Forgotten items in your wedding budget!
12/8/2014
Don’t forget to add these often forgotten items to your wedding budget!
Creating a budget is never a fun task but it must be done. Be realistic when creating your wedding budget and stick to it. To start off, know your “must-haves” those few things that must be part of your wedding day. This may be the photographer if pictures are your thing or it could be flowers. Either way, those few must-haves will give you a good starting point in your budget. You should not skimp on these must-haves and therefore allot more money towards those items first. Also know which items will not break your day if they are not there.
There are a lot of big ticket items that come to mind first when planning your wedding budget. Here are a few items that you might forget amidst the wedding planning excitement.
1. Postage
From Save the Dates, invitations, RSVPs, and thank you cards you will be paying for a lot of postage. This expense may not make or break you but it is often forgotten how many times you send a form of snail mail to your guests over the wedding experience. There are ways to customize even these tiny stamps for your mail however, even that can become a discretionary expense if you so desire.
2. Gratuity/Taxes
Taxes and gratuity are numbers that might be forgotten because they are added to the final bill. Venues and states will vary on their policies and rates. Make sure you know that information up front. Here at the Meeting House we do not want to hide any fees or charges, we can create an estimate of what you will be spending and it will show you how taxes and gratuity are included. This gives you an idea up front what you will paying on top of your major expenses. Based off of Emily Post etiquette, if tips are not already included it should be 15-20%. In case your vendors go above and beyond or out of their way to ensure your day was absolutely perfect, include a couple hundred dollars in your budget to give to them. And as always a hand written personal note of appreciation is always welcome or a complimentary review online.
3. Vendor Meals
Your vendors are integral parts of your special day. They bring the entertainment and help capture every moment. You want to make sure that they are taken care of and fed. The cost of their meals might be an expense you forgot to add to your budget. Usually venues will price their meal at the entrée price, so factor that in.
4. Gifts
You will not be the only ones receiving gifts in this wedding process. A lot of important people; friends, family, and professionals are involved in making your day perfect and should receive some token of thanks. Because there are so many people involved those gifts can add up quick. Try to think of everyone at the beginning so you can realistically plan your gifts for each of them into your budget. Here is a list of those important people that should receive a gift of thanks; the bridal party, attendants, at your ceremony, both sets of parents, officiant, people who host parties for you, anyone who does certain favors for you throughout the planning process, and of course your future spouse.
5. Hair & Make-up
Whether or not you decide to have your bridesmaids get their hair and make-up done professionally is up to you. You should at least account for your own hair and make-up costs. It is better to budget in the cost of this service ahead of time rather than scrambling the day of when the stylist needs to be paid.
