So you just got engaged? Congratulations! What a whirlwind of emotions you must be feeling right now! At Camp Hosea, we want you to be able to focus on the joy of marriage without being caught up in the anxiety of planning a wedding. That being said, planning a wedding can be daunting, especially when you don't have a clear understanding of the steps you need to take to plan a beautiful celebration. In this series of blog posts, we are looking at the process of planning a wedding from a 30,000ft view to help you get an idea of what the process will look like. In this post, we will be focusing on the ABC’s of wedding planning, the attendees, the budget, and the chapel.
for starters, the common denominator of all of your decisions throughout the process of planning a wedding is your budget. As you consider what your budget will be, it is important to keep in mind that this number is not an estimate, it needs to be well-defined. Put another way, your budget should not be a dollar amount with “-ish” tacked on at the end. This may be obvious if you are the only one paying for your wedding. Where this can get tricky is if you have other people contributing to the cost of your wedding. A family member or relative may offer to contribute to your wedding fund. An excited or overly enthusiastic relative may blurt out a number with a dollar sign in front of it at the sight of your shiny new ring. For any number of reasons between that point and your actual wedding, they may decide that they are not comfortable contributing that original dollar amount to your wedding fund. While this is certainly their decision, it is reasonable for you to ask for a realistic number that you can trust. Even if it does take a bit of prying, getting a solid number from your contributors is a crucial step in defining your budget.
Once your budget is defined, it is important to understand what decisions have the greatest impact on the cost of the wedding. Many of the costs associated with wedding celebrations are tied to the number of guests in attendance. Some of these costs are directly tied to the number of attendees such as food and drink where you are given a cost per head. While this number can fluctuate with the quality of the food and alcohol, the number of people being served is primarily what dictates how much of your budget you need to allocate toward these costs. Other costs, such as your venue are indirectly tied to the number of attendees you invite. While the cost of a wedding venue is a fixed price, the biggest consideration in the process of choosing a venue is the number of people it can accommodate. It can be helpful to divide your total budget by the number of guests you are going to invite to help estimate the amount of wiggle room you have for food and beverage premiums as well as other add-ons.
When you are choosing a venue, there is a bit more to consider than just the number of people the venue can accommodate. It is important to consider where your guests will be traveling from and ensure that everyone can get to the location. It is also important to consider if you have grandparents or other attendees who have limited mobility. Some historic venues were not built with accessibility in mind. If accessibility is a concern for any of your guests, be sure to ask the venue staff if they can accommodate.
Understanding your budgetary constraints is a great first step to the wedding planning process and will inform many of the decisions you make along the way. At Camp Hosea, we want to help you make well-informed decisions to make the most of the budget you have. While there are many moving parts, a good coordinator will take the work off of your shoulders and catch details that you may miss. Our rockstar in-house coordinator, Kenna, is here to guide you through every step of the planning process. Kenna is a very attentive listener who is always excited to understand and serve the needs of our couples. If you are interested in discussing your wedding with Kenna or learning more about Camp Hosea, please reach out to us at our Contact Us page, we look forward to meeting you!
Picture:
Angelina Loretta Photography
The White Wedding
