The engagement has been properly celebrated, and the excitement of what is to come has been joined by a wedding to-do list. Welcome to the challenging wedding planning! However, before you start looking for invitations, a wedding venue, and even a dress, you need to understand the size of your wedding budget and, if necessary, answer the question of how to reduce it. We asked this and other questions to an experienced wedding organizer - Oga Events creative manager Arta Pastora.
How to understand how big the planned wedding budget could be?
The wedding budget will always depend on the wedding format - one or two or several days of celebration. It is also important to understand the venue and the total number of guests. Sometimes it is a misconception that a one-day celebration in a good restaurant will be cheaper than a two-day celebration in a guest house. Most likely, the amounts will be similar, so if you have to fit into a specific budget, it is advisable to review the number of guests as well as the overall format. Intimate wedding celebrations are becoming more and more relevant, where the closest people are invited, without whom the wedding day is unimaginable.
Or you can create a short celebration to give a festive feeling, spend time together, raise a glass of champagne, eat a delicious piece of cake and listen to good music. So to say, to satisfy all "taste buds" and give the overall feeling of celebration.
From which end should I approach the budget estimate?
One of the ways to understand the total budget of a wedding is to look at an example - to put together all the necessary items and the approximate cost of each item. It is difficult to name specific numbers, as the amounts vary depending on the season, specific wishes and individual customer orders.
Another thing worth mentioning is that halving the number of guests won't affect the total cost to any great extent if none of the other items are changed.
The new couple's clothes, photographer, music and some other positions are not affected by the number of people. That is to say, musicians will cost the same if they play for 10 people instead of 70 people.
However, if the expectations are higher than the actual budget, what to do?
There is always an opportunity to save on less important things, such as:
- gifts for guests;
- photo corners;
- for various little things, which together usually add up to a large sum.
You can also consider renting things instead of buying them yourself. In my opinion, you can always find alternatives to one of the budget positions, you just have to be creative.
The main thing is not to panic - the holiday is about the two of you and your promise to be with each other, with friends and relatives present. They have come to celebrate with you, so you should organize the celebration in a format that suits you, which you can afford without driving yourself into despair.
On which items do you think it would still be possible to save?
You can create tasteful, minimalist decorations. So to say - less is more or less, in fact, is more.
I recommend that you seriously focus on the position of food and drinks, understanding the reasonableness of the quantities.
There are always housewives who charge more than one kilogram of food per person, which is a huge number. You can also give up on small things and review their necessity. For example, a luxury car rental will most likely be unnecessary if the ceremony and celebration take place in the same place. Therefore, the celebration should be as compact as possible - with everything close by, which will help you save on the rent of different places, fuel costs, various snacks (the less guests have to wait, the less you have to offer different types of snacks while waiting) and many other small tricks that you can come up with during the planning process.
But what do you think you should definitely not save on?
- Basically, there are a couple of very important things that we don't recommend skimping on. One of them is clothing for the new couple. The couple needs to feel comfortable, confident and just the way they want to be. Guests will see and feel it. If the new couple is happy and radiant, then the guests will also be "pulled" along and will be generally satisfied, which will create a fantastic atmosphere.
- Also, the choice of photographer is very important. You have to feel comfortable with him, and you have to evaluate the photographer's wedding photo portfolio and count on the photographer's style and handwriting, because it will be just like that. The pictures will be the ones that will keep the memories of the celebration for a lifetime.
- We also recommend that you think about the leaders of the evening, because someone has to take the responsibility of being the "voice" of the event. This role can of course be played by the presenters, but someone has to take it upon themselves to direct the event and the guests - by calling for photos, inviting them to sit at the table and asking for the first dance.
share
