- How to Plan a Wedding on a Budget Using a Template
- Nail Down Your Wedding Budget
- What's Your Guest Count?
- What is Most Important to You, Wedding-wise?
- Research How to Keep Wedding Costs Down
- Choose a Non-traditional Wedding Date
- Save on Your Wedding Venue
- Rent, Don't Buy
How to Plan a Wedding on a Budget Using a Template
To best help you manage your budget, and make the wedding planning process as smooth as possible, we thought we'd share some invaluable tips! Handy pieces of advice that'll help you get the best out of our free wedding budget spreadsheet, or use a Google Sheet, Excel template better.
Nail Down Your Wedding Budget
No matter the size of your total wedding budget, it's important to figure out exactly how much you want, or are willing to spend. Working out a realistic figure early on will help ground the whole process, and lessen the likelihood of you lusting over items too luxurious for your budget.
Once you've decided on a budget for your wedding, enter that figure into our wedding budget calculator!
Get your budget breakdown
What's Your Guest Count?
The more guests you have, the higher the cost of your wedding. If you want a fast (not stress-free) way to bring down the running total, you need to cut the numbers. Keep your guest list small, and you'll find the size of your venue needn't be so big, the catering will be cheaper, and almost all wedding vendor costs become less aggressively priced.
What is Most Important to You, Wedding-wise?
We hinted at priorities in wedding planning, and how they could affect the overall size of your celebration. But deciding on what you truly want, and don't want, extends much further than that. And to really create a wedding that not just stays on budget, but also lives up to your shared expectations, you need to discuss where you believe money should be spent.
Do you think it's all about the venue, and less about the catering? Maybe you're big on the party side of things, and less concerned about the ceremony itself. What are the three critical things this wedding must have for you?
Working out what suits you best, and sticking to it will help you keep track of your wedding expenses, and work more harmoniously.
Research How to Keep Wedding Costs Down
There are so many ways to shave off quite considerable amounts from your wedding budget, and often all they demand is a change in mindset. To help you get started, we've listed a few budgeting tips that'll make a massive difference to your ceremony and reception costs.
Choose a Non-traditional Wedding Date
The majority of couples want to marry during the Spring or Summer months, and over the weekend. For obvious reasons. And while having a wedding at this time is typically a non-negotiable for many couples, it needn't be the case for you. If you are happy to tie the knot during the cooler months, and you feel guests won't mind a mid-week wedding — then you could save a small fortune. Or open the doors to more luxurious venues that would otherwise be out of your price range.
Save on Your Wedding Venue
The majority of every wedding budget is spent on the venue, typically around 40-50%, including catering. For most couples, there's no getting around this. But if you have a large backyard, or you're close to someone who does, then hosting your wedding nearer home can obviously help save money. Of course, you will likely still need to hire generators, toilet facilities and allocate a catering company to the event. But their combined cost will not come close to the amount a venue would charge for their space.
Rent, Don't Buy
In everyday life, it's generally pricier to rent something, than it is to own outright. And usually, we'd rather keep whatever it is we're renting, rather than hand it back. When it comes to weddings, many of the things we buy for them, such as decoration, the wedding dress, furniture, rarely have a use after the big day. Therefore, it makes sense to hire as much as possible (for a good rate), and then hand it back when done.
The clearest example of how you can save money renting, rather than buying, is when choosing a wedding dress. A piece of clothing you are very unlikely to wear more than once, and yet will cost you more than your entire wardrobe, probably. So why not, instead, rent a gown from a designer brand at a fraction of a cost it would be to buy. The same goes for suits too.
Stay on Track of Expenses & Avoid Surprises Later
We created our detailed wedding budget tracker as a tool to be used while you plan your wedding, not just at the beginning. Of course, when you first start out with our checklist you'll only be entering estimates, and adding in guesswork numbers. But as time goes on, it's important to update these figures with actual costs, as that will help you keep track of your expenses. And stop things becoming unstuck further down the line.
It is so easy for due dates and deposits to mount up when you're busy with a million other things. And then suddenly your officiant is calling to request their final payment, and you had no idea you owed them anything. This can be an embarrassing, and not too emotionally pleasant way to journey towards a wedding day. Avoid that, stay organized and create the best wedding ever with our free budget breakdown template.
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