Engagements can be fun and maybe a little bit stressful since you will need to start making decisions for your wedding. As soon as you start your wedding planning process, you should immediately start creating your wedding budget. Your wedding budget gives you a range of what to spend in each wedding category. Many couples don't know how to start because this may be their first time getting married or simply don't know how to allocate funds for each vendors.
Start Creating your Budget
If you don't know where to start or how much to allocate, you should research how much a venue or vendor would cost in your area. Also factor in which months are considered peak months. The wedding seasons are typically from April through October. November through March are more relaxed for vendors since there are not a lot of weddings going on during that season. Venues may also be cheaper from November through March. When researching, you want to ask your vendors if they have seasonal discounts. Venues are most likely going to offer this perk.
You should also work with a wedding planner to assist you with setting up your budget. Since your planner is experienced in the industry, they are able to scale what your overall budget would look like and assess each vendor individually. Wedding planers also have vendor relationship with venues and other vendors. You can get additional discounts through your planner.
I cannot tell you how much this has helped my clients. I have been able to cut down a vendor proposal price about 30% because of the professional vendor relationship we have built overtime.
Allocating your budget percentage.
A general starting point of how you set up your budget is the breakdown below. Keep in mind that your budget will be heavily influenced by your guest count, design, design, and style of your wedding.
Venue, Rentals, Catering: 45 percent of your budget
Photography and Videography: 18 percent of your budget
Décor: 15 percent of your budget
Wedding Attire: 8 percent of budget
Hair and Makeup: 3 percent of your budget
Music/Entertainment: 2 percent of your budget
Favors and Gifts: 2 percent of your budget
Transportation: 1 percent of your budget
Stationery: 3 percent of your budget
Cake: 3 percent of your budget
I hope this helped! Once again, happy wedding planning. To get more tip on wedding planning, please join our mailing list. See you on our next post!