How to create a cost-effective budget for your wedding.

Congratulations!

It’s hard to beat that feeling of excitement that accompanies a wedding. Whether it’s coming up soon, next year, or you don’t have a date yet, it’s important you put enough thought into the most special day of your life.

But weddings are hard to plan. Venues, ceremony, catering, invitations… the list of things to do goes on and on. And the most difficult part? You have to do all that preparation while trying to keep costs at a reasonable level.

Planning a wedding can be overwhelming, for even the most organised of people. With the big day ticking ever closer, it’s easy to panic purchase and before you realise it, you’ve spent thousands more than you intended.

That’s why I’ve written this handy blog, to help you create a wedding budget that you can feel good about. Let’s begin!

What can you afford?

Different people are at different stages of their life and are therefore happy to pay different amounts for a wedding. By being honest with your partner about how much you can realistically (and sensibly) put into the wedding, you’ll be left with no regrets over your purchases. The last thing you want is to be feeling guilty on the big day about spending too much.

By considering your savings and salary, you can start to come up with a feasible budget for the wedding. It’s always good to leave some money aside for emergencies (your car breaks down, there’s a leak in the roof and so on), so consider creating another bank account to put these funds in, so you won’t be tempted to spend them.

The first things you’ll want to sort when planning your wedding are the venue (for both ceremony and reception) and the catering. These can account for half of your overall budget, so make sure you’ve built up those savings before making these purchases.

And remember, there’s no correlation between how much you spend and how good the day is. Your friends and family will have a great time regardless, so don’t sail into married life on a sea of debt.

If you’re interested in a truly unique venue for your special day, may I suggest our Old Wheat Barn. Spacious, all-weather and beautiful, it could be the perfect place for you and your partner. Click here to download our latest (free) brochure, where we give you the latest info about everything from food to photos.

Who should be coming?

One of the hardest decisions for any wedding planner is deciding who’s coming. It can be easy to invite everyone you’ve ever met so nobody feels left out, but just remember that everyone who comes is an extra cost.

Now, I’m not saying to only invite five people… that would be ridiculous. All I’m asking is for you to consider whether each person really deserves to be part of your special day. Have they been a big part of your life, a support system, someone you can rely on when things are hard? If so, then sign them up.

Different sized guest lists equal different sized venues. If you’re happy to invite several hundred people, then you’ll need a venue that can hold that many people (which will of course cost more). Again, it’s about being realistic over who actually deserves to be there on the day, and once you’ve figured that out, you’ll know the types of venue to look for.

If you’re interested in our barn, click here to see how many guests we can hold.

What’s a priority?

There are certain non-negotiables for any wedding: a venue for the ceremony and reception, catering, decorations, wedding dresses and suits… Decide on the most important things and what you must have at your wedding, and set aside the cost of buying them.

After that, you can go through all the other little bits and pieces that go into a wedding. How fussed are you about a diamond ring? Do you want a wild stag/hen do, or something more low-key? How professional do you want the photographs of the day to be? (P.S. click here to see some of the beautiful photos from recent weddings at our barn).

Once you’ve categorised each component into what you need, what you’d like and what you’re not bothered about, you can start to put more money into the important things by saving on the non-essentials. As always, it’s about being honest and realistic with your partner. Just because you don’t prioritise something doesn’t mean it’s not super important for them, so have those conversations and work out what are your collective must-haves. 

When you get married at our barn, the major decisions are all left in your hands. You tell us what you want, we’re just here to make it happen.

Can you be flexible?

Yes… but be careful.

Setting a wedding budget is obviously not a legally binding contract. Priorities can change, unexpected costs can crop up, you might win the lottery. It’s ok to alter your wedding budget as you go but make sure either you or your partner has some semblance of the bad cop. It will just cause stress further down the line if you don’t enforce your wedding budget properly from the start.

Happy planning!

So there you have it – everything you need to consider when setting a wedding budget (okay, maybe not EVERYTHING but certainly the most important bits).

Planning a wedding and setting a budget aren’t easy but just stay calm. The point you start panicking is when you’ll rush into decisions that you may end up regretting. So keep your cool and if you need any help, we’re here for you. We have a specialist wedding planner (Julie) who comes with any wedding at our barn. She’s an absolute expert in turning your dreams into reality (drop us a line if you’d like to learn more).

And if you’d like a super short version of how your wedding budget should roughly be split, here goes:

And remember, if you need help at any point during the process, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Feel free to use this handy checklist as a guide to keep you on track with your budget too. Happy planning!

If you’d like to know more about our beautiful wedding venue near Scunthorpe, The Old Wheat Barn, book a viewing below!