Getting engaged to the love of your life starts the clock at one of the most memorable and exciting times in your life. The time that you spend engaged is a time when you get to know a great deal more about one another. It also gives you the chance to collaborate on the plans for your big day.
While this can be a fun undertaking for a newly engaged couple, it is also important to remember that planning a wedding is an expensive endeavor as well. Your wedding will cost a pretty penny regardless of how you plan the day, so it is important to make sure that you and your spouse-to-be are on the same page regarding the wedding budget.
The budget for the wedding is one of the matters that engaged couples tend to disagree upon the most. So your best course of action is to sit down before you even start the planning process so that you can establish just how much you can afford to spend on each aspect of the big day.
My husband and I had a budget of $15,000 for our 150 person wedding. My mother contributed half. My mother-in-law hosted the rehearsal dinner. And we allocated the invitations: 50 to my mother, her side of the family, and her friends; 50 to the bride and groom; and 50 to my mother-in-law, her side of the family, and her friends.
To create the most comprehensive wedding budget, you need to consider everything you need for the big day. However, a few items tend to get overlooked in the early stages that can come back to haunt you later. Here are three such things that you should remember to include in your wedding budget.
1. Wedding Bands
Now that you have the most perfect engagement ring on your finger, it can be easy to forget about the other ring that will join it there in the not too distant future. The wedding bands that you and your future spouse will don on your wedding day should be factored into your budget even if you won’t be purchasing them for many months to come.
An eternity ring, or a wedding band, can cost a bit depending on the style you wish to go for. Some affordable options will only run you a few hundred dollars, while others can be rather pricey. My husband opted for a very simple ring that cost $100 at the time. It was probably the least expensive item on our wedding budget!
2. Gratuity
When making your wedding budget, you know that you need to plan for the various vendors who will supply everything from flowers to catering. However, it is easy to forget that gratuity for certain vendors needs to be taken into account as well. In addition, some vendors will require more gratuity than others, for make sure to factor this into your greater budget.
3. Post-Reception Transport
At the end of your reception, the last thing that you and your new spouse will want to do is get behind the wheel of a car. So make sure to factor transportation for yourselves into your wedding budget, so you don’t have to worry about it.
Some couples like to make a spectacle of their grand exit by having a fancy form of transport awaiting them as they leave their reception. While this can be a fun addition to the day, remember that something like a classic car and driver will cost you more.
We opted for a classic car and driver to take us from the wedding location (a Japanese garden at Cal State Long Beach where my father was a math professor) to the hotel about 15 minutes away. My husband had a personal connection so it wasn’t very expensive. I also had a business school friend whose girlfriend owned a floral shop. She generously donated the flowers including the wedding bouquet at her cost.
It might seem challenging to make the trade-offs to stay within your wedding budget, but these are decisions that will mirror the future. My husband and I would make these types of financial decisions together as we progressed through the milestones of life: childcare for our children, buying our first home, saving for our kids’ college funds, and saving for retirement. Learning to resolve conflicts is a skill that will be helpful for your life together!
p.s. Related posts:
Ways to Make Your Proposal More Personalized
How to Include Your Kids in Your Wedding
Teacher Wedding Present: Lily’s Big Day (picture book)
When Mixed Race Marriage Was Illegal: What They Don’t Teach in History Books
Help Your Kid Have A More Unique Wedding With These 7 Ideas
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