Congratulations! You are now engaged and ready to start calling vendors and booking contracts! But where do you start? Wedding planning can be extremely overwhelming. If you’re focused on staying within budget, prioritizing is a must. Ensuring you know your overall budget and then making those beautiful wedding elements fit into it can be tricky, but by starting with the basics, you can find out what’s important to both you and your fiancé as well as where you can save and stay within your budget.
The best way to determine your priorities is to start by each of you individually making a list. Think about what you absolutely loved about your sister’s wedding….and what you absolutely hated about your brother’s. Essentially, think about the other weddings you both have been to and what you’d like to incorporate into your own. Then start writing down what is important to you. Think about the traditions you’d like to incorporate into your ceremony and reception, and what elements those traditions will require.
Once finished, compare your list with your fiancé. Talk about why these things are important to you and how they fit into the overall budget. This ensures that both you and your fiancé have a voice in the planning, and also provides some perspective on where the priorities lie for your budget, creating a game plan for how to make both parties happy. You can then decide together what percentage of the budget to spend on those cute little chair covers that cost $10 each.
After you identify what you value within your wedding, write those combined priorities down to refer to when budget decisions come into play. Keep these items close and when meeting with vendors, make sure you have them nearby to remind yourself of what’s important to you. Now you are ready to start planning!
Beginning with your top priority, look at your now solidified list. If you are considering hiring a planner, now is the time to start having those consultations. By hiring a Certified Wedding Planner, you ensure that you will have a teammate and cheerleader throughout the planning process. Certified Wedding Planners have access to exclusive industry discounts and know all about prioritizing and budgeting – so you don’t have to!
If you are not hiring a planner, begin reaching out to your top vendors (determined by the above-mentioned list) to secure your wedding date. As you plan, you will start to see your priorities clearly defined by what your budget is spent on. Once the DJ/Band, venue, and top-of-the-line caterer are all booked – you may see that those chair covers simply won’t fit into the budget and find another option to save money for the beautiful floral arrangements you’ve been dreaming of. This is completely ok, and as you go through the planning process, you will notice your priorities float to the top.
By prioritizing what is important to both you and your fiancé, you begin with a clearly defined budget in mind and a list of how you want to use it. You consider both of your opinions (which is a solid start to a solid marriage) and decide together on how to spend the budget. Once your top values are identified, reach out to a wedding planner or your industry vendors and book your wedding date to ensure the most important elements can be there with you on your special day. As you do this, your wedding budget will define what priorities to find at a discount, and what elements can be traded to fit within your budget. Finding the balance in wedding planning can be tricky, but by following the steps outlined above, you will be walking down the aisle in no time!
To help you in the planning, give us a call at 410-978-2048 or be in touch at http://www.eventsbylexi.com/contacts/.
Featured image by Kelly Hahn Photography
