The day of your wedding is the day that you have been dreaming about forever. You may have an elaborate fantasy of everything being absolutely perfect. It is very to create the perfect wedding ceremony without depleting your savings account. The easiest step in doing this is to create a budget and plan on sticking to it! Many other aspects of planning the perfect wedding may be more exciting, but it is essential to create and maintain a budget if you plan to stay within your own limits. Here are just a few ways you can help budget your money when planning for your big day.

The first thing you and your partner should do is to sit down and have a conversation about what each other’s expectations are for the wedding. In this discussion, it is wise to talk about how much money you both are willing to put into the wedding. This is also the time for the two of you to discuss the things that are important to each other. Perhaps it is important for you to have a certain band play at your wedding. Maybe your partner would really enjoy a specific type of wedding cake. A marriage is a partnership and it is important to have these discussions before planning any sort of budget for a wedding.

The next decision you can make is to determine the size of your wedding. The more people you invite to your wedding, the more expensive it will likely be. Here are a few compromising tips to help keep your wedding size and budget well below the targeted amount. If you feel it necessary to invite a large number of people, it may benefit you to scale down the menu to a more fitting price range. However, if you prefer to have a decadent feast with expensive drinks, you may still be able to stay under budget if you cut back on the amount of people you invite. Some couples choose to create age restrictions and limit the amount of “plus ones” their guests receive.

Another tip when planning a wedding on a budget is to communicate openly with close friends and family about the different decisions you and your partner are planning to make. You may welcome their wisdom when it comes to their stories on how they planned their weddings. Perhaps you have a cousin who owns a bakery or an aunt who is a florist. The people who are close to you will be more than happy to help wherever they can. A bouquet designed by your aunt may even make the day more special. You can also get a group of friends together and make a fun day out of making home-made wedding favors. Not only is this a great way to bond with your friends, but it will also save you the money it takes to purchase fancy wedding favors and centerpieces.

Another thing couples should realize when planning their wedding is that timing is everything. The price of a wedding can differ depending on what month it is. Summer wedding venues will generally cost more than a wedding in January for example. The time of the day and the day of the week are also important! Saturday weddings typically cost more than any other day of the week. Couples can save money by having the reception earlier in the day. Breakfast and lunch menus are cheaper per guest than a dinner menu.

When planning your special day, you may be tempted to go all out and move forward without any regard to a budget. However, once you are standing at the altar with your partner it’s not going to matter if you spent a thousand dollars on the glossy wedding invitations. What matters is that you are about to spend the rest of your life with the person you love.