Do you REALLY know what your Wedding Day will cost You???

For most couples, a wedding is the first time you’ll ever have to think about planning a huge event, let alone creating a plan for wedding budget costs.

As a result, lots of brides and grooms start planning in a similar way:

• First you think about the wedding you want.
• Then you think about how much you’re comfortable spending.
• And then you hope really hard - fingers-crossed - that the two concepts match up.

Did you know that well over ½ of all brides spend more on their wedding than originally planned?

The problem is, it’s almost impossible to know your wedding budget costs until you start getting into the nitty-gritty of planning.

Getting a handle on the cost of things is really important to making a budget you can stay within.

When couples overspend it’s thought they just got caught up in the expectations of the wedding industry. But guess what?

The culprit was that they thought chair covers cost $2 when they really cost $4. Or they found out their parents would be terribly upset if they just served chicken instead of the lovely surf and turf buffet they imagined. Then it turns out that the only wedding photographers in their area who did the type of pictures they wanted, charged $4,000 instead of the $2,500 they were hoping to spend. Next thing they knew, the combined total of those surprises was $6,000 and rising.

Remember: Things don’t always end up costing what you thought or what vendors promised. Be sure to read the fine print and ask the questions regarding extras and hidden/unexpected costs. Build a cushion of around 5% into your wedding budget to help offset any surprises.

And you know what?

It’s often the little things that we either forget or just ignore. The ones that are apart of the wedding process like invitations, audio-visual, favours and transportation that we forget to put a true price on so they can quickly add up. Do your research! Average wedding cost breakdown

The Importance of creating your wedding budget

Creating a wedding budget for your special day is an integral part of the planning process. The size of the budget helps you determine the size and grandeur you can afford.  Knowing your wedding budget costs is important to figuring this out.

Typically, most weddings no matter big or small, all have certain elements that are required.  That means a venue, catering, flowers, photography, entertainment, music, a cake...

Here's an example of what part of your budget you can expect to pay for these categories:

Reception: 50%

Ceremony:  3%

Photography: 10%

Flowers/Décor: 10%

Wedding Planner: 10%

Dress & Tux: 10%

Miscellaneous/Cushion: 7%

For a more detailed budget breakdown and worksheet, download my Wedding Budget Breakdown Sheet

If you fail to keep a track of it, your spending could spiral out of control. Or you could overspend on one element at the expense of something else.

A realistic budget provides you the balance of quality in the exchange for goods or services. In other words, your budget will reflect in the quality of the vendors you choose as well as your guest’s experience.

And most of all, by staying within your budget, you protect yourself from going into unnecessary debt. I don’t think you want to be still paying off your wedding until your fifth anniversary.

Determine your Wedding Budget Costs – do it now!

While it’s not the most fun, or the easiest of conversations to have sometimes, sitting down and figuring out your bottom line is important, whether it’s $1,000 or $100,000.

• Where is the money coming from?
• Are there restrictions on how it’s allocated?
• And the most important question:  what do you place the most importance on when it comes to your wedding day (food? venue? alcohol? dress?)?

Working out these answers, will have you one step closer to the wedding of your dreams without the debt.  

When you know how much you want to spend on every different aspect of the wedding day, you’ll find searching for venues and vendors to be a lot more streamlined. You set yourself up with options you can be excited about.

Budgeting for couples’ weddings, is something I love to help with. Getting your Dream Wedding for the price you can afford is what a Virtual Wedding Planner specializes in. I’d love to work with you so check out how I can make your wedding budgeting process more fun!

Happy Planning~~~

Nancy Curtis

Plan it Perfectly Weddings - a Virtual Wedding Planner