Budget, Budget, Budget!

The first step to planning your wedding is setting a budget! There are many factors that can affect your budget including guest count, location, and venue. Obviously if you are getting married in a big city like Vancouver or Toronto the cost will be a little bit more than a small town. Also, the biggest factor in planning a wedding is the guest count. A wedding with 200 guests is going to cost more than a wedding with a 100 person guest count.

 

Before determining our budget for our fairy tale wedding I did some research and discovered that the average Canadian wedding costs $25,000. And yes, people can plan a wedding for much less, and some people much more, but this number made sense. My fiancé and I decided that with our guest count - 230 people - and our location being in a semi-big city - Halifax - that our budget would be $25,000. Of course, we are always hoping to come under budget :).

 

As a general guideline, 50% (yes half) of your budget should go to the reception and rehearsal dinner (if you choose to do one), 10% to bridal attire (this includes the dress, shoes, jewelry, and undergarments), 10% to music (dj, band - it's your choice), 10% to photography, 10% to flowers, and 10% to everything else (this would be bridal party gifts, invitations and response cards, wedding license, transportation, favors, guest book, etc). Of course these figures can be adjusted accordingly. If you decide one aspect of the wedding is more important than others you can change your percentages.

 

I found the easiest way to keep track of my budget was to create one in Microsoft Word, I am sure there are easier ways to do this but this way worked best for me.

 

Here is what my budget sheet looked like :)

 

 

I think one of the best ways to stay with in budget is to shop around. Although, sometimes I find that all I do is shop around for the best deal and this can be stressful. But in the end it will totally be worth it! I also found that a good way to stay in budget is to budget in all the things you know other people (like your parents - if they are helping out) are paying for because if you budget in that cost and then don't actually have to pay for it you have the money left in the budget and you will come in under budget, yay!

 

I'll let you know how my budget turns out!

 

Happy Sunday blog readers,

 

xoxo

 

Khrysty