Wedding Budgets

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Budget well and you're half-way there

From the beginning decide what you can afford to spend on your wedding and who is paying for what.

It's a good idea to conduct your budget negotiations on neutral territory, say over dinner in a restaurant. Make sure everyone is present so there are no misunderstandings. Write down what has been agreed and give everyone a copy.

Make a list of everything you will need for the wedding (our planner will help here) and work out how much you want to spend on each item. Remember that if you overspend on one item you'll have to cut back elsewhere.

Organise the wedding elements into order of importance to you, it will help you decide where you could cut back (for example should you compromise on the number of guests, type of food, drinks, music, etc.).

Open a wedding bank account and put everyone's contributions into it. This makes it easy to keep track of how you're going.

Memorable weddings are not about spending a fortune - they're about celebrating your love and commitment with your family and friends.

Who pays for what?

Traditionally the grooms parents are not involved financially, however with the rising costs of weddings both families and the bride and groom may share the expenses.

These days about 50% of brides and grooms pay for their own wedding, 30% are paid for by the bride's parents, and the rest have everyone chipping in.

Here's a possible way to split the budget. These percentages are not set in stone - they are merely suggestions. You can vary them depending on which parts of your wedding are most important to you.

Key: 1 = bride's family 2 = groom's family

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