People often say that weddings cost "a lot". Weddings are "expensive", and can be "extravagant". But all those words are subjective. What is expensive to one may be chump change to another. What you need to find out is not that they are expensive, but how to budget for a wedding that you can afford, yet still meets the visions you have of a perfect wedding. This article will give you some simple formulas you can follow to have the wedding you love without starting out your new life together in debt from the ceremony. When you know what to spend and what to pass on, you'll have a much easier time planning that dream wedding.



Initially, you need to decide what aspects of the wedding are most important to you, i.e. what items you are prepared to spend the most money on and what are you happy to dispense with. If your family and friends are more formal, you may decide to spend the extra money on a nicer dinner with individual servers; for a more casual guest list, a buffet line may work just as well and cost you significantly less. You may be able to borrow or rent a wedding dress to get around spending big bucks on something you will only wear once, or it may be important to buy something that will last to pass on to a future daughter.

Sit down together and determine exactly what funds you have available for your wedding. Include your own savings as well as any money your parents are willing to contribute. Then use the following guidelines to determine how much to spend in each category.

40%: Reception/Caterers

10%: Wedding dress (and accents)

10%: Alcohol (includes bartender)

10%: Music (either live music or a DJ)

8%: Photo/Video crew - don't scrimp on this, or risk your second-cousin's-friend doing it - these are your memories. We all think we'll remember things for ever, but memories fade with time.

7%: Flowers/Decorations

5%: Invitations/Place cards

4%: Wedding bands/Wedding hall

3%: Wedding cake

2%: Miscellaneous (favors, transportation, lodging)

1%: Groom's tuxedo

Total equals 100% of available monies.

Your honeymoon deserves an entirely separate budget from your wedding. If you only have a small amount to work with, you can stretch it a lot further for your honeymoon than you can at your wedding reception. Consider cashing in your frequent flyer miles, driving instead of flying, or even house-swapping with friends or relatives from out-of-state. There are many great vacation package deals available over the Internet that translate to big savings at popular vacation destinations.

The place where people make the biggest mistakes in planning a wedding is spending too much in some of the categories that don't matter so much. For instance, it is nice to have a professional and elegant invitation. However, hiring a calligrapher to do it may not be the best way to spend your money. You can make your own invitations on your computer and achieve excellent results with a little effort. Craft stores sell whole kits for making wedding invitations quickly and easily.

Start putting money aside in a separate wedding-only account as motivation to save for the big event. With the right planning, and by cutting the right corners, you can have an amazing wedding to fit most any budget.