Finances can easily turn a beautiful and exciting experience like planning for a wedding into a stressful challenge. While people are probably telling you how important it is to properly budget for such an event, this alone isn’t enough to help you make sense of the madness. In order to see success and feel less stress over the entire scenario, you need to prioritize your budget in a way that puts the most important and expensive items first on your list. Having a general idea of what these items are can make a world of difference to staying within the budget.
While exact numbers will differ for each couple, the expenses tend to follow a similar path overall. Consider these areas and learn more about how to make the most of your funds.
The Biggest Expenses
The most expensive and most vital costs related to your wedding are somewhat obvious. Above all else, you want to make sure your venue and catering situations are handled and properly accounted for in the budget. In fact, statistics show that these two areas are usually about 40% of the overall budget. This means you absolutely want to make sure you have more than enough money set aside to cover all of the expenses related to securing the venue and the caterers.
Don’t forget to include “hidden” fees while budgeting. Though it is never listed anywhere in your contracts, tipping the staff of the venue and catering company will be expected of you. Remember to put cash aside for this purpose so you won’t be caught by surprise on the night of your wedding.
The Next Round of Costs
While the venue and caterer might be the most expensive commitments, this doesn’t mean they are the only items of significance. The rest of your budget is going to be broken between a dozen or so other services. While all are important in some capacity, they aren’t typically as costly or involved. Some can be categorized into “the rule of 10.” Essentially, this means you can allocate 10% of the budget to each of these areas.
Services that fall under this “rule of 10” include photography and video services, entertainment, flowers, and fashion. Naturally, you won’t be spending an even amount on each of these areas. This is where you can start to play around with your funds. If you have more of a need for entertainment than flowers, break your personal budget down in a way that reflects what you need. Putting 12% toward the DJ and 8% toward the florist is absolutely fine if that’s what you require.
The Little Touches
Finally, the rest of your budget can be divided between the odds and ends not yet mentioned. Experts advise you shouldn’t dedicate more than 2 or 3% of your budget to services like buying stationery for invitations, purchasing gifts for the wedding party, or arranging transportation to and from the reception space. While all of these services are useful, none require a huge financial commitment.
More importantly, these are the services that you can place on the chopping block when working through your final budget. If you need more funds for the caterer and realize you can send out digital invitations instead of paper, save money on stationery by switching to digital mediums and revitalizing your budget in a practical way.
Find What Works for You
Though these guidelines are meant to help you prioritize your wedding budget in a way that reduces your stress, you should always follow a process that makes sense for the circumstances of your unique situation. Use the points for a general idea of how to form your budget, then work through the details in a way that helps your event go off in the manner you envision.
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