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Lisa
Expert August 2019 Alberta

How did you/will you decide on your budget for the big day?

Lisa, on January 13, 2020 at 16:21 Posted in Plan a wedding 0 25

There's so many newly engaged members to celebrate with, welcome and congratulations to all of you!

Now that you are starting to plan (or for those like me are recently married or those that are so very close!), how do you decide on what your budget is?

Did you and your future spouse talk it out, do some spreadsheets and decide in a rational, mathematical way?

Have you been saving for this day for some time and have had a budget set (or perhaps with the help of family members)?

Did you pick your venue first, do a guest list count first, and then figure it out from there?

There's so many factors to think of when deciding how much your day will cost - big or small, I know we are all just so happy at the end of the big day to be married and to move together into the next adventure!


25 Comments

Latest activity by Christina, on February 21, 2020 at 15:24
  • C
    Newbie July 2020 Ontario
    Christina ·
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    We don't want to spend a lot of money on a wedding, and we don't have that kind of money. So, we decided that we wouldn't take a loan for this. It's better that we arrange a modest ceremony for the closest ones and fly with my husband on a honeymoon to a wonderful country.

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  • Jessica
    Curious August 2021 Alberta
    Jessica ·
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    We do not want to spend money we do not have. We calculated what we can both comfortably save by the time of the wedding and factored in random things that could pop up cost wise and also DON'T FORGET GST lol.

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  • Elizabeth
    Frequent user August 2022 Alberta
    Elizabeth ·
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    We picked our venue, factored in our guest list, and figured out what we could live without before deciding on a budget!
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  • Jessica
    Beginner October 2023 Ontario
    Jessica ·
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    We figured since we have no help financially for thr wedding and the venue has ti be paid off prior, we figured we would do a budget wedding. We fivured out can afford monthly to slowly pay of the venue for thr ceremony.
    Inexpensive venue and self catered party.
    And we set a max budget that we both fee is reasonable to be able to afford in a year's time
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  • Hayley
    Curious May 2021 British Columbia
    Hayley ·
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    We looked at how much we could comfortably save each month that we wouldn't need to dig into if any unexpected costs came up. We put a guest list together to estimate numbers, checked out a few venues and vendors for pricing guidelines, and worked out how many months we would need to save to afford what we wanted. That became our budget.

    I have a spreadsheet that includes LST PST GST and Gratuity with 3 venue hire pricing options - venue hire based on minimum guest numbers, what we expect, and maximum guest numbers. I then write in how much has been paid to which vendor (when paid) to show what the remaining figure is and how much more needs saving.

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  • Desiree
    Frequent user August 2021 Ontario
    Desiree ·
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    We had in mind are number of guest we wanted to aim for and we knew right away we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on something that was for only one day budget it 10,000 so we made sure are venue didn’t eat up a lot of our budget and so far we are at 6000 for everything no dress in that budget yet and flowers
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  • Heidi
    Frequent user July 2020 British Columbia
    Heidi ·
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    Its a 1 day event, we dont want to start our lives together in debt so he threw a number out that wouldnt affect our pockets big time and we went for it, hope it sticks
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  • Allison
    Master October 2019 Ontario
    Allison ·
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    We didn't really set a budget, but knew we didn't want to go too much over 30k. We settled on this number after doing up a draft guest list of 135, however we invited 145 (we re-visited the guest list soon before sending invites. We ended up having 110 at our wedding. My parents offered to pay for certain things and told us they didn't care about how much things would cost lol


    Everything else DH and I paid for, we didn't want to break the bank so we went after vendors in our price range and we stayed within the original 30k. If we went over in a category (i.e. originally budgeted $2000 for photography but paid $2840) we would try to find something to save on (DIYing stationary for example).

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  • Tori
    Top October 2019 Manitoba
    Tori ·
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    We looked at how much room there was on our lines of credit and that was our budget. Sure we would have more room by the time of the wedding but we didn't want to end up maxing out our LOC's.

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  • Ashley
    VIP August 2020 Ontario
    Ashley ·
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    We made a rough guest list first then we thought ok what would a budget be for summer wedding for x amount of people. we have gone over budget however we picked and chose certain things we wanted to spend on. like i wanted a great photographer and i wasnt going cheap on it. one of my friends had no good photos of her wedding and she was devastated...

