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We explain how to use the Budget Play Sheet to help you plan your budget. The Budget Playsheet has average costs for every item, so you have an idea of what the costs will be. We give you tips for approaching your parents for a monetary contribution towards your wedding. Once the budget is established, you can play around with budget amounts to get an idea of what you can and cannot afford.
The following article is an EXAMPLE of the content we have in our online wedding planning membership site HappyWeddings.ca under the heading of Wedding Budget. To learn more and get useful wedding planning tools for FREE, click here!
Now is the time to look at the wedding budget. By now you should have defined your priorities in Step 2 of the Defining Your Vision SmartBride Action List, and both of you know what each person thinks is important. This will influence how your budget will be allocated.
Today, most couples pay for their own wedding, with some contribution from their families. Today, it is rare that families follow the old traditional ways of “who pays for what” at a wedding. If you are blessed with parents who contribute a substantial amount to your wedding, be appropriately thankful. You would not have your dream wedding without their contribution.
In the SmartBrideTM Checklist called Budget Playsheet that comes with this module, you will have a list of the major items on your wedding budget, who traditionally pays for those items, who usually pays for those same items in today’s society, and I have also included an average cost of each item so you have a ball park figure to work from.
Please be aware that although I might quote $20 per person for a formal wedding invitation, that includes all the add-ons like the save the date cards, reply cards, both inner lined envelope and outer envelope, postage, maps, and calligraphy costs. An informal wedding invitation does not need the inner envelope, or the engraved printing, so obviously there will be a reduced cost. Needless to say, every city and region has their own pricing structure, so explore your costs carefully. There is full details about invitations when you get to that module, so now is not the time to think about that. Just be aware that these are averages, and there are always less expensive ways to do things.
So, you might be wondering if your parents will contribute to the wedding. Well, the best way to get an answer is to ask them. Depending upon your relationship with your parents, you know best how to approach them. Use your own judgement, but I will outline one option for you.
I suggest you print out the SmartBrideTM Checklist Budget Playsheet for each parent you will visit. Arrange to visit them and ask them if they are willing to contribute to your wedding. Give them a copy of the Budget Playsheet. Ask them to look it over, and to consider what they think they can contribute. Do not expect an immediate answer. They may need to think about it, review when investment income will come in or other factors. Money is a sensitive subject, and everyone’s financial situation is different.
Whatever contribution is received, be appropriately grateful, for it is given from the heart. If your parents say they will pay for your wedding dress, for example, ask them what the maximum amount is that you can budget. Wedding dresses range from $250 to $30,000 plus, so setting a maximum amount is important. There is space on your budget playsheet for budget limits.
Once you have defined your total budget amount, you can start working out how you will divide it up between those things on your priority list, and those things that neither of you find that important.
It is interesting to note that when wedding guests are asked to remember a wedding, the two things that stand out most in their minds are the music and the food—in that order.
So, once you have your total budget amount, and you know what you can spend, that is the time to go back to your Vision Checklist, and finalize all your decisions.
The next module covers legal considerations, and is an important part of the wedding planning process.