If you’re reading this article, chances are that congratulations are in order! Planning a wedding is one of the most exciting times for couples so try to enjoy every minute.
You may be feeling a little overwhelmed – especially if you’re in the early stages and faced with navigating between your dream wedding and not blowing all your budget – but you certainly won’t be alone in feeling like that.
As a newly engaged couple, you may have already considered what your dream day might look like and the likely costs. But the ever-growing list of things to sort and pay for might be coming as a bit of a shock.
New research from Shawbrook Bank Personal Loans found that a third (34%) of past brides and grooms worried about the costs when it came to planning their wedding, and a further fifth (20%) had to cut back on their wedding day due to costs.
So, to help you plan for your dream wedding and take off some of the pressure, Shawbrook Bank has put together five budgeting tips that will help to stretch your budget further.
Review your finance options
Before creating your wedding budget, you’ll need to establish how you plan to cover the cost – whether that be savings, family contributions, a personal loan, or perhaps a combination of all three.
If you already have savings set aside, you may want to consider opening a separate savings account and transferring your existing savings across. That way, you can ensure all costs are paid from one pot allowing you to easily keep track of payments too.
If you’re planning on using future savings, it’s important to stay realistic with how much you can save in the run up to your big day. You’ll also need to estimate the different payment dates of costs to establish whether you have enough saved to pay your deposits on time.
An alternative option is to consider a ‘wedding loan’ which is an unsecured personal loan specifically tailored for those planning a wedding. Whether or not this is right for you depends on your circumstances, but if you’re considering it, shop around to make sure you’re getting the best deal.
Shawbrook Bank Personal Loans offers personal loans between £1,000 and £30,000 with loan terms from between one to seven years. They believe in doing things differently. When you apply for a quote with Shawbrook, they’ll give you a guaranteed, personalised rate right from the start so you’ll know what’s what before you tie the knot. All loans are subject to status. Terms & conditions apply.
Work out your priorities
The next step is to consider what your priorities are as a couple. There are so many different costs involved with a wedding, so you’ll need to work out what you’re prepared to invest more or less in.
For example, you may be willing to spend more on the wedding venue, catering and entertainment compared to flowers and decorations. Or perhaps you’re willing to spend more on a good photographer since the memories last a lifetime.
Costs can vary hugely between different suppliers, so it’s important to establish your priorities from the outset.
It may even be worth listing them out in order of what you’re prepared to spend more on and then you can look back on this if you need to consider compromising on anything further down the line.
Plan your budget carefully
The next step is map out your budget. Creating a budget in the early stages can help keep your feet on the ground and will help to limit any unnecessary overspending no matter how tempting it may be.
Once you have a total budget in mind, a good place to start is by creating a wedding checklist. Note down all of the key parts of your wedding and allocate your overall budget. Shawbrook’s wedding checklist is a great way to map out your spending.
Alternatively, you can make a spreadsheet noting a breakdown of all the different costs. Start by listing the costs in one column, alongside your max spend allocated for that area depending on your priorities. If you’ve decided to prioritise entertainment, but your favourite band quotes above your allocated spend, work out whether you can detract that from an area lower on your priority list – whether it be flowers, wedding favours or decorations.
At this point, you can also review how your spending of certain areas compares. For example, it is typically recommended to spend around 20 per cent on venue costs, 19 per cent on catering, and around 4 per cent on entertainment – but there really is no set rule, so just make sure the allocation works for you.
Finally, create a separate section on total spend. Within this, you can include columns on ‘total paid’, ‘money to pay’ and ‘money left’. This can then act as a total ‘tally’ and will be easy to refer to when working out what’s left in your pot.
Talk to more than one supplier
You may have a few suppliers in mind before even getting engaged but it’s important when planning your wedding that you talk to a few suppliers before choosing ‘the one’.
Not only will this help you understand the differences in costs but also the different things that they can include. Recommendations are worth their weight in gold, so make sure you talk to your venue to find out if they have any recommended suppliers. They can sometimes give you a discount for delivery or travel if they are close by.
Talking to suppliers in person, on the phone or even on zoom, can help you get a feel for how they would work with you and your other half. You can talk through your ideas, budget and needs to make sure they’re the right supplier for your day. After all, it’s choosing the right suppliers that can really make a difference to how seamless your day is.
Don’t forget the additional costs and VAT. Always check with your supplier the full costs involved and whether or not VAT is added to their quote. These are the little extras that could mean you overspend on your budget. And don’t be afraid to negotiate, although some suppliers won’t be willing to budge drastically on the price, they might be willing to do a deal to meet your needs.
Work out your bronze, silver and gold options
Even after working out your wedding priorities, there will still be different tiered options for each area of spending. You may want to establish your bronze, silver and gold options for each supplier depending on cost and availability.
While this will involve more time in the planning stages, it will help you establish different tiers of costs so you can compare outgoings against your priority spending. It will also help you make decisions on where to cut back if there are obvious savings to be had by options for bronze over silver, for example.
Last but not least, it’s important to remember to enjoy the process. Planning a wedding is an exciting time and will be worth the time and investment in the lead up.
For more budgeting tips and to read Shawbrook’s latest research on ‘Wedding Regrets’, head to https://www.shawbrook.co.uk/budgeting-for-the-big-day/.
The research surveyed 2,000 UK married couples on behalf of OnePoll between 25 October 2021 – 3 November 2021
