Planning a wedding is fun and stressful all at the same time. A wedding is an incredible day in your life and it is okay to want it to be perfect. The main aspect that stresses people out the most is the cost of a wedding. Weddings are expensive and the market is extremely lucrative. That doesn’t mean that you can’t have a beautiful wedding without breaking the bank. I’m not saying that you can get exactly what you want for the budget that you have but it is easier to shop around than you may think. Below I discuss how to create a wedding budget for the wedding that you want!
I got married on New Year’s Eve which is known to be a high price wedding date. Not only is it a holiday but it is the most party based holiday of the year. I knew when we chose this date that we would experience holiday fees, up charges and other issues because of the date alone. However, I did not let that stop me from avoiding spending an arm and a leg on my dream wedding. Along with creating your wedding budget, I discuss ways that I was able to avoid holiday fees and instead getting a discount from my vendors.
Wedding Budget Guide!
Set a Budget
First, you have to determine what your wedding budget is. This will be your starting point. This number will need to be a hard number. If you can’t go over, make it slightly smaller for unforeseen costs that pop up. It is important that you stay true to this amount and not let yourself go over budget. I recommend creating a spreadsheet and putting the amount at the top where you can easily see it. Make a column for each expense that you will have. Include items all the way from the venue and your dress to the cost of silverware and napkins. This is going to help you stay on budget and determine how much money to allocate to each aspect of your wedding.
Next, you need to choose what is most important to you. Choosing 3-4 things that mean the most to you can help you decide what to spend your money on and where to save in other areas. For me, I chose the venue, my dress, flowers and photography. I was prepared to spend the most money on those four things. I saved money everywhere else and I will share that later on.
Rank them in level of importance to help decide what you want to spend on each item. Once you determine this, you will have a starting point when you begin talking to vendors. Figure out a general number that you will be comfortable paying for each one. Once you have that, you need to have an idea of what you are looking for and a general idea of what you want. After you figure all of this out, you can begin reaching out to vendors and ask them as many questions as you can to know what each vendor can offer.
Vendors
Some vendors will be pushy but don’t let it fool you. You can read my guide on questions to ask your wedding photographer to get a better idea of questions that you can ask your vendors! This will help you make sure you are getting the most from your vendors for the prices that you are paying them. Reference your spreadsheet and list out all of the vendors and their prices. This is where you will see all of your options in one place. Once you have more than one option, sit down and really navigate the value of each vendor. It is important to do this before bidding anything else because you will get a sense of what the wedding market looks like in your area and what the costs are going to start at.
Final Touches and Vendors
Once you have your core items chosen and solidified, you should have a list of all of the remaining items. Some will be expensive and others are going to be small things that add up. Food was expensive for us but we looked for months before finally finding someone who was within our budget. It was a bit difficult but we didn’t give in and eventually found someone that worked!
Remember when I said vendors will be pushy? I have MANY caterers tell me that my budget was unrealistic and that I wouldn’t be able to find anyone for that price. I will admit, the budget was tight for food but we didn’t budge. It took us a few months but we found them eventually. It is possible, just ask and don’t stop looking until you find it. Even better, our caterer was one of my favorite vendors! They provided complementary champagne, helped with many behind the scene issues that popped up without being asked or complaining!
Remember this, if a vendor is unwilling to have a conversation with you or even discuss what you are looking for because your wedding budget doesn’t fit with their business, you most likely don’t want them involved in such a large and important event. How someone presents themselves to you over the phone or discussion will show their true colors. Be aware of red flags that pop up when discussing your budget with vendors. If they are hard pressed about something or they criticize you for your wedding budget, don’t continue the conversation. You will be able to find something within your budget no matter what it is.
Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding
Ask how you can save money. Is there a bridal show near you at any point during your wedding planning? Many large cities will have a bridal show or expo at least once a year. Most vendors give incredible deals during these bridal shows and events! Ask your wedding venue if they do “Wedding Garage Sales” or some type of event for past brides to resell the items from their weddings. Wedding venues may also team up with various businesses to offer special deals if you work with their preferred list of vendors. Here are a few ways that I personally saved money on my wedding.
- Center Pieces: we used a cut down tree from a neighbor’s curb as center pieces. We cut the trunk into small pieces and stained them instead of purchasing or renting them.
- Vases: I bought glass vases and large candles from Dollar Tree and Walmart. We got the Pottery Barn look for much less!
- Table Vases – we used these on all of the tables. We styled them with candles and flowers
- Large Candle Vases – We used these to line the isle with larget candles during our ceremony
- Dining Ware: We ordered all plates, silverware, napkins and cups off of Amazon! They were sturdy, decorative plates that looked high quality. I was genuinely pleased with all of these!
- Alcohol: we served wine from Trader Joe’s. Whatever bottles we didn’t open, they said we could return them! We purchased two quarter kegs from Total Wine and that was plenty of alcohol! We also served liquor but limited that since it is more expensive. Once we ran out of that, people could drink the beer and wine!
- DJ: I booked our DJ during the Dallas Bridal Show and got a HUGE discount. They also partnered with my wedding venue which gave us another $100 off. (I paid less than $700 for a DJ on New Year’s Eve for 9 hours). AND he was one of my favorite aspects of our wedding!
- Place Cards & Signage: I made all of the place cards myself in photoshop and printed them at home. My sister is very artistic and helped make the signage. This takes more work but we saved hundreds of dollars on this.
You can always find a deal, you just have to find them. We got married on New Year’s Eve and only had to pay TWO holiday fees. We were either able to get our vendors to drop the holiday fee or the gifted it to us by dropping it. Work with vendors who will work with you. This is crucial when sticking to a wedding budget.
Discussing Your Wedding Budget With Vendors
A good way to know if you are working with a good vendor is if they will talk to you about the money. I spoke to a few vendors who would not discuss it with me. They were very strict in the pricing and there was no room for negotiating. There is no problem with that because it is their business after all. However, that was not someone that I wanted to work with. Vendors are being hired by you, not the other way around. You don’t want to take advantage of them by any means but you want to work with someone who understands they are in the business of making your dream day come true. A good vendor will discuss the money with you.
Don’t mistake discussing money with giving you a discount. It’s okay if they are not willing to give you a discount or some sort of price cut. This is their livelihood. I found that when I discussed what I was looking for, I was able to start a conversation and relationship with them. Even if they were above the price range I would continue the conversation. I would be honest and tell them that they were out of my price range but I wanted to hear more about what they had to say. This is where you can create a relationship with them. The more we talked, the more likely they were to either like me and wanted to discuss options or we knew it wasn’t a good match. It is very easy to hear a price that is too high and say no. I encourage you to keep talking and see what you can learn while talking to someone in the industry!
In Conclusion
Weddings are stressful but they don’t have to be unbearably stressful. Being upfront about the money from the beginning will help tremendously. It will help you set expectations as well as learn how to navigate a real budget. You may have a wedding budget of $10,000 or you may have a budget or $100,000+. Either way, you have to manage it or it will get very costly really fast. Choose your four important aspects and focus on those. From there, ask as many vendors for quotes and look for ways to save money. Congratulations on your engagement! Your wedding is going to be spectacular!