Setting Your Wedding Budget

As wedding budgets increase, so too has the number of parties contributing. While a bride’s parents once covered all expenses, today the groom’s parents and the bride and groom themselves are also pitching in. A client’s father recently made the following candid statement: “If my daughter were getting married a few years ago I would be volunteering more money." What he meant by his comment was that the bride and her fiancé were at an age where they were well established and successful in their careers and were financially in a position, and thus expected, to contribute to the wedding expenses also.

To start determining your wedding budget, consider how much you and your fiancé would like to spend for the wedding and how much you’re able to contribute. For reference you can view average wedding costs for your zip code at http://www.costofwedding.com/. Now that you have a target in mind, set up meetings with both sets of parents to discuss their ability and willingness to add funds. A detailed resource for traditional wedding etiquette can be found on OneWed.com. This may be a good place to start, adjusting as needed to fit your situation.

In my next post, I will follow-up with advice and resources for how to proceed once your budget is set.