Can You Afford the Wedding You're Dreaming Of?
Here is a secret. I can build other people's budgets all day long, but when it comes to analyzing my personal finances, it requires a glass of wine. I won’t bore you with a personal therapy session, but I know a lot of newly engaged couples who feel similar. You can’t move forward with planning until you have a budget and you just don’t know where to start. It’s overwhelming and uncomfortable for most people.
Well, I have a tool for you! Between our Virtual Tours and the Free Budget Toolkit, you can build a super accurate wedding budget for any venue in less than 30 minutes!
Oh Pretty, How Much Does That Cost?
I get it! The question on everyone's mind at the early stage of wedding planning is, "how much does it cost?" I wish Pinterest and wedding blogs had those little dangling price tags like the Houzz website. Do you know what I’m talking about? What if you could watch a wedding video and little tiny price tags would just pop up? Band enters stage. popup: $7k. Couple walks onto wooden dance floor. popup $1,200. Slow dramatic zoom landing on bride’s face. popup $485 hair and makeup for wedding day and trial. Camera pans upward to greenery chandelier installation. popup: $1,600 floral installation. Another popup: $1,200 event lighting. Yeah, it adds up quickly.
Most of your vendors are pretty easy to compare. Sure maybe one florist charges more for the bouquet and her competition charges more for delivery, but at the end of the day you can get an apples-to-apples comparison without a ton of questions. Venues on the other hand,...that's tricky. More often than not, I end up building a spreadsheet.
It’s All About the Spreadsheets
If I have a client trying to compare The Driskill Hotel to Laguna Gloria I can spit out some basic numbers, but to give them the in-depth analysis they're craving, I have to build a spreadsheet and ask questions. Do you have a band? Okay, that adds $2,300 to Laguna Gloria for stage and dance floor, plus a $600 generator. However, at Driskill you will need a $400 power drop and our layout options are more limited. Are we assuming it's perfect weather, or do you want to account for rain and cold? That makes a big difference when comparing an indoor venue to an outdoor venue. Do you want plated dinner or buffet? The list goes on...
So that's what I'm doing with Wedding SCOUT. Building lots and lots and lots of spreadsheets and uploading them so you can make sense of it all in one click! Okay, maybe two or three clicks...
If you’re starting from square one, don’t do any other wedding shopping until you build a budget. I have a FREE BUDGET TOOL for you here.
At Wedding SCOUT, we hit the same 5 chapters with every tour so you can compare apples-to-apples.
1). Service: venue rental fee, food + beverage, additional rentals
2). Capacity: cocktail style vs. seated w/ DJ vs. seated w/ band
3). Outdoors: outdoor tenting, heating/cooling, sound/lighting
4). Utilities: additional power, stage + dance floor, restroom facilities
5). Travel: bussing, parking, valet
Comparing venues is not easy. It takes lots of practice and clear understanding of your priorities.
Why is Everything So Expensive?
Well, is it? Let’s say my husband want to enjoy a night on the town. We may start with a little cocktail hour and appetizers at a favorite new restaurant. Probably spend $60 after tip, plus $12 to valet the car. Then we sit down at a restaurant for another round of drinks and a salad. Then comes the main meal and we each order another. Oh, dessert? Sure! We walk out of there with a $140 bill easily. But now it’s time to dance it off. We pay a $10 cover, order another $10 in drinks… you get the picture. That’s what a wedding is. Cocktail hour, dinner and dancing into the night. I can’t do that with my husband in Austin, Texas for less than $250. Multiply that by 100 couples and you get to $25k before you’ve even picked out your dress!
Yes, stages are expensive. It takes a big truck (think, gas and mileage) and three or four guys to put it together. Then come back out at midnight to deconstruct, load, drive back, wash and dry, and put away. It’s a lot. Yes, bands are expensive. Think about dividing your payment by 6+ people, plus a manager, plus transportation to get them all to the show on time. Don’t even get me started on wedding planners. Pretty sure, if I took the time to count my hours, I’ve done a few “luxury weddings” for minimum wage!
Okay, So Now What?
Now it’s time to get real with yourself (and your fiancé) and think about your goals and priorities. If you are about to marry someone and you’ve never built a budget spreadsheet together, now is the time! If you are expecting your parents to pay for all or part of the wedding, but you’ve never built a wedding budget spreadsheet, now is the time! Trust me, if you need a glass of wine, I won’t judge. Just get in there and start talking and get your hands dirty. Once you have a roadmap to work from you can continue wedding planning with confidence and (dare I say) have a ton of fun!
