Regardless of whether your wedding budget is $5,000 or $50,000, you can still plan – and have – the wedding of your dreams. Budgeting will play a huge roll in decision making when it comes to essentially selecting everything related to your wedding. Your vendors, ceremony and reception location, photographers, dj, flowers and everything else will be influenced by your budget.

In this article, we’ll discuss how setting a budget will save you time and eliminate stress and provide some tips for how to set a wedding budget.

calculator, pen, and budget overview sheet

Creating Your Budget

When establishing your budget, it’s important to speak with both your family and your fiancé’s family to help determine who is able to pay for what. Have a separate conversation with both families to ensure you have an open discussion.

Consider asking each set of parents if they are comfortable paying for a specific aspect of the wedding such as the ceremony, reception, honeymoon, or specific vendors. During this conversation, you can establish what the limit will be for what aspect of the wedding they are covering. For example, the bride’s family has agreed to cover the reception up to a specific dollar amount while the groom’s family has agreed to cover your honeymoon and flowers up to a certain amount.

This will prove to be very helpful when it comes to searching for and selecting specific vendors because you will be able to rule out those that you already know are outside of your budget.

Also, you and your fiancé should discuss how much you two can contribute. Be realistic and keep things in perspective. It’s all just one day, so there’s no need to break the bank. Having this conversation as a couple can help eliminate stress by improving communication regarding finances related to the wedding and will be key in helping manage expectations.

Sticking To Your Budget

You’ve established your budget, and can now begin getting deeper into the wedding planning process. Regardless of whether your budget is $5,000 or $50,000, you can still plan the wedding of your dreams. Luckily, it’s easy to find wedding vendors that will work for every budget, so you can be sure you will find one that fits yours. It’s important that you stick to your established budget to help you ensure your wedding planning process is a bit less stressful.