It is inevitable. There will be a moment on your wedding planning journey where you say “Excuse me… that costs how much????”. Yes, the shock will pass, but, you need to really take an honest look at your budget and plan accordingly.
 
Sometimes the problem is that Brides don’t know before hand the average cost of some basic wedding items. What is the average cost of a Wedding Planner? A Florist? A DJ? How would you know if you didn’t either A) work in the biz or B) have done this before.

Take a look at this:

http://www.weddingstats.org/index.html
 
The above link is just a fun tool that I use regularly and I pass the link onto my Brides. This website has some great statistics about weddings and the cost of each vendor. This information will help you as you look at your budget for the big day. Of course you can personalize this to fit your vision, and you should! Don’t care much about a video? Put those funds towards your flowers. Don’t need a designer label on your wedding gown? Buy at a sample sale and put the difference towards your bar tab. This link just helps as you begin…. and as you try to understand all that has to go into the world of wedding planning!
 

Wedding Wire also has a fantastic Budget tool. www.weddingwire.com . Once you plug-in your overall budget, it will itemize out the categories of the event, as well as the estimated cost. You can then go in and enter your actual numbers, keeping track of payments and due dates. It is a great tool, and since it is web-based, it can be accessed anywhere…. unlike that excel spread sheet you started from scratch on your laptop. (Wedding wire is also great for your seating chart, vendors, etc. fyi!)

Watch those funds friends! Spend enough on the things that really matter you to, and cut back on the things that don’t. Go big, but please don’t go broke!
 
~Candice