Knowing how much to budget for your wedding is a baffling question for almost every engaged couple out there and the first question that most wedding planners are asked. You might as well be asking “how long is a piece of string?”

The truth is that there are unlimited numbers of answers available.  In fact, you could provide me with “must have”, “nice to have” and “could live without” lists and I could still come up with a multitude of budget options for you.

I’ve talked to couples who tell me that they don’t have an overall budget.  Phooey!  Unless you really do have unlimited funds, you have an idea of what you’d like to spend at least within a range of prices.  So you might say, we have between $5,000 and $10,000 for our wedding.  Perhaps it’s $20,000 – $30,000, or if you’re lucky it may fall between $75,000 and $100,000.

Treat your wedding as you would if you were going to buy a house and ask yourselves the following questions?  How much am I willing to spend?  How much can I afford to spend?  These are two very different questions so answer accordingly.

Now that you have done this, there is a somewhat simple answer to this question.  Are you ready?  Here goes.

Depending upon the level of detail you want, you can expect to spend between $100 and $200 per guest.  

Yes, it really can be that simple.  FYI, this generally includes photography, food, DJ or band, alcohol, flowers, etc.  It generally does not include the rings, dress, attire or honeymoon – so keep that in mind.

There are some additional things to remember when you use these numbers as a general guide.  In order to keep the costs at $100 per guest, there has to be some concessions along the way, particularly in the level of detail or possibly the quality of vendor – ie a DJ vs. live band and the quality of the photographer you hire.

Some other important things to note:  the smaller the wedding, the higher the overall price per guest cost.  The more detailed the wedding, the higher the price per guest cost.  The more hands-off you are, the higher the price per guest cost.

Now, when you break your budget down in this manner it is easy to see why the most critical piece of the puzzle when managing your wedding budget is – THE NUMBER OF GUESTS!

The next time you look at low budget weddings, check the number of guests first to see if this rule of thumb works.  In almost every case it does!

The exceptions you find will be those weddings with the very low end cost per guest where the family did everything including the food, entertainment and/or photography OR the very high end where there were unlimited funds.

So, bottom line – use a figure of $100 to $200 per guest to build a wedding budget.  If the overall number is more than you have OR want to spend, start by revisiting your guest list and edit, edit, edit!

Happy planning!

Lori ♥

Helping You Get From “I Will” to “I Do”.

p.s. This post forms part of “The Ultimate Wedding Checklist”.  If you’d like to receive your FREE copy, click here

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