Congratulations! You’re now engaged and ready to embark on the next chapter as a couple. You’re ready to go to wedding shows, book a venue and get a dress. The excitement is overwhelming as you celebrate your engagement and all the questions start arising.

As much as you want to get right into wedding planning the first step after the engagement is talking about the one part that everyone wants to avoid, the budget. Wedding planning revolves around the budget. How much will be spent on the flowers? Or what will we spend on Transportation? In our book we leave a place just so you and the groom can lay out the budget in full detail. It even includes what items the family of the Bride and Groom traditionally pay for.

Traditionally, the Bride’s Parents would pay for the reception costs and a majority of other weddings fees. The Groom’s family would pay for the Rehearsal dinner and the Honeymoon. Today, many couples will pay for their own wedding in full or will cover a majority of the costs. According to CreditDonkey.com, approximately 10% of engaged couples will pay for their wedding all on their own. So how do you get your wedding planning started? Let’s Talk Budget.

Talk To Your Significant Other

As a newly engaged couple, you’ll have to talk about not only the wedding details, but what you’ll be contributing together. Decide if you’ll want to take on a majority of the costs or if have other means of financing the special day. This is the best time to also discuss wedding expectations. Where will it be and whether you’ll want a small wedding or a bigger wedding in terms of guest count. Don’t forget that prime wedding season dates may bring the cost of your wedding up. Pick three different dates that you have in mind when you visit a venue so that you have enough options for both the cost and availability.

Also think about your income and additional expenses that you pay for on a monthly basis. This will help you lay out the amount of money you can spend or how much time you have to set money aside for your wedding day. If you’re purchasing a house or a new car, this may affect the wedding budget. Take all these things into consideration.

Family First

Before you can begin anything, it’s also good to find out which family members will be contributing and what they’re comfortable contributing. Some family members might only be able to chip in for smaller parts of your wedding, where others might want to contribute for the Venue or Wedding Dress. It’s very important to sit down and have this talk first thing so you know what to financially expect. Do not assume a family member will be able to chip in before sitting down and discussing it.

After The Budget

Once you’ve talked about what is to expect from family members and from yourselves, it’s time to lay out the budget in its entirety. Break down your total budget into sections such as flowers, caterer, wedding planner, favors and officiant, etc. Estimate how much you’re going to spend in each category before searching for vendors. This will help you decide if a vendor you’re looking at is in your budget when you start shopping for your day. You may go over your estimated budget and total budget. This happens, but when laying out the budget makes sure to include extra expenses like tips and additional service fees.

The Extra’s

While breaking down your budget, don’t forget to set aside money in the Emergency fund. Sometimes you simply forget to allocate money for small details or other fees can arise in the craziness of planning. Having a backup fund allows for less stress on the couple if something does come up.

Don’t Overspend

It can be tempting to want to purchase everything and have the most glamorous wedding, but you’re capable of doing that in any budget. You may opt to put deposits and payments on a credit card as well. Remember to keep it to a manageable amount so when the wedding’s over you can start your lives together and not have to worry about still paying for the wedding.

Plan a wedding that you can afford. It’s not a competition of what others around you are doing. This will be your day, so do buy items you have your heart set on, but remember that elements like DIY signs or help from family members can bring the budget down and leave space for the things you really want.

Decide What’s Most Important

Weddings can be very costly. According to Bride’s 2018 American Wedding Study, the average cost of a wedding for 2018 was $44,000. The best thing is to spend your money and time wisely. Take the time to plan everything out and be diligent about your spending.

Decide which items will be staples of your wedding and which items you could live without. Start by making a list of the most important components of your wedding so that the focus could be mainly on those items. Put the most important at the top and the least important towards the bottom. If you have leftover funds to contribute you can always add on the items you put at the bottom of your list.

Most importantly, don’t rush. Take your time. Cross off all the important things off your checklist so that you stay on top of the planning. Our wedding organizers have the perfect tool not only to stay on top of the month to month checklist with wedding planning, but also a full budget section to allocate money for each item you’ll need. That includes the cake cutting set and even the postage for your reply cards. Deciding on the budget, who’s contributing and which items are most important is very helpful in getting ready to book vendors for your wedding.