I recently met one of the sweetest brides ever! She had a lot of great ideas for her wedding but there was one problem, the BUDGET. I’m very budget conscience when it comes to planning a wedding. I’m a drill sergeant to my clients on this topic because before you know it, you have blown the budget due to bad choices. With this bride, she started planning her wedding and she did a lot of research. When it came to the budget she totally ignored the advice she found online. In particular she used one of my favorite tools, the budget estimator. The budget estimator gives you an estimate based on where you live and the type of wedding you want which they decipher by asking you a series of questions. For the wedding she wants, the estimator told her she would spend anywhere between 37,000 to 67,000. She didn’t believe it even after I told her that estimate is pretty accurate. Don’t get me wrong, there are ways to save but you have to know how to use your funds and here’s how:
1) Determine a budget. I can’t stress this enough, you must set a budget before you start planning. If you go in blindly, you risk the chance of spending way more than you ever intended to spend. Talk about it with your fiancée and anyone who is financially contributing to your wedding.
2) Use a budget estimator or something like it to help you allocate your funds. These are just estimates but be clear you will spend 45% -50% of your budget on the reception. The other categories like photography, décor, etc you can prioritize and decide where you want to spend more or less.
3) Hire a wedding planner!! I know what you are thinking, “I’m spending more money not saving”. That’s an incorrect statement. Hiring a planner will help you find the right vendors that fit within your budget. Also a planner will help you allocate your funds and use them wisely.
These three tips will help you save in the long run. Before you start planning, commit to any vendors or a venue, you should follow these three tips. Your wedding may cost more than you think it will cost so before you go out there, take my advice. Here's some more budget tips from a previous posting. http://weddedluxe.blogspot.com/2008/12/ask-planner.html
Happy Planning,
Deniesha Joseph
DJoseph@weddedluxe.com
http://www.weddedluxe.com/
718.938.4713
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