BUDGETING
As much as you don't want to, it must be talked about.
you have to Budget. 🥴
Budgeting is the first crucial step in planning, and as much as you want to rush into all the fun stuff, it will dictate almost every other fun decision you make for your wedding day!
It can be one of the most stressful part of planning.. But!! 👇🏼
the good news is the stress can be avoided. 🙌🏼 Because most of the stress comes because there was a lack of planning. and a lack of planning means you already spent your budget and you don't have half of the things you need purchased yet.. thats stress.
Did you know almost 50% OF COUPLES spend over their budget? And when WE say 'over' their budget, WE don't mean a couple dollars. On average, they go $7,000 over budget. 🙈
The first thing we will do is choose a target budget.
From there we can break it into amounts that are designated for certain parts of your day! We will break it down into percentages so it will work with any budget, whether you're spending $1,000 or going all out at $100,000. 💰💰💰
Choosing a target budget.
The biggest 🔑 to this part is communication, and honesty. First figure out where the majority of the money will come from. Traditionally a brides family will pay for most of the wedding, but this isn't always the case anymore. If your families are helping to pay for it, communicate with them to figure out what they can afford without overdoing it! You and your spouse can also discuss pitching in for the extras.
If your families are not able to help, no worries! Weddings can be done surprisingly affordable while still being stunning as long as you know how to shop on a budget! Discuss what you have in your bank accounts, and if you will have a savings account specifically for your wedding day. Discuss if you're both comfortable with a little debt to get your dream wedding, or no debt at all. Communicate in the early stages about what you want the day to look like, and this will help you work as a team to pick and choose what to include and skip out on your wedding day!
Picking most important parts of your day.
Let's think about what is most important to your on your wedding day.
Is it the Venue. 🏛
Is it having your dream dress. 👰♀️
The food has to be my favorite meal. 🍽
You want photos and videos of your day. 📸
Or having everyone that you love at your day. 👨👩👧👦👨👩👧👨👩👦
The decorations on decorations. 🪞
The music needs to be amazing. 👨🎤👩🎤🧑🎤
I need a desert and a beautiful cake. 🎂
There is no shortage of things to splurge on when it comes to wedding day spending. Just know, if you spend a little more than you wanted on your dream venue, you just have to cut back in an area that's maybe not as important to you for your wedding day.
Budget breakdown.
Let's start with the bigger items first!
1. It is normally safe to say your venue will be 20% of your budget.
2. Food also, is usually pretty close to 20%. But will largely be determined by you guest list.
Again, these are normally the two biggest ones, but by no means do they have to be. We got married at beautiful camp on a private lake that we grew up going to and got a crazy good deal on, which allow us to save a lot of money and also spend more on other parts! 🎉
3. Decor, flowers, and stationary make up for a decent amount of the budget. Usually around 10% of the overall budget.
4. Hair, makeup, attire(robes and other bridal party gifts), and rings will combine for another 10% of your budget.
5. Photography and Videography will be another 10%, (or more if you plan on getting prints and albums made of your day!) Which we always recommend getting at least something printed. 👌🏼
6. You can't have a bad DJ at a wedding, they just don't work together. 🥴 So plan on spending about 10% on that as well!
We are at about 80% of your total budget so far. The rest are mostly little details, but that is where most couple lose track of what they spend and go a little overboard.
The rest of the details include things like:
7. Gifts and Favors which is kind of like tipping the people you hire.
8. Trasportation, if you have more than one location, or have a party bus.
9. If you think it would be helpful, you might hire a wedding planner. this depends on the size of your guest list, if your timeline is crazy
10. Fees. Such as, marriage license fees, officiant fees, venue fees.
11. There are alway last minute things you think of, so it's safe to set aside 5%.