How to Plan a Wedding Budget

Published 31 December 2025

Your budget is one of the most difficult things to get right when planning your wedding. Where do you start? How do you know how much you need? And how do you prioritise? This article should answer all of these questions!  

Let’s get your wedding budget right from the very start of your wedding planning.

Good news! A lovely wedding that’s personal and perfect for you should be achievable on most budgets. However you may need to be creative if you have Beyonce aspirations on a B&M budget. I was a “budget bride”, so you have my sympathies if this is you. I still had an amazing day that I wouldn’t change for anything.

Getting Your Wedding Budget Right.

Here are my top tips for setting your wedding budget:

1. Know your budget.  

Work out what you have available right now, what you’re comfortable with the idea of spending, and where it (and any extra money) is coming from; savings, family, friends? This will give you your base amount of budget. If someone else is paying, they may not want to give you an exact figure. You’ll need at least a ballpark figure, so have that difficult conversation asap.

Wedding purchases and supplier bookings can get out of control when no one actually knows what the budget is. This leads to overspending. In short, know what money you have, what (if any) flexibility is involved and where you are prepared to cut back. Simply put, don’t look at what you can’t afford. You risk being unhappy with your realistic options as the big-ticket items have made them look too ordinary.

2. Do your research.

Most venues, from high-end to budget, will have some indications of their prices available online or by email. Speak to any friends and family who you know have used the venue you’re considering and find out what they thought. Was it money well spent? Did they have any regrets? Would they change anything? This applies to most other suppliers too. This is the time to start that spreadsheet. Use a search service like Bridebook, Weddingly or County Weddings to ask suppliers to send their information to you.

3. What are your “can’t do withouts”?

Write down your “absolutely must-have” and “I‘d like” items for your wedding day, (venue, outfits, food, drink), and start whittling off the things you are least interested in. Some things will naturally drop from the potential costs. For example, if you’re getting ready in the same place as your ceremony and reception, you won’t need wedding transport (you can still budget for it if you want to go off site though!). Make sure both of you are on the same page with your must-haves – if you each have different priorities you may need to scale back or make compromises down the line.

4. Negotiate

This is where I can really help you. There are things that wedding venues and suppliers might include as standard in the hire fee, like chair covers. However, if you like the chairs on offer and don’t want the covers you should be able to negotiate on this. They’ll probably offer another item for the equivalent value rather than a discount but it all adds up to a saving.

Be aware that independent suppliers have their prices set as they are for a reason. Don’t expect the same service for a massive drop in cost. Be wary of huge price reductions. In my experience, this is where the charlatans emerge. Remember the phrase “if an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

5. Finding some extra budget

If you really must have something that can’t be met by your base budget you might want to think about creative ways you can access additional funds. I’m talking about cutbacks, not robbing a bank! Do you buy lunch at work? Do you buy lots of magazines, papers, cups of coffee? Are there things that you can live without for a short time?

Think of other ways you can earn extra income. Can you do extra hours at work? If you’re an avid crafter, could you sell some of what you make? If you really love make-up or jewellery, could you become a distributor or tester for a product you love? Have you reviewed your insurance, phone, gas or electricity supplier to see if a better deal is available? These options might take a bit of time to sort out but you could make just enough money to buy that extra option for your wedding!

Remember, you can have a wonderful wedding to enjoy on any budget, but knowing your budget and your priorities is a fantastic start, and could make things that much easier the closer you get to your big day. Would you like my free wedding planning checklist, to help you start ditching what you don’t need? Get in touch and I’ll send it to you. X