Setting a Wedding Budget: Part Two

Once you have your big-picture budget figure in mind for your wedding, it's important that you break down how much you want to spend in each category. Unless you're intimately familiar with the wedding planning industry or have been married before, it's hard to begin to know what different things cost and how much you should plan to spend on them within your overall budget figure.


Below is a starting point of the percent of your total budget you can expect to spend on these major vendor categories. It's a starting point because ultimately how you manage your total budget is up to you and based on YOUR priorities. If you're a foodie, and having stellar food offerings at your reception is a number one priority for you, you may choose to spend more in this category and cut back in others. So, the first question to ask yourself is "what's most important to me?". You can then adjust from there.

Percent of Budget by Vendors


Caterer: 40-50%
Food and Beverage is by far the biggest expense for your wedding.


Venue: 10-15%


Floral: 4-7%


Photography: 4-7%


Music: 7-10%


Of course, there are many other categories that will take up smaller percentages of your budget: paper/stationery, wedding planning/design, your dress and accessories, the cake, etc. Again, depending on what's important to you, and what you are planning to include on your big day, you'll want to get a starting number in mind for each as you begin to request proposals from vendors.


Being Realistic


Since most brides do not know what to expect about vendor costs going into wedding planning, it's common to not understand why certain things cost as much as they do. Let's take catering, for an example. How does the cost of a wedding caterer break down? Here's a hint: it's not just the cost of food you're paying for!

• Food and Beverage: This is usually at a cost per person.
• Equipment: Anything the caterer needs to prep and serve.
• Staff: The people - from cooks to coordinators - that need to be on hand to execute.
• Delivery Charge: Covers the cost of getting everything to your event venue.

Obviously, a good vendor is going to try to work within your budget parameters. However, it's important to remember that different vendors offer different levels of service, and you really do get what you pay for. There's only so much cost cutting you can try to do with a vendor before you're going to be in a situation where the quality of service might be compromised. They can't work like that, and you wouldn't want that anyway!

Next Up: Part 3: Keeping Track of Expenses & Being Flexible


Missed Part 1? Read it here.