Author: Jocelyn Chi (40 Articles)
Jocelyn is the founder and editor of Something Bleu Magazine. She is also a wedding and portrait photographer based out of Houston, TX.
In my first post on Getting Started on Your Wedding Planning, I talked a bit about how helpful it is to start your planning with a budget for your wedding. This post will take that a bit deeper and talk about some helpful things to think about when you’re working on that budget.
1) Sources of Money
One of the first things to think about is where exactly is the money for this wedding coming from? For some, this may be a very simple issue; maybe you and your fiance are clearly financing this entire wedding on your own, or maybe your parents have already talked for years about the kind of wedding they want to throw for you so you already have a very good idea where the money is coming from. For others, this might be a very awkward topic to broach. Maybe you don’t know whether or not you have relatives who want to help chip in. Maybe it’s difficult to talk finances with your family. Either way, it’s a good idea to have those conversations now and determine upfront how things will be paid for before you continue with your planning.
This step also generally dictates what your budget is more or less going to be because you and your contributors likely have limited resources.
2) General Allocation Percentages
There are many online resources to help you figure out what percentage of your budget should be spent on each wedding item, such as your reception, catering, photography, etc. Some great resources I found were this wedding budget calculator from Out of the Ordinary, a Special Events Planning team from Rochester, New York, and this fantastic wedding budget worksheet from Real Simple Magazine. Planning sites, such as The Knot also have wedding budget planning resources for those who login via their free account with them.
These resources are great because they give you a rough idea of reasonable allocation percentages for the typical main items in your wedding planning. Even though your actual allocation percentages might (and should) vary based on your priorities and preferences, they give you a great starting point from which to start planning. And this leads us to our next point…
3) Switch it up based on your priorities
So now that we know what a reasonable budget might look like, you’ll probably want to vary the allocation percentages based on your personal preferences for your wedding. If you put a really high premium on your photography and the memories that it will enable you to celebrate years after your wedding, you’ll probably want to allocate more than 10% of your budget for your photography, especially if you’re planning on having a lower budget wedding. On the other hand, if you’re a foodie and want to make sure that all your guests have the most amazing taste experience, you’ll probably spend a much larger portion of your budget on your reception catering, hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, and any all the other great things you’ll serve your guests.
When you’re doing this part of your planning, you’ll also want to get an idea for how much things that you really put a premium on will cost you. It’s hard to say that you’re going to allocate 10% of your budget for something when you have no idea about whether or not that’s a reasonable amount of money in light of the quality of product you have in mind.
4) Some other things to consider in setting your budget
Here are some other helpful questions to consider while you’re planning your budget:
- Time or Money?
We’ve all heard the old adage that money is time and this certainly applies to wedding planning as well. If you have the expertise and have a lot of time (or have friends who have time and expertise), there are countless options for the Do It Yourself bride and wedding planner. Martha Stewart has some fabulous decoration ideas you can do yourself. For instance, she has these gorgeous paper pom-pom instructions, which Chenin Boutwell, an amazing wedding photographer based in Southern California, used here to plan a lovely bridal shower.
Grey Likes Weddings, also based out of Southern California, also has some great DIY Workshops teaching you how to make your own floral arrangements.
The point is this: if you have a lot of time and enjoy working on these details, this is one great way you can save money in your budget. If you don’t have a lot of time, or would be really stressed out by the pressure of having to see all these projects to fruition, you’d probably be better off leaving ample space in your budget for the details that you’ll want to have.
- Are there non-monetary costs involved?
Speaking of stress, this is one big non-monetary cost that can sometimes be easily overlooked. Even for the crafty bride, the pressure of having to see all these separate projects come together can be overwhelming. This is why it can be really helpful to have a wedding planner, or at the very least, a wedding coordinator, who can be your designated time keeper and general go-to person on the day of the wedding so that you don’t find yourself in the position of deciding a lot of last minute decisions and details. Without other things to think about, you’ll be much more able to enjoy and savor your wedding day.
But stress isn’t the only non-monetary cost, and these other costs can appear early in the wedding planning process as well. Wedding planning can be a very emotional process for everyone involved – and sometimes, the decision making process and cause a lot of tension too. Be cognizant of these other costs so you can make a conscious decision about whether or not you want to incur them. Although these non-monetary costs don’t necessarily affect your financial budget, I thought I’d throw them in here anyways as they are very real – and often overlooked.
- Balance having your friends help out with enabling them to enjoy your day.
Maybe you have amazingly talented and helpful friends or relatives who volunteer to help out on your big day in the most generous ways. It’s wonderful if they’re able to help you, and gift you in this way, but keep in mind that you don’t want to keep them too busy otherwise they won’t be able to enjoy much of your day with you.
5) Staying Debt Free
Finally, as we wrap up this post so you can start working on your wedding budget, I want to add that as much as you can, it’s a fabulous idea to stay debt free as you’re planning your wedding. Staying debt free in this process will give you a much better start to managing your finances together as a new family.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }