Wouldn’t it be nice to get married knowing that you could spend as much as you like on everything? Having the dress of your dreams, a gorgeous venue, the finest foods and wines and a honeymoon in one of the world’s most exotic locations? Of course, unless you are royalty, a major celebrity or a multi millionaire then this is just a dream. The reality is that nearly all weddings have a budget of some sort. From simple registry office weddings with hardly any guests to lavish affairs with hundreds, at some point all weddings have to stick their respective budgets. But how do you set your wedding budget? Below we take a look at some simple and easy steps you can take to set a realistic and workable wedding budget.
How Much Does EVERYTHING Cost?
This task is going to be the foundation of setting your wedding budget. You are going to need to know the price of EVERYTHING involved in your wedding. That means you are going to have to know the approximate prices of your venue, your wedding cars, your dress, shoes, flowers etc etc. The list may seem endless but it’s a task that has to be done. Sitting there on the phone and on the internet is going to be very time consuming but the information you gain is going to be vital in setting your wedding budget.
Once you have all the costs, plan out what would be your dream wedding. Add up the numbers, and that’s the total cost. Now it’s a case of checking if you can afford it.
How Much Money Do You Have To Spend?
Now you know all of the costs involved for your dream wedding, do you have the funds to pay for them? Now is the time for both you and your partner to work how much money you have to put into the wedding, how much you may be borrowing and how much any parents or family members. Add all this together and that’s your wedding budget. Does it cover the cost of your dream wedding? If so, brilliant! If not, it’s going to be a case of compromising to ensure that your wedding comes in on budget.
When To Compromise…And When Not To
Cutting costs to make your wedding affordable is a necessity for most people but one thing we do recommend to make it a little bit easier is to ring fence certain things you feel you cannot compromise on. These will be your top priorities for your wedding and may include your wedding venue, dress and and shoes. Ringfence the budget for these items and then look towards the other costs of the wedding and see where you can save some money.
Plan For Emergencies
If you’re happy that you and your partner now have the funds to pay for your wedding, don’t forget to also factor in some emergency money. Wedding costs often have a habit of increasing sometimes due to various factors and you could be hit with an emergency such as your photographer falling ill. Ensure you have a reasonable amount of money put aside to pay for any of these small emergencies.