Too Many Wedding To-Do's: B is for Budget

In this mini-series called “Too Many Wedding To-Do’s”, I will outline a bit about each step in the Wedding To-Do List.

Step #3: Create a wedding and engagement budget.

Whether you have a large or small wedding budget, the options are endless.  Your wedding is really what you make it and also how creative you are with the way you use the money that you have.  Sometimes it’s the source of your cash that can really be the pain in your side (ie. parents and family members), and not the size of the funds themselves.

If you’re blessed with a larger pot to draw from, you may have a bit more wiggle room when it comes to purchases for your wedding.  Nevertheless, budgeting is essential not only to guide your purchase decisions, but to help allocate funds in the correct proportion.  There is typically a rule of thumb that your reception will take up about 50% of your budget, but there are a lot of different things vying for that chunk of money.  Your venue, food & alcohol, DJ, decorations, and flowers all get pulled from this park of the budget and it really comes down to your priorities.  If you’re aching to have that venue with a killer view, you may dedicate more of that 50% to the site rental fees than to having food catered by a gourmet chef.

Another 10% of the budget is dedicated to attire and your bridal beauty in general.  This usually seems rather low (to me), as many brides have eyes bigger than their wallets when it comes to wedding dress shopping.  And after all, aren’t you supposed to be the star of the party anyways?!

The other 40% gets divided between photography, music & entertainment, ceremony, stationary (invitations!), and transportation, as well as any other miscellaneous expenses you are guaranteed to incur.

The second part of this to-do speaks to your engagement budget. Unlike the above breakdown, there’s no mathematical answer to this one.  If you plan to host an engagement party or post an announcement in the papers, these are all expenses you should consider.  When it comes down to it, your Big Day only happens once (hopefully!).  Having said that, you must balance your desire to party with your desire for minimal post-wedding debt and a honeymoon.

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