A wedding is the most beautiful day for people getting married. To carry out a wedding, it is necessary to have enough money to cover all the expenses. That's why couples should save money in advance for their happiest day. When will they start saving? In what way? What should they pay attention to when planning a wedding? You will find out all that in the rest of this article.

Where To Start With Your Wedding Budget

To set a wedding budget, you should first sit down with your fiancé to plan what your wedding will look like. By this, I mean that you should harmonize your wishes with your partner's. It may happen that you may have some different ideas about the big day. As an example, what kind of music will be played at a wedding? One of the partners may like fun music and the other likes live jazz music. Or what about the types of foods, number of guests, location, celebration afterwards, dancing, attire, photography, etc. These is just a few examples of how important every detail is and how each one can impact your wedding budget. 
 

How do you avoid blowing the budget?

Sometimes it happens that couples set an unrealistically small budget for their wedding. The main reason for this can be unforeseen costs. To prevent this from happening, you can do the following things:

1. determine the budget range - this means that you need to take into account how much you can realistically afford for the wedding, plus some money for extra padding just in case. When doing this you should consider all forms of financing, whether it is personal savings, family contributions, or a combination of the above.
    
2. discuss what is most important for your wedding with your fiancé - this means having an open and honest conversation about what you think is important for your wedding. This means that you should agree on the place where you will get married, the photos, and other small details that are important for both you and your fiancé.
    
3. think about the date and time of the wedding - if you want your wedding to have lower costs, you should set a date and time outside of peak hours, such as weekdays or off-season months. If your time is in the afternoon you can save a little more. 
    
4. choosing the place where the wedding will take place - in addition to the traditional wedding venues, you should also choose some unusual wedding venues. These can be local communities, centers, parks, or friends' backyards.
    
5. DIY decoration - if you want to have less expenses for wedding decoration and flowers, you can make bouquets and other decorative elements yourself to give a personal touch.
    
6. look for cheaper wedding clothes - you don't have to buy a fancy wedding dress and suit just for the occasion. You can rent it because it is much cheaper than wearing it just for the day.
    
7. determine the things that are not important to you - if you do this then you will save money by skipping on the on less important things which gives you more money to put towards the things that are very important to you.
    
8. pay attention to the guest list - if you want to have lower costs, then you should also pay attention to the number of guests you invite to the wedding.  Each invitee adds to the cost of catering, the size of the place, chair/table rental, and other costs. It is the most budget friendly to have an intimate wedding with your closest friends and family.
    
9. monitor your expenses - when you initially determine the budget for the wedding, you should monitor the expenses you incur while organizing the wedding and, if necessary, make course corrections as you go along.
    
10. get your friends to pitch in - maybe you have a friend who can DJ for you, another who can do pictures, and relative who can bake a cake? By using friends and family in this way they will feel appreciated to be included. They don't have to do it for free, but even if they do it for half the going rate that is a nice savings for you!
     

How to track your Wedding Expenses

To keep track of planning your wedding, and how much you plan to spend (or have already spent) a spreadsheet will help. It would be a good idea to do it as a Google Drive spreadsheet that you both have access to. 

Suggested columns for wedding budget spreadsheet:

• Item description (location, catering, her clothing, his clothing, etc)
• Importance (high, medium, low)
• Estimated price
• Status (exploring ideas, getting quotes, reserved, paid)
• Actual Price
• Date Purchased
• Purchase method (cash, credit card, parents paying, etc)
   

What happens if you blow one element of the budget?

When it comes to essential items being over budget, there isn't much you can do except cut non-essential items to balance it out. As you go through the process of planning, and then actually paying for each line item you can adjust or cut the ones you have left. This is a good exercise for couples to to through together. 

Conclusion: I hope these wedding budget tips have been helpful and you'll know where and how to put your money when it comes to wedding planning.