Wedding Wednesday: How To Budget For A Wedding

Time to talk about every bride-to-be's favorite thing... the wedding budget!! (Did any one else cringe after reading that)

Getting married is such an exciting season and ideally should be a stress free, happy time. But, when you factor in the actual cost of a wedding, things can get pretty stressful! Did you know that the average wedding in 2017 cost $29,858?? Depending on where you are planning on tying the knot, that number can be upwards of $50,000! While these numbers can definitely be terrifying, there are some really simple ways to keep your wedding cost down and save a ton of money. 

Okay, so you're engaged! Now what? Should you start contacting your favorite photographer and book your dream venue right away?? Definitely not. Your first step in the wedding planning process should be to figure out your budget. Sit down with your parents or whoever is financially supporting your wedding and decide on a realistic budget - and try your best to stick to that! Of course there will be unpredictable expenses that come up along the way, so always allow for a little extra cushion within that budget. 

Here are some average costs in 2017 for the different vendor categories: 

Venue: $15,163

Wedding Dress: $1,509

Wedding Planner: $2,000

Videographer: $2,000

Florist: $2,379 (should be around 8% of your overall wedding budget) 

Invites: $408

Cake: $555

Photographer: $2,500-10,000

 *It should also be noted that this excludes the engagement ring and honeymoon! 

Once you've decided on your overall budget, it's time to figure out how much you are allotting for each vendor. A super helpful (and free!) tool to help with this is WeddingWire's Budget Calculator and Checklist!  By using this, you will be able to decide how much you should be spending on your hair and makeup, floral, DJ/band, venue, and everything else that goes into your big day! Another awesome feature of this tool is the payments schedule tracker. Within the tool, you're able to keep track of the actual cost, amount paid, and amount due for each vendor! With so many payments going in every direction and invoice due dates, this is seriously so helpful!  Below I took a screenshot of what the WeddingWire Budget tool looks like! 

Time to talk about every bride-to-be's favorite thing... the wedding budget!! (Did any one else cringe after reading that)

Getting married is such an exciting season and ideally should be a stress free, happy time. But, when you factor in the actual cost of a wedding, things can get pretty stressful! Did you know that the average wedding in 2017 cost $29,858?? Depending on where you are planning on tying the knot, that number can be upwards of $50,000! While these numbers can definitely be terrifying, there are some really simple ways to keep your wedding cost down and save a ton of money. 

Okay, so you're engaged! Now what? Should you start contacting your favorite photographer and book your dream venue right away?? Definitely not. Your first step in the wedding planning process should be to figure out your budget. Sit down with your parents or whoever is financially supporting your wedding and decide on a realistic budget - and try your best to stick to that! Of course there will be unpredictable expenses that come up along the way, so always allow for a little extra cushion within that budget. 

Here are some average costs in 2017 for the different vendor categories: 

Venue: $15,163

Wedding Dress: $1,509

Wedding Planner: $2,000

Videographer: $2,000

Florist: $2,379 (should be around 8% of your overall wedding budget) 

Invites: $408

Cake: $555

Photographer: $2,500-10,000

 *It should also be noted that this excludes the engagement ring and honeymoon! 

Once you've decided on your overall budget, it's time to figure out how much you are allotting for each vendor. A super helpful (and free!) tool to help with this is WeddingWire's Budget Calculator and Checklist!  By using this, you will be able to decide how much you should be spending on your hair and makeup, floral, DJ/band, venue, and everything else that goes into your big day! Another awesome feature of this tool is the payments schedule tracker. Within the tool, you're able to keep track of the actual cost, amount paid, and amount due for each vendor! With so many payments going in every direction and invoice due dates, this is seriously so helpful!  Below I took a screenshot of what the WeddingWire Budget tool looks like!