Creating the perfect wedding budget

Bruce & Tara Live - BIO
Bruce Russell and Tara Fay are co-stars of RTE’s flagship lifestyle show My Big Day: Home or Away, have created a platform that offers expert advice and creative content that couples and planners can avail of and trust. With a combined experience of over 30 years working as wedding & party planners, Bruce and Tara have planned everything from intimate Irish weddings to elaborate overseas celebrations and everything in between. Bruce and Tara Live is a space to share their curated advice, professional experience and invaluable insight.

It’s a daunting prospect starting a budget template for your wedding. How do you put it together? Where do you get the information? How much and how do you budget?

Well, take a step back, make a cup of something and breathe, because we are here to help.
First off, most people make the mistake of rushing headlong into booking various elements without creating a proper budget outline for their wedding. Its an expensive mistake that sometimes cannot be rectified. If you have already booked your venue and are freaked by all the mounting costs, don’t worry you can create a template to help you.

The best start to your wedding planning is to decide the style of wedding you would both like.
What are the most important elements you would both like to incorporate? What are the non-negotiables (such as you really want a live band)? What are the parts you won’t lose sleep over if you don’t have them?

Then armed with this list, decide on an amount you are comfortable spending on the wedding. Please do bear in mind we need to allow a contingency amount as well, which is normally good to have at 10% of your overall budget. This is for extra guests, any unforeseen circumstances, etc.

You want to end up with a final cost per guest amount. Remember this is not just your food and beverage amount (commonly called the F&B spend) but also how that impacts on all other areas of the wedding.

So welcome to spreadsheets! You will need to create a spreadsheet with all the various costs listed. It’s always a good idea to categorise these into the elements of the wedding.

Begin with how you are inviting people - are you sending a physical invitation or an online one? If its physical have you allowed for the postage cost and any other costs associated with this such as calligraphy?

Then within this category, be sure to add in any additional stationery you may be considering - such as a ceremony booklet, and how many of these you will need - such as one per guest or one per couple?

Ceremony costs come next, then your reception, F&B costs, and within this list everything you will have to pay for in a venue, including any “hidden” costs. Consider transport, Bridal clothing (include hair and makeup here) then photography, video, music, florals and honeymoon if you want it included in this budget.

Remember to include any service charges and any Vat amounts that are extra to the quoted costs.

Okay now you should have an approximate total, and from this you should be able to work out your per guest amount.
So, each guest will now cost you X because its not just their F&B cost, its also the invitation, stationery, florals, transport etc.

Then you compare the figure you are comfortable spending with the amount that the budget is coming out at.

Now go back to your original list of what is most important to you and compare this with your budgeted costs.

If the final cost is way over your comfortable amount, then you will need to either add more budget, cut guest numbers or take a really long hard look at your must haves and could haves and decide what is the most important element for the wedding.

Thinking of taking out a wedding loan?
If you're thinking of taking out a loan for a wedding, Comhar Linn is here to help. You can borrow up to €40,000. and repay within 5 years. With our competitive interest rate of 7.8% A.P.R. for wedding loans, and flexible repayment options, we've got you covered.