How to Create a Wedding Budget

A typical budget starts with stopping the spending

A budget will help prioritize wedding costs.

One of the first tasks after celebrating your engagement is figuring out your budget. This can be a bit tricky, as if you are like most people, you cannot have the best of the best for every aspect of your wedding; you will have to prioritize, and the less you have to spend, the more prioritization. So knowing how much you have to spend is essential to successfully budgeting.

Who Pays for What at a Wedding

Once you know who is paying, you will have an idea on how much you have to spend. Traditionally, the bride’s family pays for all reception costs (food, decorations, entertainment), ceremony costs, bride’s clothing, invitations, photography, transportation. The groom’s family usually pays for the rehearsal dinner, their own travel expenses, the bride’s engagement ring and wedding ring, and the honeymoon. But keep in mind that this is the traditional way of doing it and that many couples, whether forced through circumstance or of their own choosing, disperse expenses quite differently. You may know that there is a set of parents who cannot or will not help, or they will help pay in a small amount. The best way to address this somewhat awkward topic is by making an estimate of how much you plan to spend on each part of the wedding. Then approach the parents and tell them how you came up with your estimate and kindly ask if they would be able to pitch in for any of the costs. And if parents do help pay for the costs, make sure they get a chance to invite their most important guests too.

How to Create a Wedding Budget:

Many of our readers responded to our survey and reported that choosing the top three most important priorities is the best way to start the budget and provides a focus. If both the bride and groom each choose three priorities and then research


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Couples quickly learn how to budget their wedding.

all the different possibilities, they are more likely to be happy with the outcomes. Of course nothing should be neglected, but if neither of you are too interested in wedding decorations and you can remind yourself of that when you are tempted to go over budget, in the end you won’t regret skimping. But if you have always wanted a certain designer dress and it is worth the splurge, then prioritize it.

If you haven’t already, you will most likely get a lot of opinions from a lot of people on what to prioritize. Listen to them, but ultimately it is your and your fiance’s decision. And realize that a good budget for one person is probably different than what is good for you. While one of our brides reported that she would regrets spending so much on her honeymoon, another regrets skimping on the honeymoon. It is a big day, so take time to really know what you want. Also, one of our bride’s stressed that you should not let the parents take over since it is your wedding.

Budgeting a wedding is a great first step for couples budgeting during marriage.

Forming a wedding budget takes time, but it is a great way to avoid money issues in your marriage.

Paying for a Wedding Yourself

If you find that all wedding costs are left to you and your fiance, try out some of the following tips.

    • Use time wisely. Most couples are engaged for about a year before they get married. This means that there will be plenty of deals online and in department stores to get everything you need. If you know what shoes you want to wear and what you want to give your bridesmaids, keep your eyes on sales. If you start early enough, you can save quite a bit of dough.
    • One bride prioritized in a number of ways. She kept the cake small, decided against party favors, used the flowers at the wedding for decorating extra tables at the reception, and had a sibling drive herself and the groom to the wedding but hired a chauffeur for after the festivities.
    • Don’t get into debt. Weddings can definitely cost a lot of money, but the most important part of the wedding is the marriage. Spending money that you could put towards a home or towards investments is a lot smarter choice. That doesn’t mean that you cannot have a beautiful wedding. Just make sure that before you purchase something or sign a contract with a vendor, that you have the money now to pay off the credit card.
    • We absolutely loved the advice in this blog post. The author shares ten ways that she trimmed $21,000 off her wedding budget. It includes stories on how she avoided being too accommodating, learned to negotiate, rely on friend, etc. Check it out!

For More Information on How to Create a Wedding Budget:

Wedding budget creator
Get your wedding sponsored
How to pay for your wedding