Over the years, my wife Carole and I have developed some pretty neat tools for engaged couples to use for their wedding planning and education.

Today, we going to showcase these great toolsets, let you give them a try, and allow you to know why we developed them in the first place.

Wedding Budget Tool

This is by far the most important tool that we’ve developed over the years. Before you start booking vendors (such as us for example), you need to know how much you are planning to spend on the wedding in its entirety.

Maybe you only want to spend $5,000 or maybe you have a deep pocketbook and can easily spend $100,000 or more, you still need a tool in order to know approximately what you should be spending on the big day.

While factors like your location, time of year, and tastes are, the tool is designed to give you a good starting point to follow up with.

Take a look for yourselves and input a number that seems reasonable to you. (*the US national average is closer to the $25,000 mark)

We recommend that you input the number then send it to your email address.

From that, you’ll begin to see how much a venue maybe or a wedding photographer like us should be.

Not every couple will be able to afford the same vendors, that’s because each couple is unique and will have different budgets for the occasion.

Even if a couple has the income to spend on a big wedding, they may not want it.

That is what Carole and I did and we’re in the wedding industry.

To us, it was more important to have the kids with us and have the day as intimate as possible, so there is no right way or wrong way to have a wedding day.

Wedding Photographer Budget Tool

If you already have the overall number and you’re well on your way to planning the wedding, then maybe you need a little bit of help with a tool like our wedding photographer budget tool.

See, when you’re going to jump on social media and ask people for a wedding photographer, you should be asking in a range, not a flat number.

Why?

The reason is two-fold.

First, it masks what your true spending number is, and second, allowing those slightly under and slightly over may give you an advantage when it comes to the word vendors hate, negotiating.

Take a look at the tool below.

If you have a budget of $2,500 for example, then using a range will help mask what that number truly is. Additionally, you can use the lowered number to see if those that responded could work with you. Some might, others won’t and that’s perfectly okay.

It doesn’t hurt to ask, you’d be surprised what negotiating may do for you, include an additional, maybe knocking off a bit in price or perhaps both.

How much does a wedding photographer make?

Over the years, I see lots of couples talk about how expensive wedding photography (sometimes video) can be.

Truth be told, most that are in the wedding business don’t actually make a lot to start with, and by the 3rd to 5th year in business, they either thrive for the long haul or they leave to do something else.

One of the great tools we created in 2020 was this wedding photographer income calculator.

It breaks down what that person could make based on the number of hours they will work at the wedding, then taking out things like insurance, taxes, and a few other things that they need to stay legal or afloat.

Now, that cost, the hourly rate doesn’t include other things like marketing, rent, utilities, marketing, ad pricing, wedding shows, and the like too.

Truthfully, someone may be a great photographer, but they suck at running a business, it’s not for everyone.

The simple takeaway is this, most of those that work in the wedding business work for a small mom n pop or they operate a small business, while you think many are just shoveling mound fulls of cash into their piggybank, in fact, most of us just barely get by with what we do.

Wedding Alcohol Calculator

One of the most popular calculators we developed was the wedding alcohol calculator.

It provides you an estimate of what you should purchase based on the number of hours the reception is, how large the wedding guests’ size will be, and the three main types you can purchase beer, wine, and spirits.

It gives a great estimate of what you need to purchase, providing you can afford it.

We recommend that you use the online tool and from that, make adjustments on the amount of beer vs wine and/or spirits you purchase.

One secret we will tell you, try to purchase from a local business if you can. Generally, you can get a great discount at a local winery or brewery than going to the supermarket or purchasing a keg of beer.

Additionally, many spirit manufacturers will do the same as they are becoming more mainstream these days.

How Many Guests Can You Really Afford?

One of the most important things you need to take a glance at is how many guests you’re planning to have for the wedding and if you can really afford to have them at the wedding.

It’s going to be based on how much money you plan to spend on them. The national average that couples spend on a cocktail hour, full dinner service, wedding cake, and alcohol is somewhere in the $70 range.

Wedding Photo/Film Price Calculator

Finally, we have our own wedding photo/film calculator.

Based on our two most popular packages, the complete collection, and the photo/film collection, you can easily figure out how much a monthly payment would be.

Simply figure out how much you’d like to put down and then determine how many, if any, monthly payments you’d like to have.

It’s a simple tool that we encourage couples to use to figure out if a monthly payment is the best option for you rather than paying a couple of large payments. Give it a try below!

Trying to make it easier, for you!

We’re trying to make things easier for you within the wedding industry by providing our own set of online tools to use. While they only provide estimated numbers, they are great to use to get an idea of what you should be spending.