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  • A
    Super September 2020 Ontario
    Amelia ·
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    We never really had a hard and fast budget. I used the budget calculator here to get some rough numbers at first and have been keeping track of everything in a thousand spreadsheets since. We're spending a little more on vendors so we're going hard on the DIY decor to compensate.

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  • Amanda
    Devoted July 2020 Ontario
    Amanda ·
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    We talked about what we wanted our wedding to look like then looked at venues that would meet this and priced out things from there.
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  • Caitlyn
    Super January 2020 Ontario
    Caitlyn ·
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    We started with making a rough guest list to get an idea of our numbers. Then we went to our first visit to the venue and we’re sold on it. Then from the quote we made a budget for how much we were willing to spend on the other aspects of the wedding that were a smaller cost.
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  • Kelsie
    Master July 2021 Ontario
    Kelsie ·
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    We didn't have a budget really. What started everything was choosing our venue - it's our most expensive item and once we knew what the cost was we started ball parking what our wedding would cost and what we were comfortable with.


    So far we're not freaked out yet and we constantly try to cut costs where we can. My parents are giving us some money to help out but so far it's been us footing the bill.

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  • Amelia
    Master October 2020 New Brunswick
    Amelia ·
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    We made a rough (and hopefully generous) outline of what each element of our day would cost with some room for emergencies.
    So far so good!
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  • Sarina
    Newbie October 2020 Nova Scotia
    Sarina ·
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    We did an estimated guest count and then did some research to come up with a guideline that we wanted to stick to. We talked about the things that were the most important to us, which we both agreed that the venue and photography were at the top of the list. After we knew how much we would need for the various things I made up envelopes with out much we needed and we would take everything out in cash and lock it away so we wouldn't be tempted to spend it. My fiancé has been the one helping us stick to the budget because I get so many ideas in my head and want to do them all without thinking about the finances.

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  • Lisa
    Expert August 2019 Alberta
    Lisa ·
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    Sounds like a great way to manage things! It’s nice to have small goals of saving money too!
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  • Lisa
    Expert August 2019 Alberta
    Lisa ·
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    That’s so great - some extra time means you can get all the things you’d like!
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  • Lisa
    Expert August 2019 Alberta
    Lisa ·
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    I think many have found that what they thought things would cost wasn’t the reality! Sounds like it worked well anyway!
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  • Lisa
    Expert August 2019 Alberta
    Lisa ·
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    That’s so awesome! Your day looks and sounds like it was just perfect!
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  • Stephanie
    Newbie October 2020 Ontario
    Stephanie ·
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    My fiancé and I had a rough idea of how much we were willing to spend. We have a spreadsheet set up, so we know how much we need to spend (venue, attire, decor, etc.) and where we can save. It’s so easy to go over budget otherwise, because the little things add up so fast! My little game now and how much I can score each thing under budget Smiley smile
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  • Rayanne
    Master June 2022 Ontario
    Rayanne ·
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    We just decided to use part of our line of credit if we don't have it paid off by the time the wedding gets here. I love a deal and I get very excited if I can get one. I check marketplace several times a day. We gave ourselves a long time so I could do some DYI projects.
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  • Ashley
    VIP August 2020 Ontario
    Ashley ·
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    We made a spreadsheet in the beginning but once we started contacting vendors and getting prices and packages we have gone a bit over budget. but we have picked and chose things that are important that we are spending money on

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  • M
    Expert September 2019 Ontario
    Meaghan ·
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    We never really set a budget (I feel like this should have one of those "Don't do this at home" disclaimers). We just agreed to not break the bank. We also knew it was going to be tiny and quick so there was only so much damage we could do in a short period of time. Plus, I think finding deals should be a competitive sport so this was what I live and breathe for lol
    We did pretty well and, not including jewellery, kept it around $4500 including our attire and the kids' clothing. Because we had such a quick turnaround we just dipped into savings and I sold some jewellery I don't wear anymore to help with the costs.
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  • Vinod
    Top August 2017 Ontario
    Vinod ·
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    I was the one who took care of the budget and financial aspect if the wedding. All the costs and planning was easy and within our set amount if $20K under. Most of it being online shopping and some retail in person. Rentals were also done to help bring the price and no storage after thought. The venue was amazing in price privided a lot was included in the package.
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