How to Plan a Wedding on a Budget

Planning a wedding on a budget can be a tough job, but with a little creativity and a lot of time you can make this special day the wedding of your dreams. Once the actual mentality of getting married becomes reality and you have calmed down a bit the first thing that you need to do is to set a budget. A wedding is one day and a marriage is for the rest of your life. Most marriages fail because of money problems and who wants to start a marriage with these types of problems. So set a budgeted amount for the entire wedding package for example $10,000. Then break it down into categories such as dress and accessories, tux, flowers, decorations, DJ, food, alcohol, etc. When this is done every time that you purchase something no matter how small write it down in a notebook or keep a spreadsheet and save every receipt. This is very hard to do, but it keeps you grounded in what you are spending because the money goes very quickly. I did this with my own wedding. I did go over my budgeted amount, but it was only by around $100 which is nothing in the big scheme of things.

The next thing to do is set a wedding date that is at least a year in the future. This gives you time to search around for the best deals, not to mention some of the best reception sites require a year in advance reservation. An idea when setting a date is to think of non-typical seasons, days, and times for your wedding, for example the most expensive wedding times are in the summer months and on Saturdays. Try considering a spring or fall or even winter wedding maybe on a Friday evening or Sunday. Many reception places will give you a deal because they are slow and want any business that they can get. You may want to avoid peak holiday times like Christmas, Easter, Memorial Day, and Labor Day weekends too because places get booked easily for these holidays and they may also boost their prices. These times might not be in the greatest interests of your family and friends if they are traveling in from out of town, but it will save you tons of money in your pocketbook.