You might dream of a fairytale wedding, but what is the most important component of your wedding is your budget. This is the point where your dreams will clash with reality, but it will also teach you to be practical. There is no set budget for weddings; it depends on you, your tastes and your family. Things become complicated when they include the tastes and priorities of the other family, viz. your groom’s. Check out this post on the 7 totally normal thoughts you’ll have while planning your wedding. In short, the thought of planning your wedding while sticking to the budget is quite daunting. Here are some tips.
Cost of Wedding
The first thing that may come to your mind is how much an average wedding costs. In the US, a typical figure is about $27,000. Of course, this can’t be called a standard figure, because it is an average of all the regions of a vast country. And even there is no need to get scared by this figure, because as per the Wedding Report, 40% of the weddings in the US cost $10,000 or less, while 65% are below $20,000. Even in an expensive place like California, the cost of an average wedding doesn’t reach even $20,000.
Getting an idea of what others spend on their weddings is good, but finally you should apply your own income and savings criteria while setting the budget. Remember that you will have to deal with hundreds of details while planning your wedding; so, setting a budget is your first and foremost task.
Three Biggest Things
Though imagining a big picture is good to get a better idea, there are three big things you should consider first, because they will affect your budget the most.
- The first among these is the number of guests. Most of what you order for your wedding, e.g. food, drinks, invitations, entertainment, favors, etc is for your guests. If you want to be on a budget, you will strictly keep away from the temptation of inviting each and every person you know. Better is to keep the guest list limited to very close friends and family members.
- The second factor affecting your budget is timing. If you are getting married exactly in the wedding season, you will have to buy everything at incremental rate. This is the period between late spring and early fall, i.e. between May and October.
- The third component is bar. Liquor is one of the biggest expenses in weddings, particularly if you will have an open bar. You can save a remarkable amount if you limit the number of alternatives at the bar.
A useful thing to do is tracking your expenses and writing it down while you progress in the process of planning. This data will be useful to you to stay within the budget and bring to your notice whether any particular area is asking for more money than needed or saving your money.