Attempting to prepare a budget for your wedding can be overwhelming, so I've prepared a guide to help.

I've started by listing all of the things you need to consider and budget for:-

Inviting your Guests

Save the Date Cards

Invitations - Daytime Ceremony and Reception

Invitations - Evening Reception

The Official Part

Registrar

Wedding Rings

Venue Hire

Venue Hire for Service & Wedding Reception

Hire of room for Evening

Venue Food & Drinks

Menu Tasting

Canapes

Day Reception (Wedding Breakfast)

Evening Food

Drinks Package or Corkage

Wedding Cake

Photography & Entertainment

Photographer

Videographer

Disco or Band

Daytime Singer

Transport

Wedding Cars

Transport for guests

Flowers & Room Dressing 

Flowers - venue & tables

Flowers - bride's bouquet, bridesmaids bouquets & buttonholes

Confetti

Venue styling

Bride & Bridesmaids

Wedding Dress

Bride's Shoes

Jewellery

Hair Pieces

Garter

Bridesmaids' dresses

Bridesmaids' Shoes

Hairdresser

Makeup

Nails

Groom & Groomsmen

Groom's Outfit

Groomsmen's outfits

Gifts

Favours

Mothers gifts

Bridesmaids' gifts

Best Man/Groomsmen's gifts

Breakdown your overall Costings

Now you have a list of all the areas you need to cover you can allocate a budget against each

to enable you to work out an approximate overall cost, so you can start saving!

Seeing the overall cost maybe a little daunting but if you break it down into say 12 or 24 monthly instalments,

it makes it much more manageable and means you can determine how much to set aside each month to ensure you can pull it together in time.

A few money saving tips and things to watch out for!

Choosing your wedding date

Peak months and bank holidays book up very quickly at popular venues and will be the most expensive time to have your wedding.

If you can be flexible with your date and choose a low-season month,

you’ll be able to secure a venue at a much lower rate.

For example, you're likely to pay less for a Monday wedding in March than you would for a Saturday in August.

Small and Intimate!

Consider a small, intimate daytime ceremony with a bigger evening reception.

Venue Decoration

Flower Walls by Diane Makepeace

Why not opt for silk flowers instead of fresh for some areas of your wedding....

they can be just as effective and a fraction of the cost.

Add a wow factor artificial flower wall to your venue room:

http://www.dianemakepeacephotography.com/blog-post/flower-walls-north-east-hire

Have your Ceremony and Reception in the same place!

Having your ceremony and reception at the same place not only frees up valuable time on your special day

but also means you don't need to worry about costs for:

Wedding cars

Guest transport (and guests getting lost between places)

Decorating two places

Bridal Party Attire!!

Try other high street shops for bridesmaids dresses, shoes and suits for groomsmen rather than specific wedding shops!

They can look just as stunning and can be much more cost effective.

Image below is of me with my Bridesmaids at Woodhill Hall!

We decided on non traditional yellow bridesmaids dresses from Karen Millen.

Bouquets: https://www.facebook.com/alexandersflowersflorist/

Hair: https://www.facebook.com/carlycharltonhair/

Make-up: http://www.halohexham.co.uk

How smart are David and Cassie's Groomsmen.

Their outfits are all from a high street store!

Venue: http://www.northsidefarm.co.uk

Bridal Party Coat Hangers!

Unique and inexpensive personalised coat hangers!

Love this idea and looks fabulous!

Selling items after your Wedding!

Buy items that can be easily resold versus renting them!

When weighing up if it's more economical to rent or purchase items for your wedding,

remember that you can sell items afterwards such as table decorations,

silk flower arrangements, post boxes for cards, cake stands, chair covers or sashes, bunting, vases, table plans.....

If you found this helpful, please leave a comment!

Many thanks

Diane x