Calculate Your Wedding Budget

People have been asking me a couple of  times «  How much cost a wedding? ».  Although you would think the answer would fairly depends on how much you are  looking to spend on our big day… I can tell you that If you’re looking to have  a formal sit down dinner in a 5 star hotel ballroom, your budget is most likely going to be much bigger than if you put together a ceremony and a buffet in your backyard with paper napkins. Yet, this would still  require a lot of organisation and equipment rental.  As a rule, there are several big factors that will potentially affect what you’ll need to set aside. I have put together the basic breakdown of what you can expect to pay.

The price of the venue you will choose for your event will actually define your total budget. I would roughly say that it represent 50% of the grand total. That’s very easy to do the maths ! Keep in mind that the catering is often mixed up with the price of the venue. So the first thing to set is your guest counts. There is  a per-head cost for catering, so think twice before sending invitations. Then comes the flowers, entertainment and photographers, each should represent about 10% of the budget. This might sounds like a big slice, but those 3 elements will have a major impact on the success of your event. You should really not try to save on those areas. You can count 10% for your wedding gown, tuxedo and shoes. I’ll be happy to make another detailed blog post about this subject, although this is a very subjective area, there’s things any future bride need to know about the confection of a designer gown.

Finally, the smaller expenses are the stationary, the transportation, the gifts and the rings. If you choose to include your wedding planner service in the budget, most of us in France charge 15% to 20% or a minimum fee according to the size of the event. This percentage would drop if your budget was going above a certain figure.

I would finally say that you should always add 8% for the  miscellaneous. Trust me, no matter how hard you try, you always end up spending more.