Wedding Budget Truths Exposed Part 2

Removing the mystery from creating your wedding budget & why you shouldn’t go at this alone.

Wedding Truth: 90% of couples are setting their wedding budget BEFORE setting anything else, including guest count and receiving quotes from vendors. And because of this 53% of couples are changing and increasing their wedding budget DURING the process, which can be stressful af.

If you are wondering why this is so stressful and how wedding guest count is everything, head back to part 1 of this blog.

Setting your wedding budget before learning the average cost of weddings in the area you are looking to get married can cost you big time (pun intended) 

Did you know, only 13% of couples go into wedding planning having already saved some funds for the wedding? That means a majority of you reading this do not have a wedding fund. Let's take a deep breath there and say it again: a majority of you reading this do not have a wedding fund. Feeling less alone in that? Good! 

Wedding Truth: the average cost per guest in NY is $350!! Take that back to your guest count and WOW does that number explode! 

So how the hell do you set a realistic budget and decide what is worth splurging and saving? 

A major perk of our partial and full planning packages is our budget guidance, more specifically our budget overview. Your wedding budget is fluid, meaning as you book things you either have more or less left to spend in other areas. As what you have left changes, so does what you can do with your money to bring your dream day to life. The first step in this process is deciding who are YOUR key vendors. This looks different for literally every couple. What do you care about most? Is it a killer view at your venue? Amazing photos? Food to drool over? Dancing the night away? The first things that popped into your mind are your key vendors. 

We help you narrow this down to your top 3. These vendors will get the majority of your budget.

Let’s flip that: what do you not really care about or what doesn't bring you joy? Don’t care for florals or decor? Don't think you will watch a wedding video more than once or flip through a photo book? These are your lower priority vendors then, which means we allocate less of your budget to them (but still realistic amounts!)

Don't get us wrong here: just because a vendor's service means less to you doesn't mean it can cost less than it is worth. 

From this list we work together to take the number you think you are going to spend and bring you realistic average costs of these vendors. SPOILER ALERT: 80% of the time these averages come in at over what couples were expecting. 

We work with you to make your hard budget and your ideal budget. Your hard budget is your absolute limit: the MAX you can spend without compromising your finances. Your ideal budget is what you realistically would like to spend. The key here is realistically. Your hard budget can’t be $90,000 and your ideal is $15,000: that just isn’t realistic. 

Let’s dive into this example: 

• Your hard budget is $60,000 

• Your ideal budget is $50,000 

• Your top vendors are catering & having a live band 

• Your quote for catering comes back at $40,000

• Your band quote comes back at $10,000 

Obviously these vendors are your top priority but booking these quotes as: it maxes your ideal and will make you likely go over your hard budget.

Where we come in: we work with you and your vendor team to get these quotes as low as possible without compromising your wants and the vendors needs to do their job.

Key point here: there is a hard limit to what your vendors can and cannot do for you in terms of pricing without sacrificing quality

• We update your budget overview to have:

  • 3 different version of how you can allocate your remaining funds to keep you as close to your ideal budget as possible. 

  • General ranges for what we expect the low and high end costs for each vendor will be.

This is an evergreen process for our full planning clients. We make anywhere from 4-10+ versions of this overview as things change. Remember: your budget is fluid; it ebbs and flows as vendors are booked and priorities are shifted through the planning process. 

Wedding Truth: 2 in 3 couples add at least 1 additional vendor to their team that they did not originally plan for.

This means a majority of couples are adding on costs to their overall budget as their vision for the day changes. This means you HAVE to know your numbers to be confident that you can add these fun new vendors to your dream team without going bankrupt. 

Sitting down with your significant other (and your wedding planner 😉) at the beginning of the planning process can save you so much more than money. We get it, finances are stressful and talking about them is a vulnerable feeling. But as your planners we are always on your team and advocating for you every step of the way. 

Feeling like you don’t want to take those steps alone? We are here for you.

As an additional BONUS for downloading our Budget Buster Blueprint, not only do you have exclusive access to these blogs along with an additional planning meeting (free of charge a $150 value), we are giving you early access to our Engagement Season Sale!

To claim your early access head over to our contact page and use code BBB in the "Anything else we should know" section!