Pop the champagne, you just got engaged and now it’s time to celebrate! Go ahead, take in all the love you’re going to be receiving from friends, family, and colleagues as they excitedly congratulate you. It’s such a fun and important time in your life! But, once the bubbles run out it’s time to start focusing on wedding planning, specifically creating your budget. We know this can feel intimidating. Seeing how expensive weddings can be is shocking, we get it! There are multiple elements you may forget to consider, but we are here to shed some light on all things wedding budget. Shall we dive in?

Before deciding on a budget

While you’re in the beginning stages of planning your wedding and working on defining your budget, the details are what you’ll want to narrow in on. Before selecting your dream wedding venue, determine how large you want your wedding to be. Research any vendors you may be considering such as photographers, caterers, wedding planners, and more. These are crucial to a successful event and can add up fast! It’s time to create a realistic budget based on what you’re willing to spend. As professionals in the wedding industry, we’ve worked with a wide variety of budgets and ultimately have defined what we believe to be the best use of your budget.

It breaks down like this: Wedding Planner 10%, Venue 10%, Food & Beverage 35%, Transportation 2%, Floral Design 8%, Rentals & Decor 6%, Entertainment 5%, Photography & Videography 10%, Hair & Makeup 1%, Cake 2%, Invitations & Paper 4%, Attire 3%, Gifts & Favors 1%, Ceremony 1%, and Misc 2%

Over the course of the next few months, we’re going to dive deeper into each vendor category to give you a full understanding of what to expect. With each category we’re going to provide you with sample quotes, proposals, what is and isn’t included, popular add ons, and more! This will give you real-life examples of what you can expect to be looking through as you begin the planning process. 

Time to start budgeting!

Creating a budget before jumping into booking your vendors and planning the pretty details is a great way to make sure you’re not greeted by any unexpected charges later on. This budget will be where you allocate the funds for each vendor clearly. You may have some wiggle room here and there, but the more you stay true to your budget the less stressed you’ll feel. Our goal is to help you discover the reality of wedding costs, while still allowing you to follow your wedding goals, hopes, and overall vision. You may see top wedding blogs these days posting extravagant over-the-top weddings that sometimes aren’t affordable for the average couple. We’re here to remind you that is totally OK! So, take a breath. Enjoy this exciting time of your life and get ready to crunch some numbers… It’s time to start budgeting! 

To help you gain an understanding of the kind of numbers you may be looking at, we’re going to break down three different wedding cost ranges for you ($20k, $60k, and $100k) with these budgets you can anticipate the amount of money you can expect to spend on each vendor based on your price range. Keep in mind, if you choose to spend less or more in any certain vendor category, you are free to add or subtract to how much you spend in other areas.

If your wedding budget is $20k, the breakdown of costs will look a little something like this.

Wedding Planner 10% of $20k = $2,000.00

Venue 10% of $20k = $2,000.00

Food & Beverage 35% of $20k = $7,000.00

Transportation 2% of $20k = $400.00

Floral Design 8% of $20k = $1,600.00

Rentals & Decor 6% of $20k = $1,200.00

Entertainment 5% of $20k = $1,000.00 

Photography & Videography 10% of $20k = $2,000.00

Hair & Makeup 1% of $20k = $200.00

Cake 2% of $20k = $400.00

Invitations & Paper 4% of $20k = $800.00

Attire 3% of $20k = $600.00

Gifts & Favors 1% of $20k = $200.00 

Ceremony 1% of $20k = $200.00 

Misc 2% of $20k = $400.00

If your budget is landing around $60k this is what you can estimate spending in each category.

Wedding Planner 10% of $60k= $6,000.00

Venue 10% of $60k = $6,000.00

Food & Beverage 35% of $60k = $21,000.00

Transportation 2% of $60k= $1,200.00

Floral Design 8% of $60k = $4,800.00

Rentals & Decor 6% of $60k = $3,600.00

Entertainment 5% of $60k = $3,000.00

Photography & Videography 10% of $60k = $6,000.00

Hair & Makeup 1% of $60k = $600.00

Cake 2% of $60k = $1,200.00

Invitations & Paper 4% of $60k = $2,400.00

Attire 3% of $60k = $1,800.00

Gifts & Favors 1% of $60k = $600.00 

Ceremony 1% of $60k = $600.00 

Misc 2% of $$60k = $1,200.00

And if you are working with a $100k budget, this is how your vendor payments should break down!

Wedding Planner 10% of $100k = $10,000.00

Venue 10% of $100k= $10,000.00

Food & Beverage 35% of $100k = $35,000.00

Transportation 2% of $100k = $2,000.00

Floral Design 8% of $100k = $8,000.00

Rentals & Decor 6% of $100k = $6,000.00

Entertainment 5% of $100k = $5,000.00 

Photography & Videography 10% of $100k = $10,000.00

Hair & Makeup 1% of $100k = $1,000.00

Cake 2% of $100k = $2,000.00

Invitations & Paper 4% of $100k = $4,000.00

Attire 3% of $100k = $3,000.00

Gifts & Favors 1% of $100k = $1,000.00 

Ceremony 1% of $100k = $1,000.00 

Misc 2% of $100k = $2,000.00

Now that we have reviewed how to calculate your wedding budget, it’s time to get started! Go ahead and start planning out exactly what your wedding budget looks like and start booking your vendors. The not-so-fun part of finance is over and now comes the fun. Cheers!

Ready to hand over the wedding budget management and book a wedding planning team? Contact us!