Your wedding budget - something you know you have to face even though it’s the least exciting part of wedding planning! Today we’re here to help you to get started with prioritising how you’ll spend for your special day and of course, making sure your flowers are exactly how you imagined them to be…
When you are newly engaged, thinking about your budget isn’t anywhere near as thrilling as spending time on Pinterest or out meeting vendors. Unfortunately, it has to be done early on. How the budget is spent isn’t the only priority here - actually prioritising setting a budget is vital! Doing this after your first, crazy/excited Pinning-spree is key as not only do some vendors get booked up very quickly, it also helps to keep you in control and feeling empowered when looking through ideas and speaking to people.
The very first step is to determine how much you have to spend and what is the absolute maximum that is comfortably affordable to make your dreams a reality. It’s easy to look up what the average people spend on their weddings is and just as easy to run into debt. Pair this question with what impact does spending this amount have on other areas of your life and who is paying. Does it mean you are going to have to tighten the purse strings for the next twelve months? Does it mean you, your fiancé(e) or family member(s) will have to work extra hours? Does it mean that the family holiday is going to have to be cancelled this summer? There’s a common theme here - always keep in mind that it’s all about you as a couple. You shouldn’t have to go to extremes, find yourself comparing or have expectations of others to fund this big occasion.
Once you have this grand total, there’s something to consider before you work backwards into how it’s going to be spent. Ask yourself how much you are willing to spend. Just because the amount is there and somebody has offered to contribute, it doesn’t mean you want it all to go on one day. Perhaps knowing this amount will help you to think about your honeymoon and the next steps after you tie the knot. Often this is the first time many couples really think about their finances and their future together.
So you’ve determined how much you have available, where the money is coming from, how much you want to go ahead and use, it’s time to put the money separately (or at least create a separate account to keep adding to). Doing this makes it real and encourages you to more carefully consider using it.
The next thing for you to do is to make a list of everything. It’s better to do your research now and think of all aspects of a wedding rather than realising later that you haven’t budgeted for something. Usually the best way to do this is as a line list in a spreadsheet - even if you don’t want it, still put it in there at £0.00 to remind yourself that you thought about this and decided back at the beginning it wasn’t a priority for you.
Now everything is in one place, go through each one and work out what is most important to you both. You might like to do this separately the first time around so you aren’t influenced by the other person. Then come together to see which you jointly agree on. Whether you prefer to number, colour code or re-order, put a system in place based on where you can compromise vs what your non-negotiables are. Give yourself a day or more to take a breather from this before looking back through it together and deciding whether it is important to you or to your guests and whether it’s about celebrating or impressing.
As you discover how much things are actually going to cost, you can make a single conscious decision as to whether to let the price affect your priorities. Knowing the amounts can help you to put your money where your mouth is as to what you really deem a priority - either reinforcing the importance of this for you or making you realise it’s more of a nice-to-have. Most spreadsheets will let you freeze certain rows/columns/cells meaning you can’t adjust your priorities - this can be handy if you are prone to changing your mind! Remember, in some instances it may be that you need to discuss some cost-cutting methods with the vendors or your wedding planner rather than having to let go of that priority completely.
If wedding flowers are up there as a priority for you as a couple (as we hope they are), we recommend also prioritising the venue, decor and photography. These aspects are both the canvas a florist has to work on and the visual memories you will have to look back on the floral arrangements you chose. You might also like to read our blog post, What Wedding Flowers Do I Need? to help you to work on prioritising which floral designs are a must for you too!
If you would like to find out more about how we can help you to create your dream wedding, event or photoshoot through floral design, then why not get in touch today? You can also click here to learn more about our process or follow us on Instagram / Pinterest for more ideas and inspiration.