Five Steps Toward Establishing a Wedding Budget

Establishing a wedding budget is not fun, but it must be done. Looking at wedding dresses, dreaming of wedding venues, going to cake tastings, and shopping for bridesmaids gifts are all more fun than establishing a wedding budget. But what a couple is able to do with any of these elements of their wedding are all impacted by the wedding budget. All too often brides blow their wad on one or two items on the top of their list and then find they have to do without, or cut back dramatically on other elements of the wedding.

Consider Your Financial Situation: Start establishing a wedding budget with an honest assessment of where you are financially. What resources are available to enable you to mount your wedding celebration? How much money is available from savings? How much has been offered in the form of gifts from relatives? Depending on your financial situation, how much can you responsibly expect to borrow and later repay without causing an unnecessary stress on your new marriage relationship?

Consider Your Guest List: The act of creating your guest list during the budgeting phase of your wedding planning is extremely important and largely overlooked. However, if a relatively accurate guest list is not put together at this point there will be no way for the new couple to determine how much needs to be budgeted for a number of areas. For example... continue reading Five Steps Toward Establishing a Wedding Budget