Читать книгу Planning A Wedding For Dummies - Sarah Lizabeth Barker - Страница 44

Now for the fun part well, talking about money isn’t always fun, but I’m going to try and make it fun. After you have determined what’s most important to you, it’s time to create your custom budget. Don’t worry — everyone has one. In this section, we’ll discuss what items should be included in a wedding budget, what percentages they should have, adjusting the percentages to fit your needs and forming your own budget.

Let’s start with what’s included. The right column of Table 3-3 lists items typically part of a wedding budget. In the left column, put an X, a check mark, or a smiley face (whichever you prefer) if you need that to be included in your overall budget.

TABLE 3-3 What’s Included in Your Wedding Budget?

Do You Need This In Your Budget?	Budget Items
	Wedding dress & accessories
	Tux
	Bridesmaids attire
	Groomsmen attire
	Flower Girl attire
	Ring bearer attire
	Ceremony venue fee
	Ceremony musicians
	Officiant
	Guest book
	Florist: Flowers for the ceremony
	Aisle runner, candles, accessories for the ceremony
	Marriage license
	Reception venue fee
	Caterer
	Baker
	Alcohol
	Bartender
	Reception entertainment
	Rental items: Tables, chairs, linens, silverware, china
	Specialty rental items: Soft seating, stage, dance floor, tent
	Catering rental items: Serving platters, drink dispensers, chaffing dishes
	Cake knife, toasting flutes, garter
	Florist: Reception flowers
	Specialty lighting or draping
	Parking
	Valet
	Transportation: Bridal party
	Transportation: Couple
	Tips & gratuities
	Photographer
	Videographer
	Wedding bands
	Gifts for your bridal party
	Hair & makeup
	Wedding party hair & makeup
	Rehearsal dinner
	Save-the-Dates
	Invitations
	Programs
	Menus
	Escort cards
	Favors: Cups, koozies, napkins
	Thank-you cards
	Photobooth
	Honeymoon suite
	Honeymoon
	Wedding planner

There are several pieces to the pie that someone may pay for, so you don’t have to include that in your total budget. For example, maybe your parents have given you money for your wedding, but they want to also pay for your dress and aren’t considering that as an item you need to include in your budget. Or maybe you have a relative who hasn’t given you money for your wedding but wants to pay for your cake.

Use Table 3-4 as a guide to help you set up an Excel file that will include all your wedding budget needs, how much each vendor costs, payments made, the date of those payments, the remaining balance due, and your total budget. The reason to do this in an electronic form is so that you can adjust the budget as needed based on your specific requirements.

TABLE 3-4 Sample Budget in Excel

						Total	$40,000
Item	Cost	Paid	Date Paid	Balance	Due Date
Planner	$5,000	$2,500	M-D-Y	$2,500	M-D-Y
Venue	$8,000	$4,000	M-D-Y	$4,000	M-D-Y
Florist	$2,500	$1,250	M-D-Y	$1,250	M-D-Y
Photographer	$5,000	$2,500	M-D-Y	$2,500	M-D-Y
Videographer	$3,000	$1,500	M-D-Y	$1,500	M-D-Y
Baker	$1,200	$600	M-D-Y	$600	M-D-Y
Entertainment	$2,300	$1,150	M-D-Y	$1,150	M-D-Y
Transportation	$1,000	$500	M-D-Y	$500	M-D-Y
Caterer	$6,000	$3,000	M-D-Y	$3,000	M-D-Y
Rentals	$3,500	$1,750	M-D-Y	$1,750	M-D-Y
						Over/Under
Total	$37,500	$18,750		$18,750		$2,500

Percentages of how much you should spend per item do not hold as much clout as they did in the past. Remember, the key is to consider what is most important to you and your fiancé. Table 3-5 is designed to serve as a guide, to give you a general idea of how much you should spend on each category. It’s not going to fit you exactly, so if you don’t need an item, allocate that percentage to something important to you. The categories are set up to be very vague so that everything under that category fits within the percentage.

TABLE 3-5 Budget Percentages

Item	Percentage of Budget
Wedding planner	10%
Attire: Dress, tuxes	5%
Ceremony: Officiant, flowers, decor, guest book, etc.	10%
Reception: Venue, catering, bar, entertainment, baker, flowers, decor, rentals	60%
Photo & video	15%