Wedding budgeting

We picked the three most important things to us and went from there. I found a budgeting app where you can plug in an estimated budget and it gives you the percentage for each section (ie: paper/invitations, food, decor). We moved money around to where we wanted it and gor rid of the things that weren't important to us- wedding favours, paper invitations, etc.


Try not to stress, it should be fun!

I agree with Morgan - you need to prioritize what's most important and work from there. We found savings by using a caterer that doesn't typically do weddings, a venue that isn't a wedding destination, cake from a local bakery that doesn't do wedding cakes, and so on. My mom offered to build centrepieces with flowers from Costco. We're going to DJ ourselves using a Spotify playlist. I booked our photographer for 2 hours instead of a whole day. Family is also donating and helping out where they can.

I'm not sure where in Ontario you are - but me and my fiancé are managing a ceremony and cocktail reception for 75 people in Ottawa June 2021 on about a 12k budget. It is really about prioritizing what is most important to you (do you need an open bar? sit down dinner? are you crafty and can do lots of DIY or will you be hiring out everything on your list?) and figuring out how much money you are willing to part with! Once you have that figured out it is all about planning your payments and required savings based on these priorities. We decided that a beautiful location with the closest people to us and lots of DIY would be more important than a large wedding with a lot of food and tons of vendors. Congrats on your engagement!

I think it's good to start out with making a list of your top priorities. Is a large wedding important to you? Do you need to have an open bar? Is there a particular photographer or videographer you really want to hire? Do you need to have your wedding in a large city or can you hold it in a smaller area that may be less expensive?

Then do some brief research into what things cost in your area to give you an idea of what you're working with. I went into wedding planning thinking we could probably get away with a $10,000 to $15,000 budget for 100 people and I very quickly figured out that wasn't going to happen.

I then set a rough budget that I'd like to hit and a maximum budget that I wouldn't be comfortable going over. At the same time I figured out what I could reasonably afford and what I was willing to spend. I also set rough budgets for each category and gave myself some wiggle room for the most important things on my list. For me and my partner the most important things were a buffet dinner, open bar, the venue needed to be nice enough that it wouldn't require a lot of decoration (was going to save a lot of money here) and the venue needed to be transit accessible or at least a reasonable taxi/uber ride from most of our friends and family. We compromised on the wedding size - my partner would have liked a much larger wedding than we planned but the venue and food cost would have put it outside the budget. We also decided to forgo a DJ and create an Spotify playlist. I also decided against hiring a florist to save further.

Then research, research, research. There is so much variation in how much things cost so putting in the time to search online and contact vendors is really worth it. There will be some things that you need to compromise on to make your top priorities work, but if you're committed to your budget you'll make something work!

I also highly recommend looking into DIY options for decor and purchasing second hand items. Rentals can be so pricey and it's often cheaper to buy them. Plus you can sell after the wedding and recoup some of your costs!

First, look at the finances both you and fiance has and figure out the dollar amount that you can comfortably part with. Do you currently have that money and are okay with not having it by May 2021? Or do you still need to save towards May 2021 and if so, how much per month? Once you nail that number down, stick to it. It'll be very tempting to start making that number bigger because of external pressures to have your wedding a certain way but you do not want to break the bank for one day.

Once you have your dollar figure down, it's time to start seeing what you can work within that budget. Some budget lines are set (they don't change no matter how you plan your wedding - like marriage licenses), some are small variables (there's differences but fairly minimal depending on what you do - like wedding bands or wedding officiants) and some are big variables (a cocktail reception for 50 vs a formal sit down dinner for 500).

Then you look at charges that are must haves vs nice to haves. An officiant and a marriage license is a must have (you can't legally get married without one). Rings are arguably a must have (you technically don't need them to be married but most would want them). A venue is a must have (it could be your backyard or another free venue that your family/friends provide but you still need to have a place for the people to gather). The rest are nice to haves and you need to prioritize what you want/need for your wedding. For example, the bigger your guest list, the more it will eat into your food budget if you're doing a reception. If food eats up most of your budget, you will have less for decor, a DJ, and photography. But if a good DJ to keep the dance floor moving is something that is important to the two of you, you'll need to allocate for it. If you want good photos instead of just some amateur, you'll need to budget accordingly. This is where you will need to find a balance between the different priorities.

Good luck!

I think budget honestly comes down to what's the most important for you and your fiance.
There are alot of ways to save on bigger ticket items I did fake flowers instead of using a florist. We found an a venue that was new into weddings and fair from traditional which saved us money as big traditional venues can be extremely expensive. We got a photographer that's prices were the best I could find as they can be a big expense as well shop around and you can also go with someone trying to build there portfolio as there prices will be much cheaper than an already established photographer. We have minimal decorations for our venue just centerpieces and seating charts and card box really and those are all being made by myself to save money. We have to rent chairs and tables but our cartering covered linens within our price. We went with a buffet style dinner as it was cheaper per person but food is something important to us so we were willing to look and try menus in out price point to find something we were happy with. I ordered a dress online for under 100 dollars which was a huge savings andy future husband bought his suit on sale.
Our wedding was postponed due to the pandemic but we were able to move all venues to the following year no problem and did a backyard ceremony this year anyways with just family and I loved it. There's no right or wrong way to have a wedding
I don't think what is spent on a wedding really matters it's really about you and your future husband and celebrating that.
Pick your big items first so you can see what your style is going to cost you and see what your willing to compromise on (unless your willing and able to save more to make it happen) we had a very limited budget for our wedding planning

I also recommend booking vendors as soon as you can! 2021 is booking very quickly due to 2020 brides moving their dates. I also forgot to say congratulations, but congratulations!

My budget is on the "smaller" side in terms of Canadian weddings (but still substantial I think). We are also having a reception wedding to cut down the costs of a ceremony venue. We are having a buffet dinner instead of plated dinner (hopefully this is allowed by the time of my wedding, also in May...). I bought my dress at a bridal consignment store and accessories during a different store's blow out sale. I am buying all of my decor second hand on Facebook Marketplace and bridal buy and sell groups. My dad is making our arch (which is actually very easy if you watch online tutorials). We are using my brother as officiant (free in my province and so very special!). Our photographer is a junior photographer so her company offered a $700 discount (she will be promoted to senior photographer at around the time of the wedding so win win!). Our florist is a woman who works from her home in a nearby small town (SO much cheaper than city florists). We will be ordering our decor flowers from her in bulk (I decided to go with bud vases which is very "in" and much cheaper than a large singular arrangement). I also considered Callia Flowers (highly recommend looking into them if there are no inexpensive options in your area and you want to save money on florals). Finally, we decided to forgo a wedding planner as we felt it was an unnecessary expense. This is the third wedding in my family and we did them all ourselves! I understand it is worth the peace of mind for some couples though, especially if they don't have lots of family and friends to help.

Good luck! It'll be beautiful and there is no need to buy into the whole "weddings must be expensive" thing. It is what you make of it and you are in charge of how much you want to spend.