What’s your wedding going to cost?
Before we get into the meat of the costs of things, I think it’s worth mentioning that as a general rule of thumb the more in advance you book things - the cheaper they will be. Therefore, the later you leave it to book stuff, the more expensive it usually ends up being.
So, after the proposal and setting a date for the big day, the countdown begins, and although it seems pretty far off, it can sneak up on you. First and foremost, it's important to know how to calculate your wedding budget so you can start contacting different suppliers and getting prices. It's essential to set a realistic amount for each item so that you also leave a cushion for unforeseen events. It’s also important to really think about what you want…and what you don’t. There are literally millions of blog posts online about what things you simply ‘must have’ at your wedding, but realistically you don’t need any of them.
Depending on the services you hire, wedding budgets today range between €5,000 if you’re going to DIY a lot of it, and maybe provide the venue yourselves, and prices that would make you giggle nervously because it's three times your mortgage.
It’s really important to only book the services that you can afford, but it’s equally important not to get overwhelmed by wedding information. Remember that weddings are events to celebrate love and that everything else is window dressing, so you already have the most important thing. That being said, there is a delicate balance between cost and organisation. If you are incredibly organised, book everything two years out, and leave only the bare essentials to tidy up nearer the date, everything will be cheaper. On the other hand, if you want to wait and check out loads of options, maybe visit a few, and keep everything more flexible prices will be higher with less time to spare.
What are you going to spend your wedding budget on?
Number of guests
You probably won't have the complete and final guest list until a few weeks before the wedding, but you will know what range it will be in. So, you will have to choose services related to them, such as the menu, invitations, details, transport, or open bar. Obviously, the price of guest-related services goes up with more guests, and down with fewer. The most important thing is the price/quality relationship and that each of these services is really something you want to give your guests on your wedding day.
Wedding Venue
It is not the same thing, in terms of budget, to celebrate your wedding in a hotel as it is in a hall, on a farm, or in a country mansion. If the place offers exclusivity and all the facilities are dedicated to the event being celebrated on that day, then the price will be higher. Some spaces only charge the couple for the food per guest and others also include the rental of the actual space for certain hours. Haciendas, farmhouses, country houses, or stately homes will almost always be more expensive than a hall, restaurant, or hotel. It’s also worth checking out what sort of spaces are on offer, and if the venue overlaps weddings or hosts more than one event per day. Some places might not be equipped for a 100-person egg-and-spoon race, or the ceremony space might not be available later in the day. Depending on where and when you are getting married you might also want to consider a marquee or extra outside covered space. Some venues will have options, and some won’t.
If you are having a destination wedding you may also want the venue to provide at least some accommodation for your guests.
Wedding attire
This is traditionally a big one. It includes a wedding dress, groom's suit, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, jewellery, wedding rings, bouquet etc. It will help you to have a total budget for the bride and another for the groom. Hers will probably be slightly higher, as wedding dresses are usually more expensive. This price will also depend on whether you choose a catalogue model, rent it, or go to a designer to have your clothes tailor-made. If you are both grooms, you’ve lucked out because you probably won’t need a dress. The other side of the coin is brides who might need two!
In terms of what you will wear to get married, there really is no ‘right’ answer, only very very typical suggestions. A lot of brides (and grooms are starting to get in on it) are changing between the ceremony and the dance, and loads of guests are bringing comfy shoes for later.
Also, a 100% valid option is to just opt out of ‘wedding’ clothes altogether and wear whatever you want! I’ve seen loads of different ideas, even a couple who got married right after completing the Madrid marathon wearing just lycra and sweat. What you wear or don’t wear doesn’t mean your wedding will be any more or less special.
Wedding services to hire
Think about all the services you want to have on your wedding day:
Photography and video: From my point of view, as a wedding photographer, I believe that couples should always have this service, but what did you expect me to say?! Being able to enjoy photographs and video that show you how that day was years later is an indescribable feeling. In each photograph emotions are saved, unrepeatable gestures, expressions of joy, and valuable details that if not captured, would simply disappear. The ‘recommended’ amount of the total budget to allocate on wedding photography is about 10% of your total wedding budget. That being said, there are people who want huge teams of photographers and videographers, and couple who prefer to open a profile in apps such as Guestpix or Kululu and dispense with the photographer entirely.
