Having a Big Day can often mean big bucks as it’s easy to get carried away with ideas, inviting guests and figuring out those all-important details. However, by following a simple budget you can trim away the pounds and streamline the occasion without so much as breaking sweat.

It’s essential that you create a written budget where you can follow your progress and keep on top of your finances. Sounds simple enough, but so many couples fail to do this and end up with debts that spiral out of control, which is not the ideal start to your married life. Nevertheless, by creating a spreadsheet or written log, you can adjust your plans accordingly. If you don’t know where to start, download our plan here.

Before you start, you need to know how much money you will have at your disposal.  Tradition dictates that the Bride’s family pay for everything, but with weddings today costing the equivalent of a deposit on a house, more and more couples and both sets of parents are contributing to the overall wedding fund.

Therefore, it’s important that you sit down with everyone and decide who is contributing what and how. You may even have a figure that you don’t want to exceed, either way you will now have an initial budget and can start deciding the many different ways in how to spend it wisely.

There are three key factors you need to follow:

Prioritise

Decide what kind of wedding you want and roughly how many people you would like to invite.

Make a list of all the things you’re going to need such as venue, food, photography, entertainment, clothing etc. Now prioritise this list, with the most important first, down to the least. Then allocate a percentage of your budget to each option.

As you break down the percentages even at this early stage, is there anything on your list that you can forego allowing you to allocate a bigger percentage elsewhere? This will give you a clear picture of how much you’re able to spend and on what. You’ll also be able to tell if you go over in one area it means you have to cut back somewhere else.

Shop Around

Once you have some figures, make sure you shortlist at least 4-5 companies or service providers for each thing that you will need. That way, you can try and get a better deal rather than just settling with the first few you come across.

Make a list of the questions you want to ask, ensuring that you ask all of them the same questions so that you have a measured comparison and can weigh up all your options, getting the best deal.

Be Organised

Oraganisation is the key to beating the budget: its essential that you accurately record EVERY purchase you make.

Therefore, by creating a separate wedding account, you will be able to keep a firm grip on your spending, knowing exactly how much you have available.

Keep a running account of what you have budgeted and what you are actually spending, as it is extremely easy to end up going over budget. If, for example, you go over budget by 10% and the average wedding costs around  £40,000, that’s £4000 pounds over! Imagine what you could do with that extra cash!

If you can clearly see what you’re spending, then even if you spend £50 extra in one area, you’ll be able to cut back somewhere else to balance things out. Every penny does really count.

Finally, keep a record of all your contracts, deposits and receipts. If you need to claim any money back, the last thing you want to be doing is searching for proof of purchase.