Before laying the money on the table

Perhaps the most important thing that must be done when you are ready to begin planning your wedding is to first create your budget. Your budget is important because it is almost impossible to know what you can afford for each aspect of the wedding if you don't give yourself a limit to the overall spending costs.

For most people, creating the budget is the hardest job to do because you want to have the nicest and most memorable wedding that you can afford.

The days when the wedding is paid for by the parents of the bride are practically gone now. Parents will often make a contribution at some level, but it is rather rare for parents to cover the whole cost of the wedding these days. Usually it is because the parents simply can't afford it, but couples today often prefer to pay for their own weddings because it ensures that they can do it the way that they want to without interference.

According to some experts in the field the average cost for weddings in the US amounts to about 45 dollars per guests. If you are going to have a huge wedding, that will of course add up rather quickly. In total cost the average is about 8 500 dollars. If that sounds like an awful lot of money, you'll be pleased to hear that there are many ways in which to (even quite dramatically) reducing the costs of your weddings. I don't like the term "settling for something", but it goes without saying that for a lover sum you may have to cherry pick the things you really want.

When we're mentioning figures anyway, it is also worth pointing out that it is indeed not entirely uncommon for people to spend $30,000 on their reception alone, but history has also seen charming receptions that set the couple back only a couple of hundred dollars. Your goals and the funds available to you will naturally dictate which alternative will be the best one for you.

Once the official limit has finally been set it's time to start doing the actual math. Part of planning the budget involves neatly categorizing all the things you will need and then calculating as exactly as possible how much money will be spent for each category. Even if you should try to stick to facts as much as possible, a certain amount of guessing to figure out how much they are going to spend will most often be involved. Where you can't say exactly, at least try to define rough estimations of the cost.

Once the estimations are made the couple can move on to the shopping around phase, finding out how much the items they need or want will actually cost as well as the various options and vendors that are available to them. By having a basic budget set from the start, the couple will then more easily be able to identify areas where they can cut corners and save money.

To sum up, it is extremely important not to overlook the importance of well planned wedding budget. In the end the hard work will more than likely pay itself back in more than one way.