Like Most Things in Life Weddings are about Priorities
Everyone has a budget to live on that reflects income and living expenses. There is no simple method to add debt without consequences. Instead weddings should be considered one more expense that must be included in budget planning. Couples do need to consider the amount available to spend, any additional money offered from families and then make the choices about what kind of wedding to have with the resources available.
Research Available Options
Couples should research available options when creating a budget. It is hard to know what is affordable until one understands what specific products, venues, and options cost. Sometimes research provides positive surprises about availability of resources thought to be too expensive, at times it is an educational experience and disappointment about the reality of the costs involved. Those who can be flexible and open to suggestions about alternatives often do the best with holding to a budget.
It Can be Helpful to Talk with Mentors
Finding people who have been married three to five years can give couples a perspective on priorities in a wedding. Those who have just been married are often still caught up with the excitement of the wedding and are good vendor resources. Those married a year or two are good resources to find vendors, wedding venues, and wedding ideas.
However, when budgeting considering what items are important to include and what can be economized or even left out are areas where distance can help. Those who have been married less than five years, generally remember specific details of their wedding days with clarity. Those are items couples want to consider when making choices. While people rarely remember the table settings, photographs are strong reminders of the day. When prioritizing a mentor can sometimes help clarify the choices one needs to make.
Couples Should Set Priorities Together Before Taking Plans to Family and Friends
For many couples this is one of the first big projects taken on and it can be challenging. It requires a variety of communication, financial planning, decorating, negotiation, and people skills to create a beautiful wedding. Couples can acquire a great deal of useful information from family and friends to plan a wedding on budget. Contacts are provided, resources offered, and paths emerge that were never considered prior to help being requested.
This can be a great gift for couples. However, couples do need to be a united force in planning. Well meaning people can be the death of a budget based wedding. Before engaging family and friends in the process, a couple does need to have an agreement about how much will be spent and the resources from which the money will be obtained.
Wedding planning on a budget is challenging but it need not be painful.
Source:
- Hagen, Shelly. The Everything Wedding Organizer 2nd Edition. Avon: Adams Media, 2006.
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