How to Create a Regret-Free Wedding Budget

Have you ever been to a restaurant when you’re really hungry…and eaten a few more bread sticks than normal, followed it up with a few extra scoops of salad, then not been able to finish your main course once it arrived? When it comes to creating a regret-free wedding budget, your wedding vendors (DJ, videographer, coordinator) are dessert. Dessert is the best part! In a nutshell, it’s easy to over-spend on the things you buy first for your wedding…leaving pennies left for what you book at the end.

Here are five steps to creating a regret-free wedding budget, which ultimately equals a regret-free wedding!

REGRET-FREE WEDDING BUDGET STEP #1

KNOW YOUR WEDDING PRIORITIES

What is your dream wedding like? Fun? Gorgeous? Family-oriented? Full-on party? Romantic? This is where you need to start when putting together a wedding budget. If gorgeous is your priority, hire a professional florist and splurge on your dress. Get a breath-taking venue. If romantic is your goal, have your venue professionally lit and a custom ceremony crafted by a talented officiant. Since you can’t splurge on every aspect of the wedding, pick just the things that will contribute to your top wedding priorities.

REGRET-FREE WEDDING BUDGET STEP #2

EMPOWER YOURSELF

Knowledge is power. This is probably the first wedding you’ve ever planned, so it’s important to study up before you start making big decisions. Did you know…?

• A survey reported by MSNBC reports that, before the wedding, food is the top planning priority while entertainment is the lowest. After weddings, couples reported that entertainment should have been their top priority.
• In Peter Merry’s book The Best Wedding Reception Ever, he mentions an interesting study that found 78% of newlyweds wished they had spent more time planning their reception entertainment. Nearly 100% said that they wished they’d budgeted more for the entertainment.
• The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada reported on February 10, 2014, that wedding planners regret not spending more on entertainment at their own weddings.

Of course, you’ll want top-notch catering on your big day, but knowing what others have lamented is very useful in putting together your regret-free wedding budget.

REGRET-FREE WEDDING BUDGET STEP #3

THE BIGGEST WEDDING REGRET OF ALL

If you think the statistics about under-budgeting for wedding entertainment are overwhelming, wait until you read the wedding videography statistics. Gulp. The Wedding and Event Videographers Association International:

• 98% of surveyed newlyweds recommended having your wedding videotaped

• 63% of surveyed newlyweds recommend hiring a professional videographer to do the job

Pretty much every engaged couple wants a video—that’s hardly in dispute. But often the video is one of the last items to be purchased. Money tends to dry up towards the end of the wedding planning process, and often items left to the end never materialize. Make a wedding videographer a priority!

REGRET-FREE WEDDING BUDGET STEP #4

UNDERSTAND WHAT THINGS REALLY COST

According to The Wedding Report, $16,983 is the average estimated San Diego wedding budget at the start of wedding planning, but $33,840 is the average actual amount spent. Why did the initially budgeted amount almost double? There’s a good chance that the wedding budgets were not prepared with a realistic understanding of what things actually cost. Not sure what $2,000 worth of flowers looks like? Now ya know!

To get an idea of specific costs for the common elements of a wedding, check out CostOfWedding.com. This site gives you average amounts spent by San Diego brides and grooms (or any other zip code you enter) on every possible element of a wedding.

REGRET-FREE WEDDING BUDGET STEP #5

ADD A CUSHION TO YOUR BUDGET

Here is a common wedding budget “oops.” You plan to spend $1,000 on your wedding dress. You find a dress you love in your budget range and buy it. But, uh-oh, you forgot to account for the long-line bra, the slip, the veil, the garter, alterations, and the “getting ready” robe. Now you are $600 over-budget. Add at least a 10-15% “cushion” to your wedding budget that is designated for unexpected expenses. Some other commonly overlooked budget items, for example, are vendor tips, wedding party gifts, and photo prints (if not included in your photography package).

Creating a regret-free wedding budget is entirely possible by following these five easy steps. Here’s to your “I do,” not your “Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda.”

BONUS TIP

DID YOU KNOW HIRING A WEDDING PLANNER CAN SAVE YOU MONEY?

Most newly-engaged couples view a professional planner as an “extra” or “additional” expense. The truth is an experienced wedding planner can end up saving you MORE money than his or her services cost you. Why? Because they know how to create realistic, regret-free wedding budgets. Because they have connections to fabulously talented vendors who under-charge. Because they can design a more efficient wedding for you, which will save you both time and money in the long run. Because they know all the commonly-overlooked expenses that can push couples over-budget.

For more on this, check out Offbeat Bride’s great write-up called “My Wedding Planner Saved Me So Much Money That She Paid for Herself, And Then Some.”
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