Planning a Wedding on a budget

Planning a Wedding doesn’t have to cost you millions. There is a huge amount of ‘extra stuff’ that links into Weddings - its not always essential! The skill you need is being able to recognise what is essential to making the day exactly what you want it to be.

Of course, many little girls have dreamt of getting married in a castle and flying by helicopter to the reception on a yacht at sea, it does of course never rain and your hair, makeup and dress remain perfect all day!

Be realistic. The purpose of the day is for you and your beloved to commit to spending the rest of your lives together. It really is one day that starts the rest of your lives together and believe me, your wedding day goes by faster than any other day ever has before. So do you really need to release Doves? When you actually haven’t got any money left for a dress?

Set a budget. If your budget is £2000 or £200,000 it really doesn’t matter it is still the limit to what you can spend. Remember to account for all money, and request quotes and prices that are for your wedding date and include VAT. Allocate the money to specific areas, this way you’ll provide a budget in each area. Remember to put 10% of your budget in a little subsection called ‘Contingency’, this will allow for any last minute items you’ve overlooked or that extra guest that the groom's mum invited.

Try to prioritise what is important to you both. For example, you both might want a castle, but decide that having a buffet instead of a sit-down meal will reduce the cost to enable you to have that dream location.

Or maybe you’d dreamed of having 500 people to a sit down meal. Make a list of the people you’d invite. Then revisit it on a clear head - as you look at each person, when was the last time they phoned you? Do they remember your birthday each year? It becomes apparent that actually whilst 500 people might sound nice, you wouldn’t really want half of them there as you aren’t really that important in their lives, so why waste the money on feeding them and having to chat to them in the evening instead of enjoying yourself on the dance floor.

Now that you’re saving money at an outstanding rate, try not to get carried away and cut too many corners. I would advise being very careful over mixing business and friendship. Your mate might be very good with flower arranging and save you £20, but on the day if your mate got it wrong, would you still have a friendship?

By dealing with a professional in a business capacity you will be listened to much more and get what you want. Remember to shop around, you’ll come across one that completely understands you and can fit your budget.

And if you’re not sure - Don’t do it!

Planning a wedding is a great experience - but it doesn’t have to bankrupt you!