Budget planning Many wedding couples have a clear idea of what their wedding should look like. But do you have any idea what this dreamed wedding will cost?
“The cost of the location is easy to calculate! We have 100 guests, a good meal will probably be possible for 50 euros. For drinks – I’ve heard – you have to calculate just as much. That makes €10,000 that we have to plan for our wedding.”
Many calculate in this way or something similar – and thus grossly underestimate the total costs. In most cases, dinner is not enough: there is often a champagne reception (possibly with a few appetizers), coffee cake or a wedding cake and a midnight meal. Or do you want to start with a dinner together the day before the actual wedding or end the celebration with a brunch the day after?
The quantity and quality of the drinks can also have a significant impact on the budget. Is there a simple champagne reception, beer and house wines with meals? Or would you like handpicked wines to go with the food, craft beers, long drinks, cocktails and champagne? The choice of drinks can have a very significant impact on the amount spent on a celebration.
Our tip: When you set the budget for your wedding celebration, think carefully about what the hospitality should look like.
Costs for hospitality and location
In addition to the costs for food and drinks, there are often other costs for the celebration location: e.g. B. Room rent (check in any case whether this is covered by the consumption or whether there is an additional room rent), a “rent” for the use of the garden or the terrace or for additional rooms for the musicians, the children or similar.
If you would like to rent a location that does not have an attached restaurant, you will definitely have to rent a room. In addition, you have to factor in the costs for the catering (food and drinks, crockery, cutlery, service staff, …) and possibly also for table linen, furniture and other equipment. The costs here range from a few hundred to a few thousand euros.
Our tip: If your dream location is not part of a restaurant, check exactly what is included in the room rental and what needs to be factored in additionally.
What else needs to be included?
Larger items are definitely photography, music (band or DJ, possibly musical accompaniment of the wedding ceremony and the reception), any entertainment program or childcare. Videography, wedding rings, clothes, accessories and not forgetting the decoration.
What can it be there? Flowers for church or a private wedding, a bridal bouquet, a button, wreaths for the flower children, flowers on the tables? And of course lighting, lounge furniture, special chairs, signposts, a salty bar, a great wedding arch, a carpet for the walk to the altar and the great gin bar for the right ambience?
Many people believe that you can save a lot on decorations if you do them yourself. This is often a fallacy. First of all you have to take care of everything yourself. So the whole thing costs time and nerves. And since nobody wants to stress out on the day of the wedding and, of course, want to take it all down later in a relaxed manner after the wedding, you probably plan to set it all up the day before the celebration and take it down again the day after. However, most locations charge room rental for this. After all, they can’t rent their rooms to someone else on these days.
Stationery
Oh yes, and would you also like great invitations and matching table stationery? Everything should be beautifully individual. In the end, the perfect invitation might come from the pen of a graphic designer and a competent printer – and the costs for this can quickly range from a few hundred euros to a few thousand euros. (The postage for invitations is often in the range of a maxi letter, so it is not a factor that should be underestimated.)
And that’s not all of the items that can arise for a wedding celebration according to your wishes.
Our tip: Right from the start of your planning, make a plan as precise as possible of what you consider essential for your wedding. Plan the sums for it rather generously. So you are protected from unpleasant surprises at the end.
If in doubt, get a professional on board, for example a Monio Wedding Planner.
And with all the perfection you want, don’t forget what it’s all about. Is it really about the perfect decoration for the perfect location and the perfect wedding dress? Or is it more about spending a great day with your loved ones and celebrating you and your love?
