We want everyone to start planning their wedding properly to avoid pitfalls like overspending, fights with family or not enjoying their day. However, people don’t know what they don’t know. We have found many of the existing blogs, books or other instructional manuals on wedding planning miss the mark.
One of the missions of our company is to help couples and their families understand what wedding planning actually entails. Everyone thinks “I can plan a wedding, no problem.” However, people often don’t know what they have gotten themselves into until it is too late. By then, they have generally made some decisions they will regret.
We don’t want this to happen. We want everyone to start planning their wedding properly to avoid pitfalls like overspending, fights with family or not enjoying their day. However, people don’t know what they don’t know. We have found many of the existing blogs, books or other instructional manuals on wedding planning miss the mark. They don’t dig into all the logistics and factors couples have to keep in mind while planning. Most of these focus on saving money versus being real with people about how much it actually costs.
We were beyond thrilled when our friend and national mom blogger, Penny Pinchin’ Mom, asked our lead planner, Sarah, to write a blog series on how to start wedding planning for her site. In this five part series, she dives into what and how couples should begin planning. She provides real life examples and shares advice that we give to our couples on a daily basis. Here is a bit more from the first two posts.
Blog 1 – Where to Start Wedding Planning
In this opening blog, she really digs into how to start wedding planning properly by setting a guest list and budget. Couples often start picking venues and vendors without setting a proper budget. This is a sure fire way to ensure you go over budget as well as have to spend less on items you really want.
In this first blog, you will find advice on –
- Budget and guests lists being intertwined
- How to set a guest list
- How to ask for money
Here was one of our favorite parts –
Guests list and budgets are 100 percent intertwined when it comes to planning a wedding. If you take nothing else from this series, please remember – the more guests, the more it cost. There is no if, ands, or buts to this… it is the flat-out truth.
Let’s start with an example. If you come to us and say, my budget is $50,000 for 100 people. We are going to tell you, you can have several of those things you are loving on Pinterest. Not everything, but you will be able to have a very nice wedding. Please note this isn’t necessarily true in high dollar areas such as NYC. If you have $50,000 for 500 people, we are going to tell you that will likely only cover the food and alcohol for those guests. We will definitely need more money for the rest of everything needed for a wedding.
As you see wedding budgets get gobbled up quickly when you have more guests. This is a question every couple faces when planning a wedding – do I invite more people and have less décor, entertainment, etc. Or do I invite less people so I can have that awesome band or plated meal I really want. Or do I spend more money to have more people and everything I want. The decision is entirely up to you, and well, your parents as well.
Blog 2 – How Much Does a Wedding Cost
In blog 2, Sarah gets into the nitty gritty of what a wedding costs. For example, did you know the average wedding budget is $33,391 nation wide? Yes, we know it is a lot of money, but boy does that money go fast.
To help her readers set a proper budget, she discusses the following –
- Setting priorities
- How much things should cost
- Following that budget
Setting priorities is by far the most important thing you should do when wedding planning. Here is an excerpt from Sarah on this topic:
Whether your budget is $10,000 or $500,000, you should spend where you are comfortable. You should not go into debt to have a wedding. Like everything else in life, you should only spend what you have. To do this, you will need to prioritize.
Every couple is different. Meaning each and every one of you reading this will place value on different parts of your wedding. For some, it will be the food. For others, it will be music. While others, it will be flowers.
No matter the budget, everyone should set priorities. Why? This way you ensure you spend money on what matters to you and don’t find yourself out of money when it comes to a vendor or item you really want.
We will share more from blogs 3-5 in a follow up post.
Photo by Mojica Photography