The Most Important Recommendation Anyone Can Make Regarding Your Wedding Budget

Budgets are a practical centerpiece to planning a wedding, and it can create a lot of back and forth for a couple. It is important to remember that it is your day! Everyone that you invite – whether it be family, friends, or co-workers – will be your guests. The wedding is about you, so remember to make your budget about the two of you. In general, here are some useful things to remember about your wedding budget:

• Rank things on your budget by importance – sometimes, what is important to the bride is not as important to the groom, so work together and make sure your money is spent where and on what is important to you BOTH.
• Work together to decide on amount per item that will go into your wedding budget – request several options and get quotes so it is a reasonable line item on your budget.
• Try to negotiate with all your vendors. Sometimes there are ways to adjust costs – whether you find coupons, or use referrals to lower the costs, make sure you are getting exactly what you want from each vendor. Sometimes there are items from a vendor that you do not need or want. Make sure those items are eliminated and the cost adjusted.
• Things will definitely change, so allow for increases (or, occasionally, decreases) – as guests RSVP the numbers and costs can vary so allow extra room with vendors where this will apply.
• It is okay to remove things from your budget. If things get crazy, maybe you do not need the extra floral arrangements outside lining the driveway or the 18 carat gold picture frames with table numbers on each table, or the elaborate favors (that most guests leave behind anyway). Allow for things to be on a side budget if things go well or eliminated if necessary.

Wedding Budget Tips

There are many budget tips on The Knot or most any bridal book at the bookstore. Just open a new spreadsheet and start planning it together. You’ll be happy when you’re able to stick to your budget and get all the things that you actually want for your big day.

Enjoy!