The main thing to consider when planning a wedding is your budget. The first step in planning any great wedding is establishing what your specific budget will be as your budget is the cornerstone of the plan that your entire wedding will be built around. In this post, we will be offering our tips on how to construct a wedding budget that makes sense financially while giving you the wedding celebration that you deserve.
Setting a Realistic Wedding Budget
Setting a realistic wedding budget starts with identifying how much of your resources you are willing to dedicate to your wedding. This starts by understanding the amount of money that you have available through your own income and savings. Then you can ask yourself how much of that income you can comfortably save in the coming months before your wedding. You may be receiving financial support from parents or other loved ones. This is where budgeting can be a little tricky as you will need to ask your family to give you a solid number representing what they are willing to contribute. While this can certainly be a difficult conversation, it is important that you have an accurate idea of how much money you will have to spend on your wedding.
Once you have named a dollar amount that you are prepared to spend on your wedding, the next step is to decide which parts of your wedding celebration you want to prioritize. For some, they may want to prioritize the venue and the photography while others may want to place an emphasis on the food and attire. This is a completely personal decision, but once you have made that decision, you want to start building your wedding budget by allocating more funds to the aspects you want to prioritize.
Prioritizing Costs for Wedding Guests
The number of guests you invite will heavily dictate the amount of money you will spend on your wedding. The more guests you invite, the more the final bill will increase. It is important to exercise caution when creating your invitation list because of how a growing guest list will multiply your wedding expenses. Just like everything else, when it comes to budgeting for a wedding, prioritizing the wedding guests you invite is crucial.
The best way to start prioritizing costs with your wedding guest list is by creating a tiered guest list. The tiers should start with those who absolutely must be at the wedding, like immediate family and lifelong friends. The second here would be people that would be nice to have at the wedding such as co-workers and extended family. Finally, you should consider your acquaintances and plus ones of other guests. While it may be hard to decide who to invite and who not to invite, this tier system will help make that decision easier.
Managing Expenses for Wedding Venues
Managing expenses for wedding venues requires strategic planning, negotiation, and a clear understanding of hidden costs. Venues often consume the largest chunk of a wedding budget (40–50%), so prioritizing and optimizing this expense is critical. Generally speaking, venues in urban areas cost a significant amount more than venues in rural areas. This largely has to do with the demand that comes with areas that are more densely populated. If you are looking to save costs when it comes to your venue, consider looking for a venue in a less populated area.
Other factors that drive up demand, and subsequently cost, are not just place-related, but also time-related. The season in which you choose to have a wedding plays a big role in the price of the wedding. Spring and fall are generally considered peak wedding seasons as they offer more temperate weather than the summer and winter seasons do. Also, the day of the week that you choose to host your wedding plays a massive role as well. Most couples prefer to have their wedding on a Saturday night Which creates considerable demand for weddings on that day of the week. If you are looking to save some money on venue expenses, consider having your wedding on a weekday. These days are not typically in high demand and can be significantly cheaper than weekend weddings.
Tracking and Controlling Wedding Costs
Tracking wedding costs is essential to avoid overspending and ensure you stay within your budget. There are really two keys to tracking costs when planning a wedding. The first key is finding a means of tracking costs that is easy for you to use and makes sense to you at a glance. spreadsheets are the most common and popular means of tracking wedding costs. You can also find templates for your favorite spreadsheet application that will keep your tracking as organized as possible.
The second key is the process of properly itemizing each expenditure on your spreadsheet. There are some big purchases that obviously need to be recorded like catering or alcohol fees. However, there are some costs that can slip through the cracks like invitations and thank you cards. Even though these are small expenses, they can add up very quickly. Making sure that you put everything into your spreadsheet is crucial to ensuring that you keep track of your expenditures.
At Camp Hosea, we strive to meet every one of our couples’ needs. we do our best to make sure everything goes off without a hitch, be it on the wedding day or within the couple's finances. If you would like to learn more about who we are or you would like to tour our venue, please reach out to us at our Contact Us page, we look forward to getting to know you!
Photos:
- Erin + Dillon - Corinne Vaz Photo
- Sophia + Philip - Faith & Fire Photography
