Wedding Budgeting Tips

Congratulations! Now that you are on your way to fulfilling your dreams of the perfect wedding day it is time to start preparing for the budgeting aspects of such a joyous occasion. Budgeting for your wedding day is one of the most important things to do before you start searching for wedding services. Preparing for a wedding is a very big job. You will be hiring many wedding services for your big day and as you search for them you will find that money will start to have a mind of it's own. Items that you may not have thought about will suddenly become important, throwing your concept of costs for your wedding day into a flurry. Budgeting for your wedding is indeed the first step in preparing for your wedding day. The problem is that you need to know about the items that might pop up as you search for services and prepare for them. Including such items into your budget will help smooth the process for you.

Set a Budget Limit

Before you search for any services first decide how much you are prepared to spend on your wedding day. Set a top budget amount that you will not go over. It is easy to just start searching for services and obtain totals as you go, but it can get out of hand that way. By setting a top budget dollar amount you will in fact save yourself money without any loss of services. It may motivate you to find similar services for less money. Ask yourself this questions about every service : "Do I Really Need All The Frills? Or Can I Limit Some Of Them?". Divide and Conquer Once you have set your budget limit you need to start dividing the money into separate service categories. That may sound simple but it is in fact the most difficult task in your budgeting process. How much should be spent on flowers? Music? Hall and Catering? etc. etc. The best advice that I can give you is to think to yourself " What Will Make Our Wedding Memorable To Us And Our Guests?"  What do I mean by that? Well to make the point clear just think about the most memorable wedding that you have attended. Now... what do you remember? The way the guest seating cards on the table looked, or do you remember how good the music was to dance to? Do you remember how good the food was? Or do you remember how bad the food and music were? Thinking about your special day like this while budgeting will help keep your search for wedding services focussed on what you want your wedding day to be.

Focus on your main priorities and use more money on them. Services such as the wedding dress, hall, food, and music should be first to receive a division of money. Spend more in these areas as that is what people will appreciate most about your wedding. Then continue on the list and decide what an appropriate amount of money should be for all the other services. Do not misunderstand me , it is important to get quality services , and you do get what you pay for. The point is to keep the "main" priorities in focus and not get lost in all the small details when budgeting. After you have set a budgeting plan then it is time to start adding the important detailed items for your wedding day. This will help set the tone for your wedding day. Once you have your budget ready and you are about to start searching for services you should keep a few things in mind. Understand and agree that if you find a service that you prefer to use that costs more than what is on your budget plan it will mean spending less in another area on your budget plan. When ever you do so, make sure to deduct the extra costs of money initially planned for from another category. Here again it is important to stay focussed on what items are most important to you for your wedding day.

Who Pays For What?

This is an area of the budgeting process that can cause much unwanted stress among couples and families. Regardless of who is paying for what you should understand going in to a wedding that only you, the bride and groom to be, can control how family members will react as budgeting ideas begin to unfold. If ,as a couple, you are paying for your own wedding you should sit down and talk to one another about what amount of money will be spent. Assuming that you understand how your fiancee feels about this could be a mistake. Make sure that you set some time aside to discuss this before you plan any budget.  That way you will be in agreement as you begin planning for your wedding day and will lighten any further stress between you. If on the other hand one, or more, family members are helping to pay for the wedding you will have to be considerate to their needs as well. Talking to all parties involved about your wedding day before budgeting is equally important.

The best advice that I can give is this: "Be Careful And Go Slow". Remember to put your shoes in their place when a conflict arises and try your best to keep the situation under control. Delegate the most important items to those you can trust the most while making sure that all parties that are helping in the financing of your wedding are included in the planning. We hope that this helps you begin your search for the perfect wedding day and wish you all the best in your forth coming marriage!

Don and Joanne Gerrity - WeddingCanada.com founders