Creating a budget is the very first step in planning your wedding and we have many tools that will help you do that! You don't want to spend too much money on alcohol and end up with no budget for flowers! So make sure you write down each budget category and assess what is most important to you before over-spending on another category!
While traditionally the bride's family paid for the wedding, this is definitely not the norm anymore! So many families are pitching in to help with the wedding and many couples are paying for their weddings on their own. Regardless of who is paying or helping to pitch in, you need a solid budget before you do anything else! Don't get yourself into a contract you cannot stick to!
A couple of tips.
1. If a family member is willing to donate flowers, for example, make sure he or she knows what the cost of floral is going to be! While he or she may be willing to spend $500 on floral, you may have $5,000 worth of floral décor in mind! So just be open and honest and make sure your family members are open and honest with what they are willing to help you with!
2. When will you have the money? Generally, you are going to need to provide a 25-50% deposit with each vendor through your wedding planning. So a good rule of thumb is to make sure you have at least 50% of your budget ready to do right now! Final payments are due anywhere from one month to 3 days before the wedding.
3. Don't spend what you cannot afford! There is nothing more stressful than trying to come up with payments for your wedding that you cannot afford. An expensive wedding doesn't mean you will have the best marriage! In the end, you are marrying the man/woman of your dreams so make your wedding your own and you CAN make an absolutely amazing day with any budget :)
4. You food, beverage, and venue site fees are generally around 50% of your total spending. So if you have $20,000 as your total wedding budget, make sure you tell possible venues that your venue budget is $10,000 so you don't overspend!
I have some great tools for calculating your budget in just the click of a button so email me if you would like me to send you the file! Happy budgeting :)
