Before you start planning your dream wedding, it’s important to figure out your budget.
As you and your future spouse start thinking about your wedding plans, you’ll want to sit down and make a budget. By figuring out ahead of time what’s important to both of you, and how much you’re both willing to spend, you can avoid potential disagreements as you start booking vendors.
Making a wedding budget may seem daunting, but here are a few things to consider that will help get you started.
Check Your Funds
Take a look at both you and your partner’s funds. Whether you have joint accounts already or separate accounts, take inventory and figure out a number that you’re comfortable spending. Even if either of your parents are helping to pay for the wedding, it’s important to determine a number that you could spend if needed.
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Figure Out Who Will Be Contributing
Any conversation about money can be difficult. However, it’s important to have a clear understanding of who might be contributing to help pay for your wedding, and just how much. This will make it easier to make a wedding budget.
Share What’s Important
Once you have a wedding budget in place, have a conversation about what’s important to each of you. Perhaps you want to spend more on a photographer, while your partner wants to splurge on a DJ. Figure out what is important, and how much you’re comfortable spending from your budget accordingly. You can even take it a step further and break down how much you’d like to spend on each vendor.
MORE: How to stick to your wedding budget
Put Together Your Guest List
The venue will most likely be the biggest expense, so it’s important to keep that in mind when making a wedding budget. A good way to gauge a potential number is to put together your guest list. Once you have that guest count, you can go into venue tours with an idea of what fits into your budget.
Download Ring Leader
Once you have your budget, you’ll need a way to keep yourself on track. A great way to do that is to download Ring Leader. Within Ring Leader, you can manage all of your appointments and payments, get reminders when payments are due, and easily see how much you are spending. Some other cool features include communicating not just with vendors, but with guests too!
MORE: How Ring Leader Completely Transforms Your Wedding Planning
Research, Research, Research
Do your research. When you have your budget, narrow your search to vendors that stay within your financial limits. Rely on the Brides of Long Island and Ring Leader to get honest feedback about vendors that fit your budget. Also research different ways to save – perhaps your dream venue is slightly cheaper during the off season. Research discounts too – if you or your partner are military or law enforcement, some vendors offer a discount. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
What Happens If You Go Over
It might happen, and that’s OK. As you make a wedding budget, discuss with your partner what would happen if you spend over that amount. If you can, set aside some funds just for situations like this. It might even be worthwhile to have a budget range when it comes to vendors that are most important to you – for example, you may prefer to spend $5,000 on a photographer but would be willing to spend $8,000. If the final number falls within that range, you’re still coming out ahead (or maybe that’s bride math).
However you want to make your wedding budget, don’t put it off. Have these money conversations before you start making appointments (and possibly fall in love with a vendor or venue that’s outside your budget). The earlier you solidify numbers, the easier it will be to decide which vendors will make your dream wedding a reality!
