Attempting to prepare a budget for your wedding can be overwhelming, so I've prepared a guide to help.
I've started by listing all of the things you need to consider and budget for:-
Inviting your Guests
Save the Date Cards
Invitations - Daytime Ceremony and Reception
Invitations - Evening Reception
The Official Part
Registrar
Wedding Rings
Venue Hire
Venue Hire for Service & Wedding Reception
Hire of room for Evening
Venue Food & Drinks
Menu Tasting
Canapes
Day Reception (Wedding Breakfast)
Evening Food
Drinks Package or Corkage
Wedding Cake
Photography & Entertainment
Photographer
Videographer
Disco or Band
Daytime Singer
Transport
Wedding Cars
Transport for guests
Flowers & Room Dressing
Flowers - venue & tables
Flowers - bride's bouquet, bridesmaids bouquets & buttonholes
Confetti
Venue styling
Bride & Bridesmaids
Wedding Dress
Bride's Shoes
Jewellery
Hair Pieces
Garter
Bridesmaids' dresses
Bridesmaids' Shoes
Hairdresser
Makeup
Nails
Groom & Groomsmen
Groom's Outfit
Groomsmen's outfits
Gifts
Favours
Mothers gifts
Bridesmaids' gifts
Best Man/Groomsmen's gifts
Breakdown your overall Costings
Now you have a list of all the areas you need to cover you can allocate a budget against each
to enable you to work out an approximate overall cost, so you can start saving!
Seeing the overall cost maybe a little daunting but if you break it down into say 12 or 24 monthly instalments,
it makes it much more manageable and means you can determine how much to set aside each month to ensure you can pull it together in time.
A few money saving tips and things to watch out for!
Choosing your wedding date
Peak months and bank holidays book up very quickly at popular venues and will be the most expensive time to have your wedding.
If you can be flexible with your date and choose a low-season month,
you’ll be able to secure a venue at a much lower rate.
For example, you're likely to pay less for a Monday wedding in March than you would for a Saturday in August.
Small and Intimate!
Consider a small, intimate daytime ceremony with a bigger evening reception.
Venue Decoration
Flower Walls by Diane Makepeace
Why not opt for silk flowers instead of fresh for some areas of your wedding....
they can be just as effective and a fraction of the cost.
Add a wow factor artificial flower wall to your venue room:
http://www.dianemakepeacephotography.com/blog-post/flower-walls-north-east-hire
Have your Ceremony and Reception in the same place!
Having your ceremony and reception at the same place not only frees up valuable time on your special day
but also means you don't need to worry about costs for:
Wedding cars
Guest transport (and guests getting lost between places)
Decorating two places
Bridal Party Attire!!
Try other high street shops for bridesmaids dresses, shoes and suits for groomsmen rather than specific wedding shops!
They can look just as stunning and can be much more cost effective.
Image below is of me with my Bridesmaids at Woodhill Hall!
We decided on non traditional yellow bridesmaids dresses from Karen Millen.
Bouquets: https://www.facebook.com/alexandersflowersflorist/
Hair: https://www.facebook.com/carlycharltonhair/
Make-up: http://www.halohexham.co.uk
How smart are David and Cassie's Groomsmen.
Their outfits are all from a high street store!
Bridal Party Coat Hangers!
Unique and inexpensive personalised coat hangers!
Love this idea and looks fabulous!
Selling items after your Wedding!
Buy items that can be easily resold versus renting them!
When weighing up if it's more economical to rent or purchase items for your wedding,
remember that you can sell items afterwards such as table decorations,
silk flower arrangements, post boxes for cards, cake stands, chair covers or sashes, bunting, vases, table plans.....
If you found this helpful, please leave a comment!
Many thanks
Diane x
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