This post will help you answer some of the most important questions you will have when you and your future spouse begin the first steps in your wedding planning process. How can I decide my Wedding Budget without relying on Debt? How can I increase my Wedding Budget? And, when I have a Wedding Budget, how should I begin to allocate it?
No matter how big or small the eventual budget is, the majority of couples who get married will need to decide what this number should be and build their Wedding Plan around it. Some people may consider using debt to increase this number, so they can have a bigger wedding and pay off the loan later. But by using debt you only end up later throwing away money for nothing, and potentially giving you and your future spouse unnecessary stress and worry! By following our steps you can set your Wedding Budget WITHOUT needing to rely on any debt, so you can have a stress free, worry free dream wedding.
Follow these ‘5 Simple Steps’ to set your wedding budget, without needing to rely on any debt:
Start with current savings.
Start with the amount you have already in savings accounts that you could use for the Wedding. This could be zero, or only part of your current savings, and that’s fine, we just need to pick the starting point!
Add any contributions from family.
If you’re lucky enough to have parents or other people who can help you with wedding costs, add this figure to the current savings amount. If you don’t have that assistance, that’s perfectly fine and not a problem, we can still get to a great budget number without outside help. Add this figure to your current savings.
Catalogue any unused items you can sell
Everyone has things laying around the house that you could sell to use the funds for a more useful purpose – such as building your wedding budget! Add the total for all of these items.
Brainstorm additional income you could earn
If your wedding is 12 months away, even just $100 extra earned per month (only $25 per week!) adds up to $1200 towards your total budget, if both you and your future spouse can do this the totals are doubled!. Add your total estimated extra income.
Calculate your monthly savings until the wedding date
Multiply your potential monthly savings amount by the number of months till your wedding. Add the total monthly savings amount to your budget figure, and then….
You now have your Wedding Budget Figure! Now at this point, you might be happy, surprised, or perhaps disappointed with this number, but the good news is there’s plenty of action you can take to increase it, which we detail further on. More good news is that you haven’t needed to think about any loans, or credit cards to get to this point – so that Budget Figure won’t turn into a large burden down the track. But why should you worry about this anyway?
Why should we have a debt-free wedding?
The majority of adults these days cannot escape some level of debt. Whether that is from school loans, car loans, home loans, small credit card limits, or even large credit card limits, most of us will use debt at some stage. However, there are two types of debt, good debt and bad debt.
Good debt helps to leverage us into a better future position, and should only be taken out on assets that will increase in value over time. This means things like education, or home loans, where the value of the asset increases, and will more than offset the amount of interest we would pay on the debt.
Loans for items that decrease in value, however, are considered bad debt. Personal loans for holidays, or most credit cards are definitely bad debt. The assets they are used to purchase only ever decrease in values costing you more over time.
A car loan could “technically” help to leverage you by providing reliable transport to work, however, as the car decreases in value over time and you end up paying more for the car than it would ever be worth, this is also considered bad debt.
Taking out a loan for a wedding is definitely bad debt. While you are of course creating lifelong memories, the monetary value of these is not an asset that will increase over time. A $20,000 personal loan for a wedding may not sound like a large sum, but with interest rates of around 12% it will eventually cost over $27,000 to pay back over 5 years. If you used a credit card with an interest rate of 19% this would go up to $31,000. That is $11,000 you would just be giving to the bank. 50% of the total wedding cost paid on top straight to the bank! Would you really want to throw away so much money that you could use for other financial goals such as a vacation, or put towards buying a home?
What if I already have debt – can I still have a wedding?
Of course you can! Maybe you’ve got student loan debt or a mortgage you’re already paying off, or perhaps you’ve already got a credit card debt that you’re working on paying down.
There are two ways you could approach this:
- Focus on paying off your debt first, then roll over these payments to your Wedding Budget, and delay the wedding for some time or;
- Split your total possible monthly savings amount between the debt and a larger portion for your Wedding Budget. After the wedding you could roll the monthly Wedding Budget allocation over to the debt and work on extinguishing that as quickly as possible
Which is best for you will depend on the size of the debt, whether the repayment schedule is flexible or fixed, and how long you wish to wait to get married.
And now, on to the Increase Your Wedding Budget tips!
How can I increase my Wedding Budget figure?
From our list above, items 3, 4 and 5 are those with the potential to increase your overall Wedding Budget Figure.
3. Catalogue any unused items you can sell:
A great way to decide what to sell is to set a timer for 20 minutes, and a goal of finding 5 items in your home to sell. A good rule of thumb to use, if you haven’t used an item in the last 18 months, you probably won’t miss it so it is a good candidate to sell. Kitchen appliances, sporting goods, and hobby items usually get the best responses from people who would like to try them out but don’t want to buy a new item. Facebook marketplace and ebay are great places to get rid of items quickly. Selling the unused bicycle in the garage or bread machine in your cupboard could mean inviting an extra guest or two on your wedding day, so this step is definitely worthwhile.
