Set a budget for the wedding
Why a wedding budget
And while a wedding budget doesn't sound all that glamorous, it doesn't have to be a bad thing. In fact, planning your wedding without a budget is almost guaranteed to land you into serious financial debt. What's the key to success? As it will be throughout your marriage, open, honest, two-way communication is an absolute must.
Newly-engaged couples must talk about how each envisions his and her special day. Women work on the assumption that guys don't care about the details but that's not always true. It is, after all, the man's big day, too and he has a family to please as well.
Once the excitement of the engagement wears off, go somewhere quiet and talk about what's important to each of you in regards to your wedding day. Listening to your partner's opinion is as important as talking so be sure to do both. Then, make a list of what you both want -to arrive in a horse-drawn carriage, lobster, renaissance theme, color scheme, etc.- and what are absolute necessities -for example a photographer, caterer, rings, and so on. You're going to use this information when it's time to allocate your budget.
Once you both have an idea of what's important, it's time to crunch the numbers. You've got to determine how much money is available now (for example, in savings accounts, stocks/bonds, real estate, trust funds), how much you'll have to commit to saving from your regular income streams, and how much you can realistically expect others to kick in. Depending on how far out the actual wedding date is you may want to consider opening a higher-interest bearing account for the money so that it can earn interest.
When considering what others may be able to put towards the cause it's really important that you don't make unrealistic demands. Take whatever others are willing to contribute graciously and try not to belabor the issue. Getting angry or disappointed in the amounts you are being given isn't a very mature way of handling the situation.
When you know where the money's coming from and how much is coming, you'll know how much you'll be able to spend. Now make another list of all wedding-related expenses and allocate a dollar amount or the percentage you're willing to spend next to each item. This will help when you're actually contracting for these services. Remember that if you exceed your budgeted amount in one category, you'll have to scale back another so your budget will stay balanced. Because budgeting is so very important for most couples, you'll find that wedding budget worksheets, software and other tools are available everywhere, so go find one and start using it right now!
Planning Your Wedding Budget
A significant task in planning a wedding, among so many, has to be developing and maintaining a wedding budget. Even those skilled in the use of spreadsheets or other tools can't get around the fact that there are simply a lot of details to track. If they're not tracked accurately, it can cost thousands of dollars extra.
Fortunately, taken one step at a time, it is possible to create and keep a budget under control. Just devote a little time every day, or at least once a week, to doing what's necessary.
And what is that?
First, it's necessary to list a year or more in advance everything you can imagine that will have to be paid out. Don't worry that there are many items you'll forget or not be aware of. You'll revise the budget many times over the course of that year. But you have to start somewhere.
Keep that list in a spreadsheet or a wedding budget tool of your choosing, whatever makes it easy to you to account for everything in one spot. With the average cost of a wedding at around $27,000 today, things can quickly spiral out of control. Using tools is one way to help prevent that.
It can help to make more than one budget. Different items are traditionally paid for by the bride and her family, and others by the groom and his family. At the same time, it's helpful to be able to combine or merge them to see the overall costs.
The bride's portion usually includes such things as a wedding band and gift for the groom, the wedding venue and reception, the gown, photographs and less costly items. The groom's part typically includes the bride's engagement ring and wedding band, and a gift, along with a tuxedo, gifts for the best man and groomsmen, bride's bouquet, the marriage license fee and blood tests, and the honeymoon.
Each side can easily spend thousands. To keep the figure down to within budget all of those items -and many more- need to be recorded and updated. Even the smaller items that are not expensive individually can add up to a substantial amount.
For the bride, 40% of her side's budget can often be taken up by the caterer. Include food and drinks and the figure can run anywhere from $200 to $20,000 depending on the size of the wedding and the type of catering. About 15% for clothing is not unusual between a gown and a reception dress.
The photographer alone can consume 5% or more. $1,000-$3,000 is normal, which includes his or her time all day plus post-wedding development, mailing and more. Another 2-3% for wedding invitations has been traditional. Costs are dropping, though, thanks to the Internet. It is helping to reduce printing costs, eliminate some mailing where emailing is sometimes substituted.
Entertainment can be anywhere from virtually free - a few music CDs played on a portable or built-in stereo system - to 10% or several thousand for live entertainment. A good 5-piece jazz band, for example, can easily cost $2,000 for the evening and that's a bargain. Of course, it never hurts to have musician friends who will play for free. Provided they get free food and drink, at least!
Costs can be kept lower, obviously, by having a smaller wedding. Fewer guests means less food and drink, a smaller venue and other savings. A cash bar, rather than free unlimited drinks, is one way to cut down. At least one free glass of champagne for everyone should be included, however, to toast the bride and groom.
Setting a date for off-season can result in big savings. Most wedding and reception venues are booked in the summer months, especially the traditional June. Getting married in January can lower costs quite a bit. Even a non-Saturday date can help a lot.
And, oh, by the way. Don't forget to pay the preacher. You don't want him to forget to sign the license!