Saying a wedding is expensive is like saying water is wet. Everyone is aware of this fact and acknowledging it doesn’t really change matters. Still, having a plan of action for how you will pay for your big day is crucial. Without a budget, you run the risk of blowing all of your funds before covering every necessary expense. One of the biggest mistakes couples make with wedding finances is not tracking their spending. Though a common error, this is also easy to fix. Follow this advice and learn how to best track your wedding funds.
Define Your System
One of the first steps couples take after getting engaged is setting a wedding budget. After creating a budget, however, you also must think about your system for tracking your spending. Knowing the limit of your budget doesn’t do you much good if you aren’t focusing on the frequency at which funds are leaving your account. The tracking system you use should be one that makes sense for how you handle financial matters. For example, some couples will simply keep a piece of paper and pencil handy to mark down all the purchases being made.
Naturally, the digital age has brought forth some handy resources. Do some research on the various applications and programs offered by wedding-planning blogs and sites. The more you explore, the easier it will be to find a tracking system that is intuitive and practical.
Understanding Service Fees
If your entire budgeting experience was as straightforward as deducting the costs of services from your available funds, planning a wedding would be a snap. Sadly, things aren’t usually this simple. Plenty of your vendors will charge you fees that you did not take into account when first arranging your budget. One of the biggest you’re likely to encounter is a service fee attached to your venue, which covers costs related to paying staff for being present at your event. Though you might not be able to do anything about these fees, you can have them clarified from the start.
Sit down with the venue manager and ask to go through every single cent that you will be expected to pay. Should a fee seem unreasonable or odd, you might be able to work out a deal. This will depend on the venue and its policies, so don’t expect miracles until you’ve started the conversation. In many cases, you might need to swallow the fees and move to other pressing responsibilities.
Preliminary Expenses
Throughout the process of planning your nuptials, you are going to be seeing and visiting a ton of different vendors. From florists to makeup artists to photographers, there are many services related to a perfect wedding experience. While plenty of the businesses you interact with will be happy to offer samples or service trials to you, not all of these will be free. Many couples make the mistake of thinking trials have no associated expenses and are surprised to learn otherwise. Before you agree to a trial, ask the business owner exactly how much it will cost you.
The Small Expenses
There are some items or services you will put money toward that may never come across your mind while budgeting. Are you mailing out all of your invitations yourself? If so, did you consider the expense of stamps? Have you budgeted enough to tip all of your vendors and servers at the end of the night? Little costs will add up, so be sure to always have extra cash available for small surprises.
Tracking how much you spend is vital for a successful wedding. Though there’s no science to the process, you can see the best results possible by putting some extra thought behind your budget at every turn.
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