Five Tips to Keep On Budget

When it comes to your wedding, it’s easy to get a little carried away. So many things are expected, so many of us have dreamed about pretty things, so many businesses are lining up eagerly to sell us pretty things we had never even considered. And what’s the one thing each of those pretty things has in common? They cost money.

No matter how carefully we budget in advance, it can be easy to add a few dollars here, and indulge a little there until we suddenly discover that we will spend our first married year eating our choice of rice or beans every day, because we can’t even afford both at the same time.

But with a little extra care, we can avoid overspending. Here are a few ideas on how to keep the budget from blowing out of proportion.

1) Check in with your budget regularly. Whether you go over it every day, once a week, or once a month, make sure you know where you are every step of the way. You don’t have to be obsessive, but paying attention is important. If you let yourself ignore where you are, it’s that much easier to allow budget creep. Keep records, file your receipts in one place, and double check your math every once in a while.

2) If you save money in one area, don’t spend the savings in five other places. The other night, I was watching an episode of Rich Bride, Poor Bride, and the couple had saved fifteen percent on their reception hall by agreeing to hold their wedding on Halloween. Great, right? Fifteen percent off the reception hall is a terrific deal that saved them some real cash… except that every time a new shiny idea came along, the bride said they’d saved fifteen percent on the hall, so they had plenty to cover a second gown, a photo booth, more decorations, professional dancers for the reception, etc. That fifteen percent got spent at least six times. In the end, the couple wound up nearly ten thousand dollars over budget. If the groom and the wedding planner hadn’t both gone out of their way to rein the bride in, they might have wound up doubling their budget!

Save money once, spend it once… not six times.

3) If you overspend somewhere, cut something else. Again, this seems like a no-brainer, but a lot of people seem to forget when it comes to weddings that more money will not simply appear out of thin air because something cost more than you thought it would. If you choose a more expensive centerpiece for your reception tables, you may have to nix that special cocktail. Or if you discover that the cake of your dreams is out of budget you may have to scrimp a little on the invitations or the veil to make it happen.

4) Be wary of deals that seem too good to be true. There are a lot of hard-working, scrupulous, wonderful people working in the wedding industry. Unfortunately, there are also some real scam artists taking advantage of the fact that most couples have never planned a wedding before and aren’t really savvy to the realities involved.

If someone offers you a lot more for a lot less, be extra careful in checking out credentials. After all, you may save a bundle on your flowers… but that does you no good if they don’t arrive on site in good time and decent condition. In fact, these ‘too good to be true’ deals can wind up costing you a bundle when you have to scramble mere hours before the ceremony to find an alternative on top of having paid the bill for services left unrendered!

5) Get everything in writing and keep your contracts handy. There are some vendors who won’t sneak out on you, but will try to add extra charges at the last minute. Again, these are a tiny minority, but they’re out there and you can protect yourself against them simply by being organized. Get contracts from all your vendors, read the contracts carefully before signing them, and keep copies ready to hand on your wedding day. That way you’ll have proof that nobody said anything about that extra fee for florist’s tape and that you know precisely how much the cake cutting fee is.

If a vendor tries to tell you they don’t hassle with contracts, thank them for their time and choose someone else. A contract protects both sides. A reputable vendor will know that and want one just as much as you do.

Budgets aren’t fun, they aren’t glamorous. Nobody will praise you to the skies for how attractive your budget is. But at some point you have to pay the difference if you go over. Just keep an eye on things, don’t get swept up in the ‘one perfect day’ rhetoric, and really think about what matters most to you.

After all, whether your budget is a thousand dollars or half a million dollars, you’ve got a top number… and you’ll be just as married at the end of the day. Why court debt?