Now that a total budget has been established, it is time to “slice the pie” by allocating the total budget among the major event categories. There are many budget templates available to couples through books, bridal magazines, and online resources. Enlisting the help of a wedding planner is another great option as part of their services will typically include budgeting and helping you get the most out of your budget. If you decide to be your own planner, we suggest that you take the available free budget tools one step further and prioritize them in order of importance to you and your vision of the day. Similar to identifying a theme, setting a budget should support the vision of your special day, not necessarily follow a specific formula.
We have provided the following template to help you get started:
| Your Total Wedding Budget
$____________ |
Common % |
Rank by Importance to You (1-10) |
Your Allocations |
|||
| Wedding Rings |
|
2 % |
_____ | $ ________ | ||
|
Bride & Groom Attire |
10 % |
_____ | $ ________ | |||
| Stationary, Favors & Gifts |
5 % |
_____ | $ ________ | |||
| Flowers & Decorations |
10 % |
_____ | $ ________ | |||
| Photography & Video |
10 % |
_____ | $ ________ | |||
| Transportation |
1 % |
_____ | $ ________ | |||
| Ceremony |
2 % |
_____ | $ ________ | |||
| Music |
10 % |
_____ | $ ________ | |||
| Reception & Cake |
50 % |
_____ | $ ________ | |||
| Honeymoon |
0% (1) |
_____ | $ ________ | |||
| Total | 100 % |
|
$ ________ |
(1) The honeymoon is often not included in the wedding budget templates of many top planning sources available to brides. We encourage you to include it if this is something you and your fiancé consider important and will need to fund with the total wedding budget.
We will be delving further into each of the categories above in coming weeks so stay tuned!
Next Week: Wedding Bands
Happy planning!
Elegante Light Photography
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