When you?re planning your wedding, be sure to follow these tips for deciding on a budget!

Weddings can be overwhelming, but the stress and anxiety of your wedding budget shouldn?t overshadow the excitement and exhilaration surrounding your big day. Budgets are scary and time-consuming but they are also a necessary part of planning the best day of your life. That?s why we have compiled a list of five steps to help you prioritize your wedding budget.

Pick the Number

Just do it. Write down your realistic budget number. Take into account a few things: Are you and your fianc? the only sources of money, or are parents or grandparents chipping in to help you with your big day? Commit to a solid number, one that you can work with, so while you?re planning there are no big surprises in the finance department.

Write it Out

Get it all out there. Make a list of anything and everything that has to do with your wedding: entertainment, food, dress, invitations, centerpieces, location, photo, video, bridal party gifts, and rings! The list goes on and on. Get everything on paper, even the smallest details. Categorize your small details into bigger groups. For example, flowers, centerpieces, and miscellaneous items might go into a larger category of ?decorations.?

Discuss and List

Sit down with your fianc? and talk about what?s important for your wedding. What will your fianc? care about more: a rocking DJ or delicious food? Are you willing to spend more money on a dress or your rings? Your list should be ordered from most to least important. This will help you find your essentials. We can?t all arrive in a horse and buggy carriage (thanks for the expectations though, William and Kate). When you prioritize, it?s easier to allocate money to what is most important for you on your big day.

Research and Mini-budgets

Now?s the time to find out exactly how much those cute bridal party gifts will cost you. Research your essentials – the first items on your list – and then move down from there. Set mini-budgets: how much can and will you spend on each item? What less important categories can you cut to make sure you can afford your dream dress and wedding cake? This step is important because it helps you decide what is and isnot realistic.

Final but Flexible

Your budget is set in stone, but the different places you allocate that budget are not. If you decide that food is more important to you than your band, move your money around. Mini-budgets are not final, they are flexible. Things change as you plan, and you might discover that a vegetarian option is more important to you than the entertainment you originally planned. Flexibility inside your budget is okay, great even, since it will help you plan the best day ever!

Now that you?ve conquered your wedding budget you?re ready to start checking other things off your Wedding Planning List from Temple Square. But remember, a wedding is more than the decorations and cake! It?s about spending the rest of your life with your best friend, your hero, and your future partner.

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