5 Steps for Creating a Wedding Budget

A good first step for a wedding budget is to establish an overall wedding vision with your partner. Outlining the nature of the event you envision helps guide the many detailed decisions to follow. Common big picture wedding budget considerations include:

• Will the wedding take place in your hometown, or are you among the 25% of couples who plan a destination wedding?¹
• Is your style casual or formal/upscale?
• Will it be a single event or more? For example, two receptions when the wedding partners’ families are from distant locales, or a destination wedding followed by a party for friends at home.
• One day or more? Traditional Indian weddings can be multiple-day events; Chinese weddings tend to have multiple stages on a single day but with different clothing and guests.
• What time of year? October is most popular – and costly!²
• Are there one or two must-haves for each partner?

Most importantly, develop a range for the number of guests, since that’s the single biggest driver of a wedding budget. In fact, some of the tools and apps discussed below equate costs on a per-guest basis – which could help you zero in on who is worthy of an invite.

In 2019, the average cost of a wedding in the U.S. was roughly $40,000, including the cost of the engagement ring and honeymoon.³ During the pandemic, the nature of celebrations and the average costs changed significantly. Current averages are getting back to pre-pandemic levels, with one notable difference – the number of guests. Back in 2019, the average guest list was about 130 people. In 2021, it was closer to 105. With weddings still averaging around $40,000, this reflects a significant increase in cost per guest.

Of course, there are also significant regional differences within those national averages. Average costs in the New York metro area top $40,000, while the average in Oregon is roughly half that.⁴

 
That said, the average wedding budget breaks down as follows:

• $5,000 to $6000 for the engagement ring.
• $5,000 for the honeymoon.
• $28,000 for the ceremony and reception, with an average guest list of 105.⁵ Key elements within the ceremony and reception cost are the venue, catering, music, photography, flowers, and attire. 

Remember: These average costs and typical budget elements are important as guides, but don’t feel obligated to hit the averages. Weddings should be as unique as you and your partner. For example, choosing a date that falls on a Thursday or Monday could help with tight venue schedules – and shave a little off the costs.

One more thing: The best wedding budget planning must account for the unexpected. Many wedding planners recommend setting aside a 5-to-10% contingency fund for the unexpected or hidden costs that inevitably arise. In addition, it may be wise to increase the contingency fund for rising prices, as supply chain issues, inflation, and high demands are causing the prices of paper, food, and labor to creep up.⁶

In the end, most couples engage over a dozen vendors for their special day. To help keep your wedding budget on track, it’s a good idea to do a fair amount of comparison shopping before engaging any particular vendor.

 
Getting proposals and quotes from as many vendors as you can increases your bargaining power, leads to more planning ideas and, importantly, gives you more confidence in your estimates. One bride-to-be told me she and her partner “religiously got quotes from as many vendors as humanly possible before even deciding what a fair price was for a service.” Unfortunately, this may require a significant investment of your time, as many vendors will only give actual prices in person (the same bride-to-be said she automatically disqualified vendors who wouldn’t give a “ballpark price” over the phone).

 
And here’s a wedding budgeting tip that is often overlooked: tips. Gratuities are often sizeable and customary – or even required – but may be excluded from proposals. 

Hand-in-hand with creating a wedding budget is evaluating the source(s) of funds to pay for the big day. Most often, weddings are funded by some combination of a couple’s personal savings, family contributions, wedding gifts, and debt.

• Paying your own way. Many couples pay their own way. Because people are getting married later in life, their parents are often retired on a fixed income or otherwise unable to adhere to the traditional custom of paying for most of the wedding. So, it’s important for couples to have realistic expectations for how much they can save during the engagement – many people target 20% of their take home salary over the course of an average 14-month engagement.

• Family funding help. If you’re lucky, parents or other family members may want to contribute to your wedding fund. Having these tricky discussions in advance, about how much and how they would like to contribute, is valuable when creating your wedding budget. Some people commit to contributing a set dollar amount, others would rather pay for a particular aspect of your wedding, and some may prefer to contribute a specific item like the cake or the favors.

• Wedding envelopes. A riskier approach is to bank on some amount of cash gifts from your guests. There are some regions and cultures where cash gifts are the norm, and some couples open those envelopes on their wedding night. But in other parts of the country cash gifts are considered poor taste, so knowing your guest list and local traditions are important.

• Wedding loans. More people are using loans to cover wedding costs. In mid 2019, online lenders said they were issuing three to four times as many wedding loans as they did the previous year, and had begun marketing loans specifically for brides and grooms. Just keep an eye on interest rates to ensure you’re not going to take on more debt than you can comfortably pay back. If borrowing is part of your wedding budget plan, you may want to consider using a credit card. Especially if your credit score qualifies you for a 0% intro APR credit card, you can save money if you develop a plan to pay off your balance before the introductory period expires – and have the discipline to follow your plan. 

There are many tools and apps available to help you create and track your wedding budget. Wedding budget spreadsheets, checklists, and templates are available on many different wedding websites. You can use mobile apps to establish budgets, research vendors, and track costs. These apps can also help organize vendor communications and documents, even compare quotes from multiple vendors to highlight the best deals. And they are portable, which helps you stay strong when you’re on-site at a vendor tempting you with a super cool upgrade. Quick online searches can point out the right tools for you.