How Much Should You Spend on Your Wedding?
When you decide to get married you undoubtedly have some preconceived picture in your mind of how your perfect special wedding day will be. You will probably have a good idea of the kind of dress you’d like to wear, how many people will be at your daytime function, how many people will attend the evening celebration, the kind of transport you’d like to take you to your chosen wedding venue and so on. The reality is that the actual amount you spend on your wedding depends on your financial situation and that may mean that you’re not able to have all of your dream elements and so choices will have to be made.
Planning is the most important factor to creating a fantastic wedding day on a tight budget. This starts with realistically looking at the money you have available to spend. This financial plan may even influence when you get married as you may need to save up a substantial amount of money to cover deposits before you can even start to make reservations for things such as hair and make-up, never mind a reservation for the bridal suite at a luxury resort!
A wedding is one of the most expensive social occasions you’re likely to pay for and you need to approach the planning of it with a list of priorities. What’s the most important aspect of the wedding to you and your partner? Is it that you get married? Or that you have a big wedding with a huge guest list? If you have a budget to work with then make a list of the component parts of your joint dream wedding and then prioritise these. Take your wedding budget and give an approximate cost for each part of the big day ensuring that most of the money available is allocated to those items that are most important to you both.
Some items will come with fixed costs, such as the venue and legal paperwork, other items will be negotiable or even possible to obtain under your budget amount due to shop sales and other money saving techniques such as buying things on eBay, or making them yourself. If you have a budget to work with you’ll know what the most money is that you can spend on each item. If you manage to pay less for it you’ll also know exactly item on your list where you want to use this now “unallocated” surplus money.
As the financial economy continues its downhill trend it’s important to focus on the real purpose of the wedding, getting married to someone you love. Don’t get too fixed on other weddings you’ve attended. A very simple basic ceremony can be just as beautiful as the most extravagant production at only a fraction of the cost. What’s important isn’t the wedding, but the marriage and if you start your marriage in a lot of debt simply because you didn’t budget the wedding realistically then you won’t have a solid financial foundation for your early years of married life. Stress from overstretched finances, could bring a negative influence into your marriage so make sure that you don’t create unnecessary stress by not planning your wedding to fit the budget you have available.
Every bride wants to have their special day perfect, but that doesn’t have to mean expensive. Look at your finances and instead of stretching your budget to fit the perfect picture, make the perfect picture fit your budget. This way you’ll be less likely to start married life with a pile of unpaid wedding debts to worry about.
