Let's talk budgets!
So, planning a wedding can be an
overwhelming task to say the least. That may just be the
understatement of the century! You know you have things that you really
want, but how do you pay for it all? Whether you and your future spouse
are paying for the wedding or you have help from parents or other
sources, I’m going to help you figure out how to get what you really want
with my series of blogs about where to save money. Today, we are going to talk about
budget. This is not the most fun topic
for anyone, but it has to be said first.
Ok, so I know that this is the part
of the job that many of you just refuse to sit down and do. My seven years
of planning weddings have taught me that not only is it essential to have a
budget in place, but that brides simply do not want to do this step!
However, if you want to get everything you really want into what money you
really have, do not, under any circumstance, spend your money willy nilly
without doing a budget. Not only will you end up way over the budget you
sort of had in your mind, but you will end up spending money on things you wish
you hadn't as an impulse buy. A budget helps you stay on track and buy only the
things you really need or really wanted because you know that is all you can
afford. Without a budget, you will spend your money in the beginning of
the wedding planning process and find yourself in the end with none left for
the things you didn’t think of at the time.
The average wedding today is about
$28,427 dollars according to the theknot.com. If this is not what you
were planning to spend, don’t panic!
Creating this budget will help you stay on track to get exactly what is
most important to you.
Start by gathering up the sources of
money that you do have. Whoever may be pitching in, find out exactly what they
have in mind. See if others might be
willing to pitch in such as the groom’s family.
This is a new world we live in.
It is becoming more common to see various sources paying for for a
wedding. For instance, if you pitch in
$5000 and your parents and his parents do the same, that gives you $15,000 to
work with right there. If you’re not
sure how to answer the age old question, “how much is this going to cost me”,
do some research online with your budget in hand so you know what to
ask for.
There are lots of places online that
will help you budget your wedding. One
of my favorites is the budget planner at weddingwire.com
(under “My wedding”, then “budget). Wedding Wire is a great place to perform a
lot of your basic wedding tasks and have them recorded all in one place. It’s also a great place to shop different
vendors for the best price.
If you want to create your own
budget, use a spreadsheet to keep up.
Put that final number that everyone is pitching in at the top of a
spreadsheet (I like to put it in as a negative number, then as you add amounts
you've spent or plan to spend, you can use the sum function to see how close to
zero you are getting. When you hit more than zero, your budget is blown).
List the services and items you just have to have first, then the services you
need to have, but that are not as high priority to you as the others. Make a column
for what you expect you will spend and then a column for what you actually
spent. This way, you can see how different
your original ideas for wedding costs may have been compared to what they
actual cost was. This may also give you
room to spend more money on something else like killer event lighting or décor (hint, hint) if you saved
money in another area.
Here is a sample of the budget spreadsheet I've created for my clients. Yours does not need to be as in depth, but I'll tell you, having all of this information in one place is so helpful toward the end of your wedding planning journey.
Ok, so enough about depressing stuff
like creating budgets. Check out this
page to see what certain budgets bought for brides in every price range.
http://thebudgetsavvybride.com/categorybudget-savvy-wedding-of-the-week/wedding-budgets/
More about saving money on your wedding coming soon!
More about saving money on your wedding coming soon!
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