Between booking a venue, hiring a caterer, and paying for a band, the average person can spend up to $30,000 on their wedding day. Creating a budget can be a bit easier said than done.
For many couples, the only thing they can do is take out a loan to make their big day special. Those who don’t want to enter their marriage in debt save up for years.
No matter what course of action you decide to take, you’ll need to know how much your big day is going to run you. Check out this wedding budget breakdown to learn what to expect.
General Wedding Costs
The thing that’s going to take the biggest chunk out of your wedding ceremony costs is the venue and catering. Altogether you’ll need to allocate around 40% of your budget toward these two things.
Once you’ve knocked out your venue, you’ll have to hire a photographer. That will take another 15%.
Your entertainment budget should be about 10% of your total costs. Flowers are also 10%.
Many couples like to provide their guests with gifts and wedding favors. If you’re one of those couples, that will take up 2% of your budget.
If you have guests coming from out of town, you may want to use 3% of your expenses to provide them with transportation.
Your wedding cake will eat up another 2%. The last 13% of your budget should go toward decor and stationery.
Things to Account For
There are a few factors that will skew your percentages a bit. The main one is your guest list.
You don’t need to rent a huge venue if you’re expecting fewer than 50 guests to show up. Transportation and catering will be a bit cheaper depending on how many guests you have as well.
The other factor is going to be your piggy bank. If things are tight, you might not be putting a percentage of your budget toward catering because you can’t.
Keeping Up With Your Spending
Now that you know all the factors you need to account for, it’s time to learn how to budget a wedding. The best thing you can do is use a spreadsheet to keep up with your spending.
Most couples use Google Docs or Microsoft Excel. Separate all your expenses into categories and jot down how much they cost. For services that involve vendors, add a column for their contact information.
Most digital spreadsheets have an auto-fill function that will do all the math for you and help you add things up as you go along.
Your Wedding Budget Breakdown
Creating a budget for your wedding is the most unglamorous part of the planning process, but it’s necessary.
If you don’t understand all the costs you’re in for, you won’t know how large of a loan you need to get. You won’t even be able to start collecting coins in your piggy bank because you don’t have a goal in mind.
We hope that you’re able to use this wedding budget breakdown to get started with your planning. For additional spending tips, visit the Finance section of our blog.
