Wedding planning is interesting but it can get stressful very fast. You start with your dream moodboard and then suddenly, your pockets and wallets are getting a little too light.
So we’ll do this the smart way. Does wedding budget planning sound complicated? Not anymore. We’ve broken it down and simplified it for you.
This way, you first fix your budget and then have the wedding of your dreams within that budget.
Find a wedding budget calculator below!
Let’s go.
Who’s paying?
Is it going to be the couple, the parents, or are more people involved?
Whatever it is, make sure you figure this out first. It’ll help you understand how much dough you have to spare.
2. Who’s coming?
Think about how many guests you want to invite. This will be crucial in understanding the costs of everything else.
Once you know these 2 things, you can start fixing and allocating your wedding budget.
Wedding Venue & Catering - 40%
Wedding Venue & Catering will depend heavily on the number of guests. Some other things that will influence this part of the budget are:
How many events you’re planning across how many days
No. of guests for each event
Do you need lodging for the guests
How many meals will be provided and if alcohol will be a part of them (also, the type of meal)
Is the venue arranging food or are you choosing your caterers separately
Which season you’re getting married in (costs increase during peak season)
How early you’re booking the venue
2. Wedding Decor - 15%
Wedding decor doesn’t just include pretty flowers. You should consider allocating around 15% of your wedding budget to the decor because it also includes:
Furniture (chairs, tables, divans, bar counter, etc)
Foliage, fabric, furnishings
Welcome boards, archways, carpets
All other accent decor like statues, fountains, etc
3. Wedding Outfit, Makeup, Hair, Jewellery - 15%
People usually splurge a lot when it comes to this category. You can also add your wedding trousseau to this section.
Try to stick to this part of your wedding budget as strictly as possible. If you’re buying gold jewellery, buy outside of peak seasons to get a better price.
Consider renting if you want designer clothes but have a tight budget.
4. Wedding Photography & Videography - 10%
Just like your wedding venue, try booking your wedding photographer and videographer as early as possible. You can get better rates if you’re getting married during the off-season.
The number of events you want to cover, if you want a drone, and the number of albums you want will affect this part of your wedding budget.
5. Wedding Ceremonies and Pujas - 6%
This is basically all the things you’ll need for the type of wedding rituals you’re having. It can be haldi, pheras, nikah, or anything else. You can allocate around 6% of your wedding budget for this.
6. Music & Entertainment - 6%
Weddings usually have some form of music and entertainment. However, your budget for this category will dramatically change depending on whether you have your own playlist that’ll blast on speakers, a DJ, or live musicians.
If you’re going lowkey here, you can adjust it with any of the other categories.
7. Miscellaneous (Wedding invites, Wedding favours, transport, etc) - 8%
Everything else that you can think of, can come under this category.
You can also do away with the costs or decrease them a lot here by
Having digital invitations instead of physical ones
Not having wedding favours
Calculate your wedding budget in 30 seconds: Meragi Wedding Budget Estimator
To summarise the wedding budget breakdown,
This is in no way fixed in stone, just a way to get you started. You can always adjust your wedding budget breakdown based on what’s more important to you.
Need more customized help?
Let us know here and our experts will reach out to you and take the burden off your shoulders.
Happy wedding planning!
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