There’s a lot more that can affect your wedding than getting some pre-big day jitters, and one of those sources of constant trouble is the wedding budget. The more you plan, the better it’s going to be for you, but it’s all too easy to make a mistake in the rush towards the day of the ceremony itself. Here, we’ll look at some of the big and common mistakes you want to make sure that you don’t make.
Getting started too late
Perhaps the biggest mistake of all is thinking that you can budget and plan a wedding in a matter of months. If you’re aiming for a really small ceremony and you don’t have too many expectations on what it’s going to look like, then it might work just fine. If you have your own expectations and wants, then you should start booking the wedding essentials at least a year in advance. Venues, especially the more popular ones, are going to book up very quickly on the approach to your wedding date. Similarly, you should make sure that you get the caterers and other service providers you want, early.
Not knowing your costs before you start paying
You can set an upper limit on how you expect to pay for your wedding day and then work as best as possible to stay within that. Usually, you’re going to do it just fine. However, you shouldn’t start paying for anything until you get an idea of how much everything costs. Get your estimates for things like wedding photography pricing and keep notes of the price ranges you get. Once you have the totality of all costs set noted down, then you can finalise your budget and start booking. Otherwise, it’s really easy to spend the bulk of your budget early, leaving you little to spend on other things.
Not negotiating
There are a lot of costs that are going to be locked, such as with the more popular wedding venues. However, with services like wedding vendors, there might be a little more room for negotiation than you think. This is especially true if you’re ordering well in advance of the day, and ordering any items up in bulk. Be mindful of when a vendor is being firm on their price so you don’t lose them entirely, but always check if there’s room to make things more budget-friendly.
Not thinking about after the wedding
All too often, couples will throw the full weight of their finances into a wedding, only to then have to spend years living with the consequences. If you’re taking on any debt through things like a wedding loan, then you need to make sure that you have the means of paying it off after. You might also want to ask guests for gifts of money to help you pay off the wedding, too.
Lastly, make sure you build some wiggle room into your budget. There’s always the chance of an extra cost popping up here and there that you need to deal with.