to prepare yourself to several hours of Google researches, but it’ll be worth it. Remember: Google is your friend.
Priorities will make the Wedding Budget breakdown way easier!
And if this seems like a lot (honestly, it kinda is), click on the reassuring blue button below and book a consultation!
