Weddingbee boards

I definitely did not include engagement ring, minimoon in our budget BUT we did include our wedding bands. I agree that every couple is different and is going to have a different sense of how to . There are some great sample budgets in the Real Budgets sections as well as by the Bees themselves that can be a good guide. I think the best thing to do is to set limits that you are comfortable with in each category.

Good luck! 

We are including everything that we have to save/pay for into our budgets. The only thing not included is the engagement ring, since my fi already paid for it. But we are including all day of expenses, accommodations, honeymoon, wedding bands, rehearsal dinner, day after brunch, gifts for famiyl and wedding party, etc. sicne we really have to save and budget for these things. I don't know if this is typical, but it''s how we have to plan for ours, if we want to make everything work. It's a little overwhelming when its all down on paper.

My sister on the other hand, just included day of expenses, she did not include rehersal dinner, wedding party and family gifts, her dress and a few other things. She paid for things as she bought them then budgeted seperately for day of expenses.

There's no specific formula, just budget what you need and what feels right to you.

We tried to include everything except honeymoon and e-ring, but we definitely forgot some things while budgeting (decor extras, hotel room for wedding night etc).  I think it depends on how much flexibility you have in finances too; we're really tight on budget so we needed to see where all of the money was going exactly.

The engagement ring wasn't included (I still don't know how much that cost, as he picked it out), and the honeymoon wasn't included. For everything else, I'm a little shame-faced to say that we didn't set an actual budget. We decided to find the best deal possible on everything, and try to keep the total bill under $10,000. We ended up spending a little under.

Probably not the most responsible way to go about it, but it worked for us.

I think everybody budgets differently and the important thing is to account for expenses you need to plan for. Typically people don't plan for, say, the latte they buy at Starbucks on their wedding day because $3 isn't going to affect the budget. Now if you want a wedding ring a little more expensive than $3, I think that should go in the budget because it's an item you need to plan for. If you have enough liquid capital that $4000 can be spent in one month without it affecting your monthly budget, it doesn't need to go in the wedding budget. This is becoming wordy, oy. Sorry.

Honestly, we're just looking at the money we have avaiable/gifted/saved, what we actually need and want for the day, and just kinda spend as we go. I am making almst everything myself, so I know there won't be many unexpected expenses. We're really able to do this becsue my dad is paying for the venue which covers the venue rental, linens, food, chairs, drinks, etc. He has it budgeted out with room for everything that entails, so I know I don't need to worry about that. The photographer, music, decor, paper products, etc etc are being covered by FI and I and thats what I just cover as I go.

We don't have rings and honeymoon included yet because we are still saving for them and don't know how much/what we'll be able to afford.