5 Tips for Staying on Budget

1. Establish your budget immediately

2. Download a Budget Planning Sheet from The knot.com

3. Be realistic about the things you want and the things you can actually afford. (Catering can blow the budget quickly; there are so many options when it comes to food and they vary wildly in cost)

A. Most expensive – catered sit-down served meal

B. Buffet style – provided by caterer

C. Buffet style – provided by a restaurant

D. Food Trucks

E. Buffet Style - provided by family and friends

(in Texas BBQ at weddings is common and many weddings I’ve attended served BBQ provided and cooked by family and friends)

4. Hire a wedding planner, they are worth their weight in cash; they will help to keep you on budget and help you find vendors that are within your budget and they will tell you if your expectations are unrealistic (if you want to do a lot of it yourself, most offer partial-planning services, which in our case was affordable and immensely helpful and Joyous 442 was wonderful ).

5. Choose the most expensive things first and choose what vendors are most important to you and spend accordingly.

A. Venue

B. Food

C. Photographer – we had the photographer picked out before any other vendors were chosen and looking at the pictures in this post, you will understand why booking Lewchan Photography was so important to us. (Eryn and her husband are awesome)

D. Entertainment

E. Flowers – adding in lots of greenery and using less expensive flowers will cut down on costs

There are ways that you can stay on budget and still plan the wedding of your dreams. Sometimes you just might have to search for alternative options and compromise. Remember, some vendors will negotiate. Your hard-work will pay off when you are blessed with a beautiful wedding without blowing the budget.

All photographs by LewChan Photography