As you can likely guess, money and finances are inevitable topics of discussion when it comes to wedding planning. While we would love to only post beautiful photos from past weddings (and trust us, we’ll still do plenty of that!), it wouldn’t be a fully-comprehensive wedding blog without at least highlighting some advice on the subject of budgeting. With so many different vendors that you’ll need to book and various other expenses, it’s important to shed light on this and help ensure this doesn’t become a stressful component later on down the road. On this week’s blog, we’re going to start at the time shortly after getting engaged and discuss how you can get the process started for creating your wedding budget.
Before we dive into budgetary talk, we would like to give a quick hello to anyone that may be stopping by our blog for the first time. Madera Estates is a luxury event space and wedding venue in Conroe, TX. Since opening up our venue, our number one goal has always been to make sure our clients truly experience their dream wedding day, all the way down to the specific details. For those engaged and searching for a wedding venue near the Houston area, you’re more than welcome to schedule a free tour of our venue. Click HERE to take a look through our online booking calendar. Now…where should you begin when creating your wedding budget?
Photo on the thumbnail courtesy of Jason Smelser Photography.
Figure out who will be paying
First things first, before you can even start talking numbers, you’re going to need to figure out who will be paying for different parts of the celebration. While there are definitely traditional guidelines in which you can follow, it’s also safe to say there are plenty of instances where couples are coming up with their own unique set-up nowadays. In addition, sometimes the couples themselves are even covering the expenses, particularly for those that may be into their mid-30’s or later and more established in their careers. Nonetheless, the first step towards creating a wedding budget will involve deciding who’s paying and how much they’re open to spending. Not the easiest topic to discuss, but it certainly needs to be brought up early on.
List out all of the vendors and expenses (with some flexibility included)
After you have a rough budgetary number in mind for the celebration, you’re going to want to carefully list out all of the various vendors and expenses that will be included in the wedding. This includes those items before the wedding day (save the dates, invitations, etc) and those needed on the actual wedding day. This can obviously be a tedious process and you’ll want to do your best to avoid leaving anything off (we understand this might not always be 100%). Doing so will allow you to have an idea of how much you can spend per vendor and so on. Unsurprisingly, it’s also important to acknowledge that certain vendors are going to occupy a larger chunk of the budget. These higher-total items will include the wedding venue, caterer, photographer, videographer, DJ/entertainment company and florist (amongst a few others). Long story short though, you’ll want to simply list all of these out on paper. If you’re struggling to confirm whether or not you’re including everything, there are plenty of checklists out there to utilize. In addition, for those that may already have their venue picked out, you might have an on-site coordinator that can help provide some guidance too.
As a side note, make sure to always leave some buffer room too. You never know if expenses may go up over time or if you’ll have to make some future changes. It never hurts to be safe rather than sorry!
Consider all of the smaller items that tend to get missed
In the section above, we discussed listing out all of the vendors/expenses early on, but unfortunately that can be a little easier said than done. After all, you may think of things randomly once the wedding planning is really in full swing. In any case, it can be helpful to have a forewarning about certain items that can be easily missed. What are some good examples of these?
Tips for Vendors – It’s easy to forget about vendor gratuities when you’re busy touring beautiful venues, taste-testing delicious food options and so on. However, make sure you’re accounting for vendor tips when establishing your budget.
Wedding Favors – Speaking of displaying your appreciation, you’re also going to want to provide a thank you to your guests for attending the celebration. We just featured wedding favors a few weeks ago on a blog post, but this is certainly one that doesn’t need to be overly expensive. Nonetheless, it should still find a place on your budget. Keep in mind that the pricing of this will also be impacted by the number of guests. The more guests in attendance, the more wedding favors you’ll need. As simple as that!
Any Upgrades – Whether it be decor or any other premium packages offered by a vendor, you’ll want to have a chat with your spouse-to-be to determine how important these upgrades are to you. Is it something you absolutely have to have, or would you rather spend that money elsewhere and just go with basic packages for the most part?
Where are the best ways to save a few bucks?
When it comes to setting your wedding budget, it never hurts to have a few tips and tricks for saving some money here and there. Luckily, there are plenty of ways for doing just that. Here are a couple of easy ones.
Go With a Less Popular Day/Season – While weddings occur all year-round, there are definitely specific days of the week or seasons of the year that tend to be more popular than others. The summer and fall are always extremely popular, and when it comes to particular days, Saturday is easily the top one. As such, the more popular dates also get booked up quicker. No surprise there, right? Well…you may be able to save a little by booking on less-busy dates. Not to mention, there might even be less competition for your favorite vendors too!
Guest List – If you’re struggling to fit all of your preferred vendors and services into your budget, one of the quickest ways to clear up some space is by trimming your guest list down. It can be a challenge creating the guest list in the first place since you can’t technically invite everyone and pulling names off the list isn’t easy either. However, since we’re talking about ways to fit everything within your budget, you may have to trim the guest list a little.
Come Tour Madera Estates
We completely understand that wedding budgeting can seem a little stressful and even overwhelming at the very start. However, by crafting a plan early on and sticking to it, you’ll have no trouble staying consistent. You’ll have rough estimates for each vendor included and ultimately be able to use it as a blueprint. Hopefully this blog post helped provide some insight into tips for a seamless wedding budgeting experience. In closing, one final piece of advice is to make sure to track everything spent. It’s easy to get carried away and start purchasing cute decor items left and right, but you’ll want to try to follow your original plan to the best of your ability!
Currently engaged? As I mentioned above, our wedding venue is located in Conroe, TX, close by North Houston and The Woodlands. If you’re still looking for the perfect venue for your special day, we would be thrilled to show you around our event space and learn more about what you have envisioned for the big day. To view our tour booking calendar, click HERE.