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Wedding Budget - Listing Priorities Is The First Step |
"What you really need is a nice, big thick loose-leaf binder," said Woodman, who runs thinkwedding.com.
Contracts, estimates, reservations, receipts - they all go in the binder.
Aside from a house, a wedding is the biggest expenditure many couples will ever make, Woodman says. And, unlike a house, it gets spent dollar by dollar.
So before you buy anything else, get that binder, she said. If you're not organized, planning a wedding can be a nightmare.
Prioritizing Is Key
After you've got the binder, but before you do anything else, Woodman says you need to make a list of priorities. That list becomes the binder's front page, she said.
Sit down with a pencil and paper and list everything you want. Then, put those wants - dress, big reception, etc. - in order by priority.
At the top goes, "What Can't be Negotiated. What's Absolutely a Deal-Killer. What I Can't Have a Wedding Without."
For many brides that's the dress. They want a designer dress, elaborate and unique.
Woodman said this can cause problems: "However, if you have your heart set on a $5,000 designer gown ... "
You can have it, she says, but don't plan on having a fancy reception unless you've got money to burn.
Tanya Laffler, manager of The Craft House on Neff Avenue, Harrisonburg, says the average Valley wedding is still a small affair: a church ceremony and a simple, dessert-only reception with 100-200 guests.
The Craft House sells supplies for making your own cake, flower arrangements or favors.
There is a budgeting advantage if you do things yourself. It's easy to keep tabs on how much everything costs and where you can cut corners.
Doing these things yourself saves money, said Laffler, but that's not the only plus: "When you do your own things, I think it means more to your guests."
No Normal Percentages
When organizing the budget, Woodman breaks it down into two main categories: the ceremony and the reception.
Under those broad categories, she itemizes every expense.
What most brides want to know about wedding budgets is what she can't tell them: The percentage people normally spend on each thing.
If there were a formula, planning would be easy.
"There's no such thing," she said. "It really depends on you."
Instead of budgeting 10 percent for the dress and 15 percent for the flowers, she says it's better to stick to your priorities and figure it out from there.
Reception Not a Moneymaker
Receptions are one of the major sticking points for people, Woodman said.
A lot of people make the mistake of thinking they'll make the cost of a bigger reception up in gifts.
"It's not going to work out that way," she said.
You should never figure the amount you're going to get in gifts into the budget, Woodman says.
For couples with big families, the reception is a place to get yourself into trouble.
"If you've got a large family, it's going to be a large reception, like it or not," she said.
If you've got a big family the only way to keep the reception small is to make it immediate family only, she said, otherwise, be prepared to invite everyone.
Do It Yourself
When you're figuring out your budget, Laffler, manager of The Craft House, says you can save a lot by doing things yourself.
There's nowhere local to get bulk flowers, she said, but you can save money buying from a florist and arranging yourself.
The store also sells supplies to make wedding cakes, including stands and the little bride and groom for the top. Most people don't want to bake their own, she said, but they know someone with the skills to do it.
"In this area there's a small cottage industry of people who do cakes," she said.
Most customers know someone who can make the cake for them using supplies the Craft House sells, but if not, the store keeps a few business cards on hand from some of the store's loyal cake-making customers.
Reservations and Refunds
Reservations and refunds are other things to keep in mind.
Most people know that a church or a caterer needs to be reserved months in advance, but so does a tarp, says John Speigle, manager of Rockingham Rent-All, which rents out tables, chairs and canopies for outdoor weddings.
You have to reserve four to six months in advance, Speigle said, and when you do, you have to pay in full, with no refunds.
Why so early?
"Outdoor weddings are extremely popular," he said, and not just with locals. People are coming to the Valley from D.C., Vegas, California and New York City to get married in the natural splendor.
Early reservations with no refunds are how most things in the wedding business work, Woodman said.
Wedding Planner a Good Option
If all the planning sounds like a lot of work to you, or you don't think you've got the business savvy to get yourself good deals, Woodman suggests a wedding planner.
"Most wedding planners I've met are well worth their weight in gold," she said.
Most people are "a little nuts" around their wedding, and not in the right mind-frame to make decisions, she said.
Although she gets a fee, a good wedding planner can actually save you money, Woodman said.
You have to make sure you're working with someone honest, who isn't steering you to certain businesses to get a kickback, she said, but if you find a good planner they will know where to get you good deals.
"Most people don't have any idea how much these things should cost," she said.
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