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Okay, this isn’t the most exciting part of the planning process…in fact, it’s kind of the worst part…but it’s the most important part! And seriously, once you have it figured out, I promise everything goes so much more smoothly!

I’m not going to break it down into what percentage each item should take up in your budget…because that’s going to be different for everyone depending on your priorities! My goal is just to help you determine a realistic number that won’t break the bank! I remember when Calvin and I first started talking about planning the wedding, I was totally completely oblivious to what things cost!

So how do you put together a budget? Here’s my advice based on my experience:

1. THE GUEST LIST: I could probably make this a post in itself. But this should absolutely be the first thing you and your fiance do. Determine a rough (not too rough) estimate of how many people you plan to have at the wedding. This is going to affect the pricing for almost everything else, so this is really important! I would suggest making an A and B list…A’s are your MUST haves, B’s are everyone else that you’d love to invite! 🙂

2. Now that you’ve determined an estimated guest list, write down an extensive list of all the wedding expenses you may incur. (I found a great, detailed list here.) Like I went over in Part II, consider the words you’ve decided you want to describe your wedding, and start prioritizing each wedding expense from most important to least important. I did some rough research to determine the costs of some of the non-venue related expenses like paper goods, postage, flowers, etc.

3. These items could probably go in different orders, but I found that I had a hard time coming up with an accurate budget without knowing the details of the venues and their fees. After doing some rough research, I could have come up with a budget ranging in a few thousand…but definitely not accurate. Depending on how tight your budget is, just picking a venue that you like and working from there might be best for you. But for us, we were on a tight budget and wanted to make sure we were getting the best value for our money! I found that venues that appeared to cost the same at face value, turned out to be thousands apart once you compared all the details of taxes, gratuity, required vendors, rentals, cake cutting fees, etc. The venue we ended up going with required that we pay hourly and provide our own linens, BUT they had no additional fees, didn’t require that we use a certain caterer, and we were able to bring in our own alcohol. Bringing in our own caterer and alcohol was a HUGE cost savings! Literally, thousands. So I would suggest start looking at venues and be sure to get the following information regarding cost:
-Are we required to use specific vendors?
-Are tables, chairs, and linens available or do we need to rent them?
-Are there additional fees such as gratuity and service charges?
-Are we allowed to provide our own alcohol?
-Is there an additional fee for the rehearsal (if having your ceremony there)?
-How early can we get in for setup and is there an extra charge?

4. Once I collected all of this information, I placed each venue in a different spreadsheet with all of the associated costs that I had determined so far. This way, I was able to easily how the venues stood up to one another. Once I had it all written out, a venue that appeared to be a great value was actually going to be at least $4,000 more than what we ended up going with!

5. This should be a great start to seeing your budget come together. But if you’re like most, you’re having a little sticker shock and trying to find ways to cut costs. You may have picked the best of the best from each vendor to start your budget, but this is where your priorities really come into play. Start from the bottom and start cutting! For us, the venue was the first thing to take a cut. While I fell in love with one place, ultimately they were very similar venues that would have no impact on the success of our wedding…so we went with the more inexpensive route. The second thing to go….seated meals and place settings. We had a buffet with acrylic serving ware. To recap, our words were fun, romantic, and relaxed. Having fancy silverware wouldn’t have contributed to any of those feelings. I also cut the uplights (yes, they’re SO gorgeous and will make your photos so pretty….but again, it didn’t contribute to what we wanted our wedding to feel like! We had a ton of candles that played into the romantic feeling I was going for, which was much cheaper than uplights.) The acoustic musician, photobooth, and photographer/videographers were non-negotiable though! By cutting other things, though, we made it work within our budget!

6. Finally, if you’re still having a hard time getting down to a number you’re comfortable with…get creative. There are so many ways to cut costs! One of the easiest….okay, probably the hardest ways is to cut back on the guest list. Remember the two lists, A and B? If you can bare to keep it small, that can make a huge difference in your budget! That means a smaller venue, less food, less table settings, less everything! The cost savings can really add up! If you’re not ready to cut the list, though, there are other ways! Consider having a dessert reception instead of a full meal. Feeding meals to wedding guests is a fairly new trend…don’t feel like you have to do it! It’s a celebration, what better way to celebrate than with sweets?! This could save a massive amount on food and possibly table settings if you choose to do a more cocktail setup. Plus it will make for such a relaxed, fun atmosphere! Some people will also suggest checking out Friday and Sunday weddings to get a cost savings…none of the places I looked at offered a significant price break…but it’s worth a shot! If you’re up for a weekday wedding, though, you could save a ton! Most wedding vendors will pretty significantly reduce their rates because those are the days they’re generally wide open.

I know I haven’t covered everything, but if you have any questions, let me know and I’ll answer them in a future post! 🙂 Most importantly, though, don’t let the wedding budget get you down! No matter what happens (as everyone will tell you, and they’re right) at the end of the day, you’ll be married and you’ll be ecstatic to finally make it official with your husband!

Seeeeee, we were so happy that the last thing on my mind was the fact that the wedding shop gave Calvin the wrong color tie!

Next week will be allll about selecting your venue! 🙂 Let me know if you have any questions, or if you’re a past bride…share your advice!