Together with a partner, decide how much money you can spend.
Before deciding on a budget, both of you need to evaluate your income, your savings (if you have any), and expenses. First, write down how much money you both earn each month, then take away the total monthly expenses to understand how much you have left.
Think about how much money you can save from now until your wedding day. Then decide how much of this money you are willing to spend on the wedding, and not on other things.
Consider all your expenses: rental housing, groceries, payment of bills, loan payments, transportation costs (for fuel and car maintenance).
Leave money for unforeseen expenses, such as visiting a doctor or repairing a car.
Find out if your relatives can help you financially.
Asking for money from a family can be difficult. But if you have a close relationship, perhaps your relatives will be happy to help you. Talk to your parents, grandparents, and other relatives and ask directly if they can help and how much are they willing to give.
Ask parents to speak with other relatives if they are not opposed to this idea
You can say something like this, “Dad, Marry and I are starting to plan a wedding. We think that we have enough money for all the basic expenses, but it would be very nice if you and mom helped us out financially. Just talk to mom and let me know.”
Your relatives may cover a certain percentage of expenses or help in some other way. For example, your beloved uncle may decide to take on a fee of musicians.
Do not plan a wedding with the expectation that someone will help you.
Decide how many people you want to invite.
Make a guest list with your partner. The list does not have to be final – at this stage, you need to roughly estimate how many people will be at your wedding. Even if you have a simple wedding, a large number of guests means a large budget.
The budget for drinks and food, the size of the room that you will need to book, as well as the number of invitations and gifts for guests will depend on the number of guests.
Decide on your priorities.
Talk with your partner about what will be most important to you. Each of you can make a list of several of the most important things, and then choose the three main ones. Then compare your lists to see if your opinions are the same. Lists will help you decide what you spend the bulk of the budget on.
For example, a visiting ceremony, a good photographer, and live music can be your priorities. Perhaps your partner will want to spend money on an expensive wedding outfit, and minimize the number of guests and invite only the closest relatives and friends.
You can also make a list of what you would like to have at the wedding, but that you do not consider absolutely necessary (for example, invitations manually made by a professional calligrapher or a very expensive cake).
Also, after the wedding, comes the honeymoon phase. It implies some expenses as well. If you don’t know what is the honeymoon phase in a relationship then check out this article.
Find out the average price of the things you need.
When you understand what you want to spend money on, you should find out how much these things can cost. You can call different restaurants and different contractors to find out the exact cost.
Look for information on wedding planner sites.
Look for prices on wedding forums.
Arrange your wedding budget.
When you understand how much all services will cost, make a list of everything you need. This will allow you to keep track of costs and not go beyond the budget. Make a table as you like, or look for ready-made lists on the Internet. Do not forget to include the following items:
the venue of the ceremony and place of the banquet;
services of specialists: registrar, photographer, make-up artist, hairdresser, musicians;
food (including cake) and drinks, as well as the cost of catering, bar, dishes, and other things;
decor, including flowers, seating signs, gifts for guests, tablecloths, and furniture;
clothes and accessories for the wedding and parties, as well as rings;
invitations.