Photography: Shaneika Aguilar | Venue: Hawaii Vista Weddings
As wedding coordinators our goal is to be able to offer every couple a peace of mind through planning and organization! We know that for many couples to have their wedding day truly be the best day of their lives, this day needs to stay within a certain budget! So knowing how important budgeting is to our couples we’ve created a few videos dedicated to sharing advice all about wedding budgeting! This blog will cover our tips on how to stay in control of your wedding budget but as the information in this blog will build off of the advice we shared in our two previous blogs and videos, we highly recommend you check them out first!
1. Top 5 Decisions That Will Affect Your Budget
2. How to Create Your Ideal Wedding Budget in 3 Steps
Now that you know the decisions that will affect your wedding budget as well as how to create your ideal wedding budget we can focus in on how you can stay in control of your budget!
One: Look at vendor pricing prior to booking the vendor
Photography: Michele C Photo | Florist: Always Flowers 808
As vendors will make up a large portion of your budget it’s important to review the prices of your desired vendors prior to signing a contract. This will ensure that your budget is not increasing based off of the prices of the vendors but that the prices of the vendors will fit into your budget. For the vendors that post their pricing on their website, you can see if their pricing will fit into the pricing that you allotted when creating your budget. However, if your desired vendor does not post their pricing we recommend that you create a list of the items/services you’re hoping to receive from the vendor and inquire with them to see if it’s possible to get a quote that works with your budget.
For example, if you’d like to see if a florist is within your budget create a list with your desired florals (ie. Bridal bouquet, 2 bouquets, 3 boutonnieres, 5 centerpieces, 1 arch arrangement, etc.) and let them know what your budget is, then see if they can work within it. We recommend giving an amount that’s less than your maximum budget so that if you love something you’ll be able to have some wiggle room to include it rather than have it exceed your maximum budget. If they can provide it great, schedule a consultation! But if not, it's okay! Keep looking, there are a lot of really great options for vendors within the Hawaii wedding community and we’d also be happy to assist with you finding a vendor!
Two: Secure your vendors in order of priority
After creating your wedding budget you should now have a list of vendors in order of your highest priority to lowest. With this order begin looking for your vendors and securing them one by one down the list so that if shifts in your budget are necessary they will shift to the highest priority so that your overall budget won't increase but the allotments for the various vendors or items will change. By having your vendors prioritized you will ensure that you’re allocating the money to your next priority and not spending time and money on an area that is not high on your priority list.
Photography: EMBR Photo | Venue: Kahala Hotel | Florist: Su-V Expressions | Officiant: James Chun
For example, if photography is your highest priority and you found a vendor that you really want to be your photographer but they are $100 over your allocated budget, you can make the decision to take the $100 out of a different category that you may not be as high of a priority and this will allow you to stay within your overall budget yet get the vendor you want! Shifting your money by vendor priority will allow you to stay within your budget yet still put attention towards the area of your wedding you are most invested in.
Three: Establish budget and spending boundaries
We’ve mentioned it in a few of our previous blogs but only spending gifted money when you receive it is so important to helping you stay in control of your budget! By spending money that you didn’t yet receive from a family member or friend who said that they would lend it to you, you’re risking using money that you currently don’t physically have and if that family member or friend is no longer able to pay for that cost you would have spent an additional amount of money on something you were originally not planning to have to allocate funds towards. Another way to stay in control of your budget is by setting the boundary of who will be able to dictate what will be included in your wedding. If your parents ask for additional guests to be included or for a specific vendor to be at the wedding will you adjust your budget to include it? If there’s a chance that other people will have the ability to affect your budget we highly recommend that you chat with them prior to creating your wedding planning budget but to also continue to have an open conversation with them so you’re able to stay in control of your budget!
We hope these tips will help you with staying in control of your wedding budget so that you will be able to have a wedding planning process as peaceful and stress-free as possible!
XOXOXO
Happy Planning!
(A Perfect Day)