How to Budget for a Wedding

One of the very first things you must do when planning your wedding is to learn how to budget for a wedding. Sit down with your fiancee and figure out what kind of wedding you both want and figure out a way for you both to have your dream wedding.

1. Money In order to budget for a wedding, you must include every person that will be giving money to you for the wedding. This usually includes both sets of parents. Before you start any major planning, it's important to know how much monetary help you will be getting. You will want to discuss the actual monetary amounts that each party will give to the wedding budget. In some cases, parents may be willing to pay for certain aspects of the wedding, such as the flowers or photographer and may not give a specific amount of money towards the wedding budget. It is also important to figure out how much money you and your future wife will be able to put towards the budget for your wedding.
2. Set a definite dollar amount Now you need to decide where the money is going to go. It is a good idea to have a specific budget for your wedding in mind before you start making purchases and signing contracts rather than using a flimsy budget and not being able to stick to it. This means setting a specific dollar amount towards each aspect of your wedding needs.
3. Organize Most wedding planning books have pages that lay out for you exactly what you will need on your wedding day and about how much money you should allocate towards that specific need. If you don't want to use a wedding planning book, this is where a spreadsheets come in handy. List all the things you will need for your wedding. And we mean everything from your fiancee's wedding dress to the centerpieces for the reception. Allot a certain amount of money for each item on the list and ONLY allow yourselves to spend that much money on that list item.
4. Flexibility is okay...sometimes. When budgeting, you will learn to give and take. For instance, if your future wife wants an expensive gown, then you may want to spend less on her bridal bouquet...or your bachelor party.
5. Stick to your budget. Once you have figured out how much money you have to work with within your wedding budget and you have allocated the money accordingly, it is important to stick to your budget. Sure, it's going to be one of the most important days of your life, but you and your new bride shouldn't have to spend the rest of your life paying off your wedding bills.