Planning a Wedding on a Small Budget

Controlling your wedding budget is the most important thing to do next to the planning of the event. The two processes really go hand-in-hand. Your budget should cater for at least the following items:

• Registrar (Legal) Fees


• Notice of Marriage


• Wedding Certificates


• Minister's Fees (or legally-authorized conductor of the wedding)


• Ceremony Venue Fees


• His Wedding Ring


• Her Wedding Ring


• Invitation Cards (plus Stationery and Postage)


• Groom's Clothes


• Ushers' Clothes


• Wedding Dress


• Veil & Headpiece


• Shoes


• Underwear/Lingerie


• Accessories


• Bridesmaids' Outfits


• Venue Hire


• Furniture Rental


• Venue Decoration


• Equipment Hire


• Catering


• Staff Costs


• Wedding Cake


• Champagne and Drinks


• Table Decorations


• Flowers


• Music / DJ / Choir/ Band


• Organist


• Photography


• Videography


• Guest Book


• Transport


• Wedding Night Hotel


• Going Away Outfit


• Honeymoon


• Thank You Gifts


• Thank You Cards (plus Stationery and Postage)


• Miscellaneous

First of all, write down the total amount that you have available to spend on your wedding at the bottom of your budget.

If you know how to use a spreadsheet on a computer, then it would be the easiest to enter the items into the spreadsheet, or else you can write it down on paper. Draw a number of columns to the right in which you can add different options and their associated costs.

Now start with the first item on the list and enter the cost of your dream item into the first column. Do it for all the items and add up the total cost of your dream wedding. If the cost is less than or equal to the money that you have available to spend, you do not have any problems and you can have your dream wedding!

However, for most people, the cost of the dream wedding may just be too much and cannot be covered by the available budget. Now you will have to lower your standards somewhat and decide on alternatives.

Start with each item in turn, decide on alternative options for that item, determine the cost of each alternative and enter each cost into a different column to the right of the item.

As an example, your dream means of transport might be a horse-drawn coach. Enter the cost of the coach in the first column, next to transport. Your next alternative might be renting a limousine. Enter the cost of the limo in the next column. The next option might be to rent a Rolls Royce; enter that cost in the next available column. Lastly, you might have a friend with a luxury car who is willing to make the car available to you for free. Enter a zero amount in the final column.

Start to play with the costs of alternatives by moving them into different columns and adding up the total cost each time. It really is a simple task if you can do it on a spreadsheet program. In the end, you should come up with a set of items that will fit into your budget. As you can see, planning a wedding on a small budget is not such a difficult task to accomplish.

You can read here how one bride-to-be slashed $10,000 from her wedding budget by planning a wedding on a small budget!

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