Setting a budget

We prioritized which things were most important to us (Photographer and DJ) and decided we had a goal to be more budget friendly with catering/bar, decor etc to accommodate more spending on our most important areas. Then I used WeddingWire price ranges and looked online, checked local Facebook groups, and got quotes to estimate what each thing would cost and decided what we were comfortable/could afford spending for each needed vendor. We used the wedding wire budget tool to roughly put together an estimate of our total budget and how that could be spent on each vendor.

Pick what things are most important to you. I wanted an amazing photographer so we used a big portion of our budget for her. FH wanted good food so that was next. A DJ and full open bar were the lowest on our list (of vendors) so we are just having a open beer and wine bar, and borrowing a family friends DJ equipment, using Spotify, and having our friend MC when needed (only for announcements).



Now if you don’t know exactly what your budget is in general, you need to figure that out first. How much money can you afford to put away every paycheck, are parents helping pay; if yes, how much?

Congratulations on your engagement!! One thing you could do is figure out how much money you are able to comfortably set aside each week (or month or whatever time frame) to pay for your wedding, and then multiply that by however many weeks there are until your wedding. That will help give you a number of what you can save up between now and then without having to take out a loan or borrow money from anyone, and you can use that number to help come up with a budget.

Prioritize what you want to spend money on and skip the rest. Guests remember the experience: food/drink/entertainment..were they taken care of? You will have photos to remember everything after the dessert is eaten and flowers fade.

We found it easy to budget when we knew the amount of guests would be at our wedding, what time of day the wedding started (type of food to cater), and just asking each other what is a comfortable number we are okay with spending

Theres a budget tool on wedding wire you can use in your profile that is helpful. The next biggest expense after the venue will be the food/caetering and alcohol (if applicable).