How To Plan Your Wedding Budget.
The beginning of your wedding planning journey is such an incredibly exciting time, and it’s often so easy to overlook budgeting and to perhaps get a bit carried away building your dream wedding without doing some serious thinking over the numbers.
At the end of the day, it really determines everything! In fact chitchat and formalities aside, it’s the first question we will ask any bride who enquires about working with us.
So the first and most important thing you absolutely must do is establish your budget. If you’re not completely funding the wedding yourself as a couple, you need to start having those often rather awkward but 100% necessary conversations with your parents and other family members. This is an important and completely natural part of the wedding planning process, so don’t beat yourself up about it!
Once you’ve established your wedding budget, it’s often a little daunting to work out; one – the different elements that you need to include in your budget, and two – the proportion of your budget that you should dedicate to which areas.
Below is a list of what we think are the most essential elements that need to be considered, and our rough guidelines on what percentage of your budget you should use where.
The Ceremony (2%)
Location Cost
Styling Props (excluding flowers)
Officiant
Confetti
Organist, Choir, Bell Ringers (if in a church)
x
The Reception (48%)
Venue Cost
Marquee Hire (if applicable)
Catering
Styling Props (excluding flowers)
Wedding Cake
Alcohol
Special Events Permit (if applicable)
x
The Transportation (2%)
Wedding Car
Transportation for Wedding Party
Parking
x
The Gifts & Favours (3 %)
Gifts for Maid of Honour & Bridesmaids
Gifts for Best Man & Groomsmen
Gifts for Flower Girls
Guest Favours
Guestbook & Pens
The Photography & Videography (8%)
Photographer Fee
Photo Albums
Videographer Fee
x
The Apparel & Accessories (10%)
Bride’s Dress (including alterations)
Bride’s Veil & Headpiece
Bride’s Lingerie & Garter
Bride’s Jewellery & Accessories
Bride’s Hair, Makeup & Beauty Treatments (including trial & on the day)
Bridesmaid’s Hair & Make Up (on the day only)
Bridesmaid’s Dresses (including alterations)
Bridesmaid’s Shoes
Bridesmaid’s Jewellery & Accessories
Groom’s Apparel (including shoes)
Groomsmen’s Apparel
x
The Miscellaneous (3%)
Reserve Funds
Wedding Insurance
The Music & Entertainment (8%)
Ceremony (e.g. singer, string quarter, harpist)
DJ
Band
x
The Flowers (10 %)
Ceremony Venue Flowers
Reception Venue Flowers
Bride’s Bouquet
Bridesmaid’s Bouquets
Flower Girl’s Flowers
Boutonnieres
x
The Wedding Rings (3%)
Bride’s Wedding Ring
Groom’s Wedding Ring
Ring Pillow or Box
x
The Stationery (3%)
Save-The-Date Cards
Invitations
Enclosures
Programs
Place Cards
Menus
Thank You Cards
Postage
There are lots of resources and wedding budget planning tools available to download online, but we find that if you’re computer savvy and any good with formulas, the easiest way to build a system that is completely bespoke to you and your wedding planning is to create a simple excel worksheet. But of course it’s totally up to you to decide which works best for you!
Schedule yourself quarterly or half yearly budget reviews to make sure that you’re on track!
Note down and diarise payment schedules and important dates!
Keep track of deposits paid and amounts due to help you work out how much you’ve spent so far and how much more you need to spend
If you’re planning to hire a wedding planner you should always remember to factor this into your budget too!
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2022 Lily & Sage.