SETTING AND STICKING TO A BUDGET

The budget outlined on the previous page could quite easily resemble your own at this stage. For example you may have friends who are able to provide the transport and cakes as a ‘gift’ whilst a ‘videographer’ may not be your cup of tea. You may have booked the Insurance and the Service and therefore know actual costs whilst you plan to spend more than the average on your Stag and Hen nights.

We suggest that you constantly revisit this budget and update it as soon as you have definite prices for the various elements. We also recommend that basic detail is included on your budget planner, as per above, with greater detail (such as whether you have paid in full or just the deposit, when balances are due, contact numbers and more) kept with, or linking to this budget. Printouts (available 2007) and an on-line Wedding Budgeter are available from Weddingsday and we recommend that you take a look – you should find that they will save you time and effort in the long run and can give you a helping hand on your way.

You will also notice that we have factored in a contingency budget into our example. When planning any sort of wedding it is easy to get carried away, especially when you start seeing all the fabulous things which would complement your day. Your contingency fund should be kept separate from the main budget for the Wedding and if you get to the stage where you need to break in to it, you should evaluate what you have left to pay for and allocate your remaining funds carefully. But just try to remember, it is exactly what it says – a contingency – the idea is that you won’t need to use it at all (we’ll see!). If you can afford to, try to put away the equivalent of 10% of your Wedding budget.  If not, you need to stick to your budget like glue!

It may be easy to say ‘stick to your budget’ but doing it is an entirely different matter, and to be honest, it’s nearly impossible. If you are to achieve the ‘impossible’, you really need to be hard on yourself and really keep on top of your budget at all times. All the various tempting upgrades that are just outside of your budget need to be bypassed and you need to remain focussed on you ultimate goal at all times and be aware that extra money spent on the Reception may mean that you have less money to spend on the wedding photographer for example. Work with your partner and make sure that they know the financial restrictions in place and can help reign you in when you get a little carried away and vice-versa.

If the worst does happen and you stretch the boundaries of the budget a little, this really is where the contingency fund comes into play. Whilst you should not plan to spend any, if you do, make sure that you take the funds from this pot. If the worst comes to the worst and you spend all of your contingency and then some, you may find that the Money Saving Tips article may help you to save some cash on other areas. If all of this fails, then we can’t say we didn’t warn you!