Setting Your Wedding Budget - Here's What You Need to Know

Here it is. The dreaded B word….

Budget

Yup. But you have to set a budget in order to be responsible with your money and not go crazy in the planning process.

How do you go about knowing what to spend on your wedding? Especially when you’ve never done this before! Did you know that the average wedding budget in DFW is $70,000? To help you navigate this tricky subject, I have a step by step method to make setting a budget slightly less confusing!

Figure Out Who is Contributing

Traditionally, the bride’s parents fund the wedding, while the groom’s parents contribute to the rehearsal dinner. More and more modern couples, however, are either funding the wedding themselves or contributing in some way

Crunch Some Numbers

Based on income, bills and other monthly expenses, how much can you comfortably spend? How much can you or are you willing to pull from savings? How much can you comfortably save between now and your wedding?

Calculate Your Guest Count

Realistically, how many are you planning on inviting? Keep in mind, not everyone you invite will attend. Typically, 80% of guests invited will attend, but that number decreases with more out of town guests.

List out your priorities

What do you HAVE to have? A killer dress? Amazing florals? A band? Or are you okay buying your dress off the rack, do you want go more minimal with decor? Is a DJ fine? By picking what you have to have you know what to prioritize when getting quotes

Do the Math

Based on the number you crunched above, what can you realistically spend on your wedding while ensuring your vision isn’t compromised? Create a spreadsheet (my client’s have me to do this for them!) and allot a certain monetary amount to each piece of the budget.

Do Your Research

Make sure you’re not forgetting anything in your budget calculations by looking up how many vendors you would actually need for a wedding (my typical wedding has 15 different vendors all working together!)