4. Brainstorm additional income you could earn:
Extra income earned really adds up fast. The $1200 we noted earlier could pay for an amazing wedding cake plus an upgraded photography package, or increase the number of guests by 10 people! There are hundreds of ways to earn an extra $100 per month, through platforms such as UberEats, or walking a neighbour’s dog at the same time you walk your own, or by any number of other methods. If you’re located in the United States, Upwork, Fiverr and TaskRabbit are worth looking at. If you’re in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom or Ireland, Airtasker is an amazing way to find easy jobs nearby. While the extra effort may be hard on top of your regular job, you only need to keep going until the wedding. And some extra effort now is certainly worth avoiding using debt, and paying for it later.
5. Increase your regular monthly savings: . You can increase this monthly figure by reducing some expenses, remember that many small reductions really add up here. You could cancel some recurring expenses, just until after the wedding, such as multiple entertainment subscriptions. Check through your phone app subscriptions, is there anything you can do without till after the wedding? If you save $5 every workday by not buying an extra coffee or lunch, you could have at least $1200! This article at Lifehacker has some great ideas for the easiest ways to cut expenses.
And remember, even though it might be hard, it only has to be until the wedding!
The other way to make a difference here is to increase the number of months you have to save money. If you’re able to save $500 per month, delaying your wedding date by three months would give you an additional $1,500 to spend. You may also get some other savings by pushing your wedding date out of peak season, when venues and vendors can be more expensive.
How should I allocate the Wedding Budget once it is set?
Here is where the real fun begins. The first thing you should do is sit down with your future spouse to discuss what you both envision for the day, as well as your expectations on the financial situation side of wedding planning. Are the numbers you’ve calculated comfortable for you both to spend? Deciding what is really important to each of you will help to prioritise these items.
Is a wedding reception with a large guest list and dance floor important to you both? Would you like a large Wedding Party? Or is your idea of a dream wedding about the opportunity to share a fine dining meal with just your closest family members and friends? There are so many options available to you as a couple it is very important to make sure you are both achieving as close to your dream wedding vision as you can.
We’ve included a suggested budget percentage split below, but please consider this a starting point for your discussions. You can adjust these figures based on your priorities as a couple.
The main areas to group expenses for your wedding budget breakdown are the following. Our Free Wedding Budget Calculator Spreadsheet will calculate these splits for you automatically. Click here to download it now.
| Wedding Budget Cost Allocation: | Allocation % |
| Reception costs: Wedding planner or coordinator, reception venue, food, beverages, wedding cake, decorations including flowers, wedding favors | 50% |
| Photography/Videography costs | 13% |
| Clothing costs: Wedding dress, suits, bridal bouquet/flowers, bridal barty clothing, hair, makeup, shoes | 10% |
| Accommodation costs: for the night before and after the wedding. (This allocation will probably need to be increased for destination weddings, or if guests’ accommodation needs to be covered also). | 8% |
| Marriage/Ceremony costs: Officiant, Wedding Venue (if different to reception venue), Marriage License | 5% |
| Jewelry costs: Wedding bands, other jewelry for the wedding day. | 5% |
| Entertainment costs: Music, Band/DJ | 5% |
| Transport costs: Cars to/from accommodation and venues, flights if required. | 3% |
| Wedding invitation costs: Stationery, wedding website, RSVP and guest list management | 1% |
| Total | 100% |
What are my next Wedding Planning steps?
Now you have the Wedding Budget Breakdown you can begin to research costs for individual items in the breakdown categories. It’s a good idea to start with the biggest chunks, so the venue and photographer as these will be the biggest cost decisions you’ll need to make.
Some of these will have prices posted online, for others you may need to call or email them and request an event pack, that will explain details of costs and inclusions for you.
Start to think carefully about dates, but don’t lock anything in until you’ve decided on a venue, as this will be the anchor point to your further decisions. For example, once a venue is decided you may want to select a particular photographer near by, or with expertise in that venue type.
Don’t forget you can always come back to your Wedding Budget Calculator to make adjustments, as some priorities won’t become clear to you until you actually start researching options.
So after a little bit of work in calculating some numbers (and decluttering your home a little bit!), you now have a clear starting point for planning your dream wedding. You have your Wedding Budget decided, with some options for increasing that figure if you wish. You have a Wedding Budget Breakdown, which will provide a clear guideline as you begin to research venues, dresses, cakes and photographers. Best of all you have the comfort that you’ve avoided a lot of potential financial stress and worry for you and your future spouse, as you know you’ll be able to achieve your dream wedding debt free, and be able to truly enjoy your big day.
