Today’s message is for all you beautiful people out there who are engaged and on the verge of looking for all the people who will help you have the best day ever!
Your wedding vendors are SO IMPORTANT to the overall vibe and happiness you feel on your wedding day.
I have actually lost count of how many weddings I’ve done, but it’s well over 150. In this time, I have seen some amazing vendors and some really shitty ones. The old proverb of “you get what you pay for” is often true.
But how do you decide how much to spend on your wedding?
YOUR WEDDING BUDGET.
Your wedding budget is how you decide what you can spend on your wedding overall, and then it’s like a game of Tetris to see how that money can be spent.
How to determine your wedding budget.
Money discussions can be very difficult to talk about, but the truth is, the quality of your marriage depends on your ability to have difficult conversations.
Having money conversations early on in the planning process will help you avoid awkward situations and conversations in the future, and it will prevent heartache long time.
So, I’d invite people to a wedding planning dinner.
This is when you invite people over to dinner to talk about how much they are going to spend. Make sure you tell them in advance that you will be talking about wedding planning and money. This way, they come prepared!
I would invite both sets of parents, or if your parents are divorced, you may have to do this twice depending upon if they get along.
Anyone giving you money for your wedding is a “wedding investor.”
YOUR PREP WORK:
Decide which items you want to splurge on and which items you’re ok saving on.
I recommend splurging on: wedding dress (if one or both of you will be wearing one), photographer and DJ. These are the 3 items that will help contribute most to the smoothness and fun on your day.
Do some research on your dream vendors. Find photographers whose work is your desired style, and figure out how much their packages are. Most photographers range from 3-6k for an amazing one!
Most DJs can be had for 1-2k.
Most dream wedding dresses can be had for 2k or less.
Right here you already have potentially 5-10k.
Do some research on what you want so you can present this info to the wedding investors.
What to discuss at your wedding investor budget dinner:
It’s the night of your dinner/meeting! Have your loved ones who will hopefully be forking over some moola for your wedding, and make it really nice! Get them all happy before asking the big questions:
1. Are they going to contribute to your wedding budget at all?
2. How much they are capable and willing to contribute
3. What the terms will be? Is this a gift with no strings? Is this a gift with strings, such as your parents can invite whoever they want? Will we need to pay it back? Will there be interest?
It may seem silly AND scary to ask these questions, but I promise it’s easier to talk about these things upfront rather than have issues down the road!
And to top it off, and I know this may seem even more silly, I’d print out a little contract stating this information and have people sign it. This way you can pull it out when need be.
I hope this helps!
xoxo,
La Rae
Wedding Expert
Wild Soul Weddings
Owner/Photographer