Working Out Your Wedding Budget

As most people have budgetary constraints, the challenge is planning a beautiful wedding and getting the most for your money…

The best way to start managing your wedding budget and controlling your expenses is to prioritise your needs and preferences.  Work out together what is most important to you and your family (particularly if they are helping with some of the expenses) and allocate more funds to those ‘special’ items.

If making a spectacular entrance is important to you then you may like to allocate more of your wedding budget to your wedding attire and the Bentley.  Or, if capturing exquisite wedding memories is important to you, then allow more money for a great wedding photographer and videographer.  The savvy bride can always save money in other areas…

When preparing your wedding budget, it is always a good idea to add an extra 10% for miscellaneous items – it’s very likely you will need it for those unexpected expenses that always pop up.  

The following list provides a general breakdown of the major wedding budget items:


   Wedding Expense
  %
   Reception (venue & catering)
 40    
   Attire & Accessories
  10    
   Photography / Video
  10    
   Flowers  10    
   Ceremony  5    
   Rings  5    
   Entertainment  4    
   Cake  2    
   Invitations  2    
   Transportation  2    
   Miscellaneous  10    
 Total %
 100    


To split up your total wedding budget amongst the major items, use the percentages above or assign your own percentages based on your priorities and preferences (just make sure they total 100 %).  Then, translate those percentages into dollars as follows:

For example, a wedding budget of $20,000 and the percentages above translates into:

  Wedding Expense  Calculation Amount $
  Reception  (venue & catering)  $20000 x .40  =  8,000      
  Attire & accessories  $20000 x .10  =
  2,000      
  Photography / Video  $20000 x .10  =
  2,000      
  Flowers  $20000 x .10  =
  2,000      
  Ceremony  $20000 x .05  =
  1,000      
   Rings  $20000 x .05  =
  1,000      
  Entertainment  $20000 x .04  =
  800      
  Cake  $20000 x .02  =  400      
  Invitations  $20000 x .02  =  400      
  Transportation  $20000 x .02  =  400      
  Miscellaneous  $20000 x .10  =
  2,000      
  Budget Total $ 
 20,000      


Enter these amounts into the Wedding Budget Tool and keep track of your expenses.


If you find your florist can do your wedding flowers for $1500.00, then you can easily see that you have an extra $500 to spend on other items such as the wedding cake or entertainment.

Tip


Consider purchasing wedding insurance to cover your wedding items prior to and on your wedding day.

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