A wedding budget goes over for one reason more than any other: not because the lines cost more than planned, but because lines appeared that were never planned at all. The service charge. The alterations. The transport back from the venue at midnight. The checklist below is every line we have seen a wedding actually spend on, grouped by who it is paid to. Go through it once at the start, put a number or a zero against each, and the surprises stop.
Venue and food
Venue hire
Ceremony and reception, and whether they are one hire or two.
Catering per head
Canapés, dinner, late food. Confirm what is included in the per-head figure.
Drinks
Reception drinks, wine with dinner, toast, bar. Corkage if you supply your own.
Service charge and tax
Often twenty percent or more on top of catering. The most forgotten line in the whole wedding.
Staffing and overtime
Extra hours past the contracted end time, security if required, cloakroom.
Rentals
Chairs, tables, linens, glassware, lighting, a tent, a dance floor, heaters. Anything the venue does not own.
Cake, and a cutting fee
Some venues charge to serve a cake they did not make.
The people
Photographer
Plus a second shooter, an engagement session, the album, prints.
Videographer
If you want one, plus the edit and any raw footage fee.
Officiant or registrar, and the legal fees
Licence, notice, certificate.
Music
Ceremony musicians, reception band or DJ, sound hire, a late licence.
Florist
Bouquets, buttonholes, ceremony, tables, installation and removal. Removal is a separate line more often than you would think.
Hair and makeup
The trial, the day, travel, and the wedding party if you are covering them.
Planner or coordinator
Full planning, partial, or day-of.
What you wear
The dress
And alterations, which are never in the dress price. Often the cost of the shoes again.
The suit
And tailoring.
Shoes, veil, jewellery, accessories
The lines that each look small and together are not.
The wedding party
Whatever you are covering: dresses, suits, hair, gifts.
The second dress, if there is one
Decide now, not in month ten.
Paper, transport, the rest
Stationery
Save-the-dates, invitations, postage, menus, place cards, signage, thank-you cards.
Rings
Plus engraving and resizing.
Transport
The couple, the wedding party, guests if being moved, and the trip home at midnight.
Accommodation
The night before, the wedding night, the room block deposit if there is one.
Rehearsal dinner and the morning after
Usually forgotten, usually a real number.
Gifts and favours
Gifts for parents and the wedding party. Favours if you must.
Honeymoon
If it comes out of the same total, put it in. Most couples find it does.
Insurance
Wedding insurance, and the ring on the home policy.
Contingency
Ten percent of the total, from the start. It will be spent.
Put a number or a zero against every line before you book anything. A zero is a decision. A blank is a surprise.
Once every line has a number, the total either fits or it does not, and if it does not, you find out in month one rather than month ten. Keep the lines somewhere both of you can see them and update them as quotes arrive. UNSTAGED's budget has every category above built in, with the total recalculating as each line changes, so the checklist becomes the plan rather than a document beside it.
Thirty lines, one evening, a number against each. It is the least romantic hour of the whole engagement and the one that protects the rest.
— The UNSTAGED Studio
