10 Tips on how to create a Wedding Budget
You have set your wedding budget, prioritizing the most important things to you and you’re ready to really plan. In this post, I’m going to talk about how to stick to your wedding budget and how to figure it out. First, I just want to say that as soon as you say “wedding” there are a lot of people who will increase the cost simply because they realize people will spend for weddings. Remember that 😉
Let’s chat about a few ways to save money…
- Cutdown your guest list
- Pick an off-peak wedding date
- Do your own flowers (promise it’s not that hard)
- Choose in-season flowers
- Speaking of flowers… get them from a store like Sam’s Club or Costco or even a farmer’s market
- Speaking of doing your own flowers, find other things you can DIY
- Pick a venue that allows BYOB
- In terms of alcohol, and cocktail hour, have two signature drinks (his and hers) and everything else is cash only
- Choose a simple cake design OR have a dessert table instead
- Pick a venue that has a beautiful area around it so you won’t need to spend a lot on decor
- Consider shopping resale wedding sites (like all the ones on Facebook)
- Instead of a major catering company, opt for a local restaurant
- Borrow things if you know someone who has gotten married with a similar style
- Buy your dress off the rack or at a sale event
- Skip the favors
- Skip renting things like a limo or party bus
- Choose a venue that isn’t “known” as a wedding venue (or at a place like a cabin)
- Have a destination wedding in the same place you want to honeymoon
- Use the bouquets as decor in the reception
- Create a timeline where you absolutely would not want to miss pictures or video
- Start your own traditions and feel free to skip the old ones
- Consider a “staged” wedding exit (I’ll explain this more here)
- Consider an elopement
- Hire talented friends
Now let’s chat about how to set a budget for your wedding:
- Figure out how much money you currently have and how much you will continue to make up until the wedding
- Include the honeymoon in there if you’re going right away
- Ask your parents if they’re contributing at all
- Track your spending – from the past and as you plan
- Make sure you consider additional fees
- Don’t forget about the tips
- Compare prices of vendors you like
- Don’t forget the paper products
- Account for any last-minute items that might pop up!
I hope that all of these tips help you with your wedding budget!
