Planning Your Wedding Budget
After your engagement it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of planning your wedding and who can blame you. It’s a pretty exciting time and can be so much fun as you start to find out the look and feel you want for the big day. It is however pretty important to think about the dreaded wedding budget. No matter what kind of wedding you are planning the budget can play a big part in your decisions going forward.
What wedding costs to think about
It’s important to remember that this list doesn’t include everything you might want for the wedding and it’s also not to say that you must have everything listed. It’s a good place to start though!
Before the wedding day
- Wedding invitations / Save the date cards
- Hen Do / Stag Party
- Wedding Insurance (See my blog post on why this is so important)
For the wedding Day
- Cost of the church or Registrar fees
- Reception Venue Cost
- Wedding Transport Cost (hired cars or even just taxis)
- Presents / Thank You Gifts for bridesmaids/groomsmen or parents
- Accommodation the night before and of the wedding day
- Day entertainment
- Wedding Cake
- Photographer
- Videographer
- Wedding Favours
- Bouquets
- Wedding Decor
- Reception Meal
- Evening reception food
- Wedding Rings
- The Dress
- Suit Hire
- Hair and Make-up
After the wedding
- Honeymoon
- Cost of changing your name with companies
- Photo Albums for Photographs
Ways to stretch your wedding budget
Budgeting for your dream wedding can be tough so check out a few tips below on how to stretch that wedding budget and plan the wedding you both really want!
- Choose a mid-week date or winter wedding
- Look to DIY some parts of the wedding
- Prosecco and not champagne (think beyond this on how you can swap some fancy but expensive parts of the wedding for something more affordable)
- Don’t go on your honeymoon straight away – Your honeymoon can be a big cost so why not leave it a little while and use the money for the actual wedding day.
- Don’t have an open bar – From my experience of weddings your guests are more than happy to pay for drinks so don’t feel you need to pay for an open bar as this can be a huge cost that could be spent elsewhere.