Understanding Your Wedding Budget

Just like with all investments, buying a house, a car, or paying for college you have to plan well for it. Meaning; planning realistically and within your means financially. As with planning the wedding of your dreams you must and should use the same concepts. Set your expectations according to your budget. To get a general idea of all that is involved with planning a wedding, you should be aware of the (basic) categories and their allotted percentages:

Reception: 48%-50%
Ceremony: 2%-3%
Attire: 8%-10%
Flowers: 8%-10%
Entertainment/Music: 8%-10%
Photography/Videography: 10%-12%
Stationery: 2%-3%
Wedding Rings: 2%-3%
Parking/Transportation: 2%-3%
Gifts: 2%-3%
Miscellaneous: 8%

Note: If Photography is important to you and you chose to go over the average percentage of 12%, just know that to stay within your budget; you will have to make the adjustments in one or more of the other category areas.

I’ve found this great tool to assist you in calculating your budget for your wedding. It will save you time, and reduce your stress a great deal. Based on your budget amount, number of guests attending, it will provide you with a breakdown in each category. Click here to experience the Wedding Budget Calculator.

In addition, as with planning for this investment you want to give yourself a cushion of about 5% of your actual wedding budget. Let’s call this WAM money. Wedding Assistance Money. Moreover, if you are paying for your own honeymoon, it’s imperative that you include that in your budget as well. Anything and everything wedding related that you plan to purchase or have purchased don’t count it out; include everything, esp. that cute little notebook you bought to put all your ideas and plans in.

Happy Planning!