Budgeting

psychbabe314 · November 2013

I am recently engaged (11/12/13) and FI and I were talking on Monday night about what we would like for our wedding. I am trying really hard to take it slow, since we have discussed a late 2015 or early 2016 wedding. I figure, I can leisurely look at pictures of dresses. Maybe cut out pictures. Start a Pinterest page. Nothing extreme. I am not going to spend hours on wedding stuff at this point!

But, FI mentioned that he would like to have an idea of a budget by June so that we can work on saving. So, would it be strange to start looking at venues? Touring them, getting pricing information? I know that the prices will probably change by the time we are ready, but it is more so just to get an idea about how expensive things are in our area and maybe have a general idea of if we want to get married in our town or somewhere else in the state. FI also suggested calling catering companies and figuring out an average price of having a buffet vs. sit down vs. family style. We have heard that the venue and food can be the most expensive parts of the wedding so this information seems very important!

Any suggestions? Or should FI and I just leave it alone? If we decided to look, I think we would put it off for a few months (maybe this upcoming Spring start looking a bit).

Thanks!

ktjanesmom · November 2013

Try to come up with a guest list first. Number of guests will dictate possible venues and costs for sure.

psychbabe314 · November 2013

ktjanesmom said:

Try to come up with a guest list first. Number of guests will dictate possible venues and costs for sure.

Thanks! I will discuss VIP's with my mom/FI/FMIL soon. That way we know who HAS to be there, and who we can cut if we need to for costs. I would love to be able to invite my entire family, but I don't think that would be possible because there are so many of them!

winelover123 · November 2013

You definitely need to come up with a guest list. It's a good idea to get prices of venues and catering so you know what's reasonable. FI and I originally thought that we could get a DJ for $500. After we started looking, we realized that wasn't possible in our area and had to adjust our budget.

I'd also suggest to think about what kind of wedding you both want - formal with a plated dinner or casual? That will affect budget as well.

psychbabe314 · November 2013

@winelover123, good point! I personally would like a formal dinner or a family style dinner. But, would a sweetheart table work with a family style dinner? I ABSOLUTELY want a sweetheart table :-)

tmclawchick · November 2013

Congrats on the engagement! I agree with the responses so far. After you have an idea of how many guests/what style you'd like, I don't see any harm in checking places out, at least to get a feel for the prices/overall look of the venue. Good luck!

jlazgrl · November 2013

I say go ahead and start doing some research. Get yourself a little notebook or folder and dedicate one page for each venue/caterer you look into. Write down your basic need to know information (minimum/maximum head count, price pp, what is or isn't included,etc) I wouldn't recommend contacting any DJs or bakeries just yet, but those you can just google and get a basic price idea.

Also, you don't have to know your budget to start saving. We started before we knew the cost of anything. We would put $100 from each weeks paycheck aside for our wedding fund (skipping a week here and there if money was tight). If you could manage that you would already have $2500 saved by June! --- Doesn't have to be $100. If you can swing $50 then do that. Every little bit will help, and the sooner you start the better. Good luck and congratulations!

psychbabe314 · November 2013

Great! Thanks everyone! I think we will start getting ideas soon and putting money away

i am so excited!

vk2204 · November 2013

Definitely start with a guest list. The more guests you have the more everything else will cost (food, favors, invitations, etc). We figured out the maximum number we would have and then did our searching based off of that number. We didn't want to look at a venue that could hold only 250 when we knew our numbers were higher than that. Based off of how many guests we thought we were going to have we then created a realistic budget around what type of wedding we wanted. Good luck and congratulations on the engagement!

Chipmunk415 · November 2013

guest list, and costofweddings.com. That site will let you obtain the average price range of everything wedding related in your area, along with the average amount spent by couples. It definitely came in handy for budgeting, and for when my folks wanted to sit down and discuss financial contribution.

karlipregler · November 2013

First of all, congratulations on your engagement! I would suggest making a guest list first, it will help you with most of your decisions. You don't want to pick a venue that only holds 200 people and have 250 guests. I would also suggest that the sooner you look into venues the better. Some venues will actually be cheaper if you book with them earlier, and that way you can lock in your price before they have time to change it. But the big thing....SAVE SAVE SAVE. Save whatever you can. It's your wedding day and you're going to want to splurge on some things, and not care as much about other things. Make sure you can afford what you splurge on!

KatWAG · November 2013

I think you are going about this backwards. I would start with your current budget/ income and figure out how much you/fi can reasonably save between now and mid 2015. Once you know how much you are working with, then I would start with a guest list and looking at venues. Figure out if you can save $5k or $50k, there is no point in looking at a venue that costs $5k to rent when that might be your entire budget.

csuave · November 2013

Good advice from KatWAG and other posters. If you look at what you can put away each paycheck then you will have an idea of what you can spend and if you should even bother looking at hotel ballrooms that may have a $10K, $15K, $20K etc. minimum.

Lurk on your local board and you may get some good information there.

Some venues will also have their pricing posted right on their websites and others you can get it from a simple email request.

KatWAG · November 2013

I would add that you dont want to start looking at venues, dresses, catering, flowers etc and fall in love with something only to later realize that you can't afford it.

AprilH81 · November 2013

When you are thinking of how many people you can afford to host don't forget to include costs other than food and beverage. Every table means one more centerpiece, linens, chairs, place cards, etc.

Then there are the costs of your dress, FI's tux/suit, briday party gifts, hair, make-up, accessories, photographer, etc. etc. etc.

The venue, food, and beverages will be your biggest expense, but everything else can add up quickly, especially if you didn't account for them in your budget.

psychbabe314 · November 2013

Okay, well deciding how much I can put away NOW is a bit difficult. But, I am graduating soon and will be able to work full time which will hopefully make a difference! My mom has offered to help as have FI parents, but no set prices yet. FI has already started to save up a little bit too. I on the other hand... will contribute at a later date! (damn car loan).

KatWAG · November 2013

psychbabe314 said:

Okay, well deciding how much I can put away NOW is a bit difficult. But, I am graduating soon and will be able to work full time which will hopefully make a difference! My mom has offered to help as have FI parents, but no set prices yet. FI has already started to save up a little bit too. I on the other hand... will contribute at a later date! (damn car loan).

So factor all this in. Since both sets of parents have offered help. I think its okay to go to then in June (when your fi would like a budget set by) and ask them for more specifics on how they would like to contribute. Talk to your fi. Can he save $100 per month? Or nothing per month but save a potential bonus? Assume that you wont save much or anything. Then amend your budget once you get a full time job. Decide how 'active' you want to be in your savings. Are you just going to cut out Starbucks or are you going to seriously revamp your finances?

It is better to save more and not need it than to come up short a few months before.

psychbabe314 · November 2013

KatWAG said:

psychbabe314 said:

Okay, well deciding how much I can put away NOW is a bit difficult. But, I am graduating soon and will be able to work full time which will hopefully make a difference! My mom has offered to help as have FI parents, but no set prices yet. FI has already started to save up a little bit too. I on the other hand... will contribute at a later date! (damn car loan).

So factor all this in. Since both sets of parents have offered help. I think its okay to go to then in June (when your fi would like a budget set by) and ask them for more specifics on how they would like to contribute. Talk to your fi. Can he save $100 per month? Or nothing per month but save a potential bonus? Assume that you wont save much or anything. Then amend your budget once you get a full time job. Decide how 'active' you want to be in your savings. Are you just going to cut out Starbucks or are you going to seriously revamp your finances?

It is better to save more and not need it than to come up short a few months before.

Great to know! I am hoping to revamp my finances entirely and save as much as possible since I want to have as many family members as possible come to my wedding.

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