Budget Planning for Your Wedding
by: DreamscapesVideo | Total views: 16 | Word Count: 508 | View PDF | Print View
Money is the subject that married couples argue about the most. Is it surprising that the very same subject can cause stress before the wedding? Weddings are pricy affairs and costs can spiral quickly unless a couple plans in advance. Once a budget is drawn up, it is also equally important that both parties adhere to their agreements.
And while a wedding budget doesn't sound all that glamorous, it doesn't have to be a bad thing. In fact, planning your wedding without a budget is almost guaranteed to land you into serious financial debt. What's the key to success? As it will be throughout your marriage, open, honest, two-way communication is an absolute must.
Couple need to be honest in their desires for the special day. While brides often assume that men don't really care, that isn't always the case. A marriage is a big change for a man too, and he also has his family to take into account when plans are made.
As the excitement of the engagement settles down, the couple should spend some time in serious conversation about what is important to include in the event. It is essential to listen to each other. Once each person has described their vision of the perfect day, a list should be drawn up of desired details (to arrive in a horse-drawn carriage, lobster, renaissance theme, color scheme, etc.) and the items that are indispensable (photographer and videographer, caterer, flowers, rings, etc...). This information is going to form the structure on which to build the budget.
Number crunching is the next step once the tentative list of items is drawn up. First, the total amount that is currently available to spend (for example, in savings accounts, stocks/bonds, real estate, trust funds), and how much needs to be saved from each person's income, and how much help with expenses can be realistically expected from others. If the wedding date is a bit distant, it may be prudent to open a higher-interest bearing account to allow additional interest to be earned.
Don't make unrealistic estimates based on what others might cover in planning your costs. Whatever is contributed by friends or family should be accepted graciously. It would be immature to become angry or disappointed if the amount isn't what you hoped it would be.
Once you know how much you have and how much is coming in toward expenses, a total amount can be concluded. Draw up a list of all the wedding expenses and decide on a dollar amount or percentage of the total you would like to spend on each item. This will guide you as you begin to shop around. Of course, if you want to exceed the budgeted amount, money from another item on the list needs to be decreased in order to keep the budget balanced. Since the wedding budget is so important, if you find it easiest to use budgeting software and worksheets, by all means use whatever tools are necessary to keep organized and on track.
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