Planning your wedding budget
Advice on planning a budget
It may sound very practical at such an exciting time but the first thing any bride and groom must do in preparation for their wedding is work out their budget. Whether you are on a tight budget or planning a lavish expensive wedding you must agree a budget and stick to it.
Sit down with both sets of parents or anyone else who will be having a financial input into the celebrations and clearly establish how much each person is paying into the wedding fund and or who is paying for what. Work out approximate numbers of guests and and establish a realistic total budget. Once you have worked out how much you have to spend establish the order and importance of how it will be spent. Plan your wedding budget in the order of importance of the day. For example for some brides and grooms the most important part may be the food and wine and for others it may be the transport and entertainment. If you plan your budget this way and you do run short of money it will only be the least important thing that you will have to do without.
Keep a good record of your estimated costs and the actual amounts spent. You may find that you save money in certain areas and will have a carry over that can be used elsewhere. If you save money in several areas and everything is planned for you may even have some extra cash to spend on something that you hadn’t thought you could afford.
The finacial implications of a wedding can cause major stress for all concerned so careful and exact planning is essential to ensure everything goes to plan with the minimal amount of stress.
The golden rule of planning your budget is to set a realistic budget and stick to it – no matter what!