From my point of view, there are two steps to wedding photography - hiring a photographer, and deciding if you want physical prints of your photos. I recommend 200% printing photos either in an album or as individual prints, the difference between a screen photo and a paper one is vast. Often photographers will offer you a two-step option for physical photos if you want to stagger the payments.
Wedding planner: Wedding planners are like Jedi. They do the organisation, decoration, and coordination of all the other services leading up to, and often throughout the wedding day itself. Usually, the budget for planning a wedding is fixed, and the prices for the rest of the services vary depending on what you want, and how much money you have left to spend.
Flowers and decoration: I love flowers, but they are not cheap, so don't forget to set a budget for them. Think carefully about the flowers you choose because flowers that are not in season at the time of your wedding will be more expensive, and certain types of ‘weddingy’ flowers will always be more expensive. It’s also absolutely up to you what you want to do with ‘florals’ and they don’t even have to be flowers. Other types of foliage, berries and fruits, or simply autumn-coloured leaves are all great options. Other bits and pieces of decoration such as drapes, string lights, etc sometimes come with the venue, and sometimes you’ll want to add some extra (or even take some away), so it’s worth deciding with enough time to find decent options without breaking the bank.
Music: Music at a celebration is vital. There are almost endless options for music at a wedding and for different parts of the day. You could opt for a DJ, live band, solo singer, music for the ceremony, etc. The important thing to remember is that people are probably going to want to dance and let loose, and so are you. If you have a specific style of music that you like, it’s worth taking the time to find a way to incorporate that into your wedding day. Just because some DJs are “wedding DJs” it doesn’t mean they’re right for your wedding. Nothing is worse than an endless Spice Girls-Bon Jovi-Craig David mashup (unless that’s 100% your jam).
Entertainment: Apart from the actual marriage ceremony, there’s actually quite a lot of time to do stuff during the wedding day. Usually, there’s a fair amount of eating and drinking, but there’s no reason you can’t fit in a load of other stuff, too. Children's entertainment, a photo booth, sports…whatever you think will be fun can be incorporated into the day. I’ve seen Karaoke go down a storm, Drag Queens, dance-aerobics sessions, and even a Houdini-style challenge where guests were roped together and had to escape. The key to these fun activities is to find a space for them, and have a person who is in charge.
Transportation: Weddings where everything is done in the same place are getting more and more common, and more and more popular. It’s easy to understand why because it removes basically all possible drama getting people to and from a church, then a second venue, parking, people who didn’t come by car etc. In terms of budget, if the bride is coming in the typical ‘wedding car’ it will cost more, whether it’s a classic car, a VW camper, or a Tesla. If you have to rent it, it’s an extra expense. Another think to think about is whether you need transportation to take the guests to and from the ceremony or banquet, and from the banquet home. Depending on the style of wedding, you might have an all-inclusive style of celebration and guests will stay on-site, in a nearby hotel, or in the town down the road. On the other hand, you might be having a local wedding and guests can simply stroll home and those from further afield can stay with friends of friends or find a local AirBnB.
Wedding Favours: Wedding favours are a tricky one. They should be personal enough that your guests feel like they’re meaningful, but not so personalised that it’s weird to use. They should also not be so expensive they eat up your budget, but cheaping out just to ‘gift’ something to guests is usually pointless. If they are edible, they need to be fairly immune to changes in temperature and have all the ingredients listed somewhere to avoid murdering a guest. Useful-on-the-day gifts such as flat dancing shoes or fans seem to be getting more popular, as well as unique miniatures of spirits for guests to drink later on.
Honeymoon Although not strictly a wedding expense, it is an expense never the less. Over the past few years, I have seen a larger trend in couples who are organising their honeymoons based more on their travel preferences, destinations, preferences, prices etc. And there really is no reason to weave the wedding straight into the honeymoon. The idea that the ‘wedding night’ is the first night of your honeymoon isn’t set in stone at all.
Unforeseen events There will always be little hiccups, wedding planning fails, and stuff you just put off for so long that you forget you haven’t done it. From sending that one person an official invite to confirming the car to the church, all the things that go a bit awry always cost a bit extra to solve. In my experience, there are two broad types of couple - one that is a bit annoyed and then spends a bit extra (i.e. gets a rental car and makes it weddingish), and the other that prefers to creatively solve the problem (i.e. arrives to the wedding on dad’s old milk float).
