As a wedding planner I see a lot of couples who worry about their finances. My best advice is to make a budget and stick to it. The catch is that you need to be realistic.
If you’re planning a a wedding for 200 people and your budget is 20 000, you are without a doubt going to be over budget. So how do you prevent that?
Invite less people. Yep, simple right? Less people to feed, less tables to decorate, less chairs to rent etc.
Don’t expect to make a profit. A wedding is a party that you host. You should invite the people who you couldn’t imagine your day without. You should not invite people in hopes of receiving expensive gifts. (chances are the cost of the gift won’t cover the cost of the meal, rented items, etc,)
I don’t mean to toot my own horn here but Hire a wedding planner. No really, we can help you. We will track your budget, find the right vendors, advise where to splurge and where to save, and some of us even get vendor discounts with people we work with often!
Talk to your vendors about payment plans. That way you are paying a smaller amount of a few months time, rather than big chunks all at once.
I fully believe that every wedding should be full of lovely details, prettiness, and warmth. That doesn’t mean you have to spend $100 000 on a wedding. Every wedding should have a realistic budget that should allow you accomplish that.
Photo by Aljosa Petric.