Ah, the wedding budget, it’s one of the most important things that couples tend to think about regarding the wedding, after all, the budget literally is the keystone to your wedding day.

With nearly 60% of couples going over the budget in the first place, it can be a challenge staying on task.

Today, we’ll talk more about the wedding budget, how best to create one, how to manage it, and how to prevent you from going over it in the first place.

6 in 10 couples will go over the wedding budget by $10,000 or more..png

What is a Wedding Budget

As I stated, the wedding budget is the keystone to your wedding day.

It’s going to tell you how much you can spend in total and per wedding category, like wedding venues, wedding photographers, DJs, florists, and the like.

You and your soon-to-be spouse need to have a real conversation at this point in your engagement:

How much are you willing to spend on your wedding day?

It’s Important to ask and figure out.

The average budget ranges wildly from various sources, WeddingWire and TheKnot for example both state that the national average is hovering between $28,000-$34,000, while other sources like Value Penguin and The Wedding Report state it’s closer to $24,000-$27,000.

The 4 classifications of wedding vendors are budget, mid-range, high-end, and luxury. Several vendors will overlap them. .png

Then you have the four different classifications of wedding vendors ranging from budget to luxury for each category, figuring out which classification to choose is hard enough.

And finally, the location of where you’re having the wedding makes a huge difference in where your budget falls and how much buying power you have for venues, photographers, food, and the like.

How to Create the Wedding Budget

There are a couple of methods to creating the wedding budget, the first being having a real conversation with the soon-to-be spouse.

You both need to sit down and take a look at your incomes, figure out how much you can be flexible within spending, if you should get a wedding loan, maybe live off one income and use the second to pay for the wedding or ask the parents for help.

It's important to have a real conversation about how much overall you both want to spend on the wedding..png

Most couples within the US tend to do a combination of these things to help cover the wedding day. (Although, personally, I tell people to avoid loans if at all possible)

Once you have answered the question of where these funds will come from, you can start to come up with a rough idea of how much you want to spend.

This is where you’ll use an online wedding budget calculator, like the one we created below.

This is your starting point.

Now, online calculators will not take into account holidays and variances for things like food or flowers, but they should give you a rough cut start with what you can spend per major category.

We recommend that whatever your budget is, you add 10% to it for padding.

We recommend taking your overall budget number and adding 10% to it in case you need to extend it. .png

But, just because you now have an idea of what you're going to be spending, you need to keep things in check.

Book These Two Vendors First

You’ll need to keep that budget on track as you start to venture out and make plans and book vendors.

Before we get to that, the FIRST thing you need to do is book a couple of things before anything else:

Wedding Venue
Wedding Planner

You need to book the wedding venue first and foremost.

That’s because you need to have the wedding date, without a wedding date, you can’t book vendors such as Joshua and myself.

You can't book wedding vendors without a date, so book the venue first so you'll have it..png

Next, booking the planner can be a HUGE benefit to you and the budget for a couple of reasons.

First, the longer you book the planner, the MORE they will save you money, here’s what I mean.

Take us for example, Wedding Photography and Films. We have planners that we enjoy working with and they bring us to repeat business year after year.

In that repeat business, we provide them a discount for our services and it’s passed on to the couples.

Most times, wedding planners can save you more than you paid for them..png

Well, discounts add up, and given enough of them, it will pay for the planner and also shave some additional money on the budget in turn.

How Best to Manage the Wedding Budget

As you start to book with various vendors, you need to check the costs from the online tools that you used vs how much you truly spent.

Each time you plan to seek out a vendor, look to the budget, add 10% to that category, then start the search.

Once you complete the spending on that vendor, compare it to the online tools or spreadsheet.

Use online tools like the ones we provide to help keep your budget on track..png

How did it match up?

Did you manage to keep it close to the number that you had budgeted?

If not, you need to ask yourself why?

How to Prevent you from Going Over the Wedding Budget

Preventing yourself from going over the wedding budget means you need to seek vendors that fit into what you have for the budget from the first place.

Take for example your videography budget, let’s say that it’s about $1,200.

In the United States, the average price point of a wedding videographer is $1,800, which means your $1,200 budget is low and you’re most likely going to find a budget videographer.

Price Point of Wedding Video Classifications

Average Price Point

Don’t expect high results if you have a small budget.

You have a couple of choices here, find someone within that budget and stick to it or adjust the budget for a higher-priced videographer that will give you better results.

Stick to Your Budget No Matter What
Give in and spend over the budget amount
- Decide to increase the overall wedding budget
- Or, take money from another category to keep the overall budget the same

Try to keep emotion out of the equation with booking wedding vendors and it will help keep your budget on track..png

If you decide to spend a higher amount and get the vendor that you want, say the amount is $2,300 instead of $1,200, then you need to find that money somewhere else in your overall budget or expand it to compensate.

This is where most couples fail at the spending, they tend to book what gives them the best ‘feeling’ rather than being realistic, and that’s the major reason why nearly 60% of couples overspend in the first place.

The Takeaway

Here’s what we want you to know from today's blog:

6 out of 10 couples will go over the wedding budget by $10,000 or more
In order to have an effective budget, first, decide how much overall you want to spend
- use online tools to help figure out a rough draft of how much you should spend in each category
- compare the budget vs actual spending using a spreadsheet or the online tool above
Decide how you will pay for the wedding day and where the funds will come from
For each vendor, determine if you will stick to the number or spend more than you had budgeted
Understand there are 4 classes of wedding vendors, many overlap. Each classification is designed for the various budget amounts
- They include budget, mid-range, high-end, luxury
- chances are, you will be able to find a vendor/venue within your range
- NEVER ask what others are paying for with vendors because what’s affordable to you, may or may not be affordable to them