Ok, ok, we know budget chat isn’t the most exciting part of wedding planning BUT it makes throwing an epic party possible, so that’s good enough for us! We’ve created a super powerful budgeting tool that takes your overall budget and breaks it down into estimated costs for each supplier. But before you get to that, a little background to budgeting brilliance is helpful, so here’s our step-by-step guide.
The Couple
First up, it’s important for you and your beloved to sit down and discuss what your budget could be, without any help. Working this out means you aren’t relying on anyone else and can start looking at what you want to spend where. At this stage, we recommend you decide on the parts that are most important to you and where you want to spend a little more dosh. Once you’ve laid those out, you can see how much money is left in the pot for everything else. As the home of the UK’s #1 Wedding App, we’ve got loads of helpful tips and tricks for you to save money – so even though you can probably see a few more digits than you’d like, don’t worry.
The Families
Once you have established how much the two of you can dedicate to the wedding fund, it’s time to sit down and talk budgets with your families. Often, both families try to help the couple financially, or to cover one aspect of the wedding, like the flowers or the booze. Don’t feel shifty about it – just grab a cuppa and sit down with your parents to talk things through. It’s important to be honest and highlight the parts that are most important to you (and obviously read our guide to the awkward parent-budget conversation!) Once you establish what is being contributed, make sure to involve your family in how you will spend their cash and listen to their advice – they are sponsoring you after all!
The Bank Account
We highly recommend that you create a separate joint bank account for all your wedding money. Having it all in one account means you’ll be able to keep an eye on how much you have spent and won’t be as likely to accidentally overspend, or accidentally spend money destined for the wedding on something else. It also helps keep all your payments in one place, so if you need to double check a deposit or instalment that you’re sure you paid, you know exactly where proof will be.
The Bits and Bobs
We’d also highly recommend you take out wedding insurance – then you can relax and let the planning fun begin!
Be prepared for overspending. Either set aside 10% of your total budget for extra bits and bobs. Or just bear in mind, that you will probably need a little extra. Additionally, always remember secret wedding costs that are usually hiding in the small prints of your contracts. And try to pay for everything on debit cards so you don’t start married life in debt!
Lastly, keep a database of all the payments and instalments, alongside the specific dates. This will help to keep you organised and prepared for all the withdrawals from your wedding fund. And there you go – budget chat over. See, it wasn’t that bad, was it…?