After saying “YES” and celebrating with family and friends, my planner brain turned on. I was a wedding planner before a custom stationery designer, so you can imagine how quickly I got down to business. When it comes to planning a wedding, I can think of so many topics to blog about, but the one thing that has really stuck out to me thus far is the budget—the thing that most people don’t like to talk about and is probably the UNprettiest item in wedding planning, but is by far the most important when beginning the process.
Why is talking about money so hard?
Before being able to put the budget together, we had those slightly uncomfortable conversations with the people who would be contributing to our wedding. I can’t express enough how important establishing the budget early on is. It made moving forward with the planning so much easier. We knew how much we could spend before starting the planning.
Being in the wedding industry, I had a really good grasp on what things cost and I knew the type of wedding we wanted to have. Once we came to that magic number, we quickly learned that not everything we wanted was going to fit within our budget and we had to prioritize. I am sure so many couples can relate to this!
After having a conversation about what was most important to us for our big day, we both aligned on the same item: guest experience! We wanted everyone to feel like a true guest, taken care of and able to have a great time. (In my wedding planning days, this was almost always the answer for other couples, too!) A very close second for me (not so much Bryan, haha) was the overall décor and style. I’m a details gal, so my perfectionist self is already working overtime on creative ways to achieve the look I want at a lower price point. I mean, I love Pinterest and Instagram, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to afford some of those inspiration photos. It is time to get creative!
Once we figured out our budget and what was important to us, we broke it down into percentages for each category. The key now is to stick to it—the hard part! We have already found ourselves going over in one area, but we are making sure to cut back on another.
Wedding Planning Organization Tip
As far as staying organized, there are so many tools out there for brides, but I wanted to share one that I am currently loving: Aisle Planner. Not only is it a great place to track your budget, but you can also manage your planning checklist, timelines, guest list, seating charts, overall style guide, and more that I haven’t even ventured into yet. Couples, you’re going to love it!
The budget can be somewhat of a daunting “to-do,” but once you find the right fit for all parties involved, the rest of the planning can finally get started!
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