When planning a wedding, one of the first questions a couple seeks an answer to is what our wedding budget will be. When the approximate budget planning is known, couples have the next question - how to fit into this budget during the wedding planning process? One often hears the opinion that the cost of a wedding, just like a planned home repair, will increase by at least 10-20 percent as a result. But the question is - how to fit into the planned budget?

Need a wedding budget plan

Although many couples admit that their wedding costs ended up being higher than originally planned, this does not mean that it is impossible to fit into the desired wedding budget. To do this, you need to carefully monitor expenses, as well as constructively consider each new idea during the planning process.

In order to keep track of existing and planned expenses, the couple should introduce a wedding budget estimate, a cost table. It can be either an excel table, or one of the wedding budget plans available on the Internet can be used, or another system that will be understandable to both.

Although the wedding budget is undoubtedly the responsibility of both the bride and the groom, the responsibilities should be divided and one of the couple should be responsible so that all items of wedding expenses (yes, even the smallest ones) are included in the estimate. If the couple has engaged a professional wedding organizer for their wedding, then he will also help to draw up a budget estimate that meets the couple's wishes. It must be said that the final decisions must be made by the couple themselves - the wedding organizer will be interested in organizing the most beautiful event possible, but the couple will be responsible for it meeting their own planned costs.

Hidden costs

1. In order to fit into the expected wedding budget, you should also be aware of what the "hidden" wedding costs might be. One of the most popular hidden costs is paying service providers for extra hours of work , for example, if you decide to extend the work of a photographer, host, bartender or musicians on the day of the wedding. If the couple has a feeling that one of these positions is likely to be extended, then it should be included in the budget estimate in advance. If, however, you end up not fulfilling this position, you can be happy about the savings in your wedding budget.
2. Similarly, another hidden cost that the couple often does not think about is trial make-up and hairstyle for the bride, as well as a pre-wedding photo session . Many couples take these things for granted, but they haven't factored them into their budget.

The estimate should include all expenses

The wedding budget estimate should also include those categories that don't seem to cost much, but in the end, all these small amounts will add up to a larger number. For example, if you choose better paper for the invitation and the price of one invitation increases by one euro, then as a result, if 40 guests attend the wedding, it will already be 40 euros.

Couples tend not to include these relatively small costs in the overall budget estimate, which can then be followed by disappointment that, as a result, the wedding required a larger financial investment than initially expected. The estimate should also include at least five percent of the total wedding budget for extra expenses, such as renting umbrellas in case of rain or contingencies, such as if you need to reprint table cards or guest seating plans due to last-minute changes.

Wedding budget – in a separate account

In order to be able to keep track of expenses more easily, it is recommended to either keep all the money intended for the wedding in a separate account or separate it from everyday expenses in some other way.

It is also recommended to make part of the payments (for example, to the photographer, decorator, musicians and other service providers) already in time - in that case, you will be able to keep track of expenses, and it will also be psychologically easier if you don't have to make all the payments at the same time.

PHOTO: GATIS LČMELIS , LINDA LAUVA , MIKS ŠELS