Wedding Pickle: Poll Follow-Up: Wedding Budget

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Poll Follow-Up: Wedding Budget

The last poll I posted asked about what your budget plan is. You either have a strict budget, rounded budget, or no budget either because you haven't thought about it or because money is no option for you (lucky!)

However, even celebrities have a limit and so should you. Think about it, if a millionaire said do what you want to their vendors and planner, they might just be milked all they are worth. It could be a scary thing if your wedding is just a drain sucking your money and you have to idea what you have spent. Rich or not you need to have a grasp on your wedding budget or you might be in for the surprise of your life!

There are some percentages you could base your budget on but it needs to be based on your priorities. Sit down with your fiance and family. Talk about what is most important. Do you want the venue of your dreams no matter what? Is the dress your number one? Is it important for you to have a sit down dinner for your guests? Maybe you have had your eyes set on a cake maker since you were a child and you will have it no matter what the cost. Make your priority list then shift the budget around that.

Some calculators will allow you to adjust your budget and it will recalculate your budget for based on your customization. You can google and find many wedding budget calculators, but for this post I will use Wedding Channel's budget tool as an example.

Plug in your info and let it do the number crunching for you.

What I like about WeddingChannel's budget tool is it also explains each item. As you can see, they will tell you what you should spend, but you can change the cost to what you actually plan to spend. For example, you might know you want to spend $3,000 on your gown and center the budget around that.

There will probably be some items you know you will not use. You have the option to remove those and recalculate the budget.

You may or may not use your budget calculator but it at least will give you an idea and will put you ahead of the game by knowing where your money should go. Then you will have no surprises. Nobody wants to start a marriage with debt!