Wedding Planning 101: Establishing Your Budget
First Things First…Who Pays?
Traditionally the bride’s family assumes the burden of most wedding costs, a custom derived from the ancient practice of providing a large dowry to attract a good husband. Nowadays however, just 27% of weddings are paid for solely by the bride’s parents. Up to 70% are paid for either by the couple or by a combination of the bride’s and groom’s family.
Photo by Allison Reisz Photography
Step 1 of Wedding Planning is to determine your budget, or what you can afford to contribute to your wedding. By doing so, you’ll be spared the nightmare of running up unnecessary debts and will alleviate the potential for anxiety and stress between you and your loved ones. Simply stated: Base your budget around what you and your parents can afford.
  • Start with a Figure. Before signing any contracts with vendors, determine a dollar amount of what you believe you can spend on your wedding. If you have $40,000 to spend on the wedding and you’ve fallen in love with a venue that has a $30,000 food and beverage minimum, you likely are not leaving enough money to spend on other costs {photography, dress, entertainment, cake, etc.}. Unless someone else is going to contribute to the costs of your wedding, you need to think more realistically in lines with your budget. 
  • Economy versus Value. Value is knowing precisely what you want and what you are willing to pay. Economy is finding what you want at the best available price. The best way to achieve economy is to hire a professional wedding planner who will save you valuable time and money by referring you to vendors that will deliver the best quality product while staying within your budget.
  • Tips on Budgeting. The best way to get the most value out of your budget is to hire a professional planner who can realistically explain what you can get out of the figure you’ve established. Additionally, they can negotiate with vendors to get better pricing and then pass those savings on to you {often times these savings will almost completely off-set the costs of hiring a planner in the first place}! 
  • Best Way to Economize on Big Items. 
    • Cut your guest list. Not always easy to do, but is the fastest way to take a big chunk out of your budget.
    • Choose a date in the off-peak months when prices are not at a premium.
    • Choose a day during the week other than a Saturday. Perhaps the venue fee will be waived or the food and beverage minimum can be reduced. Both could shave off thousands from your budget!


Tomorrow’s Topic: Size and Location
——-
Embellished Events
{Inspire} {Create} {Embellish}
Phone: (843) 757-7762
Email: Info@EmbellishedWeddings.com

Hilton Head Weddings
Savannah Wedding Planners
Charleston Wedding Planners
Beaufort Wedding Planners

Wedding Planning 101: Establishing Your Budget
First Things First…Who Pays?
Traditionally the bride’s family assumes the burden of most wedding costs, a custom derived from the ancient practice of providing a large dowry to attract a good husband. Nowadays however, just 27% of weddings are paid for solely by the bride’s parents. Up to 70% are paid for either by the couple or by a combination of the bride’s and groom’s family.
Photo by Allison Reisz Photography
Step 1 of Wedding Planning is to determine your budget, or what you can afford to contribute to your wedding. By doing so, you’ll be spared the nightmare of running up unnecessary debts and will alleviate the potential for anxiety and stress between you and your loved ones. Simply stated: Base your budget around what you and your parents can afford.
  • Start with a Figure. Before signing any contracts with vendors, determine a dollar amount of what you believe you can spend on your wedding. If you have $40,000 to spend on the wedding and you’ve fallen in love with a venue that has a $30,000 food and beverage minimum, you likely are not leaving enough money to spend on other costs {photography, dress, entertainment, cake, etc.}. Unless someone else is going to contribute to the costs of your wedding, you need to think more realistically in lines with your budget. 
  • Economy versus Value. Value is knowing precisely what you want and what you are willing to pay. Economy is finding what you want at the best available price. The best way to achieve economy is to hire a professional wedding planner who will save you valuable time and money by referring you to vendors that will deliver the best quality product while staying within your budget.
  • Tips on Budgeting. The best way to get the most value out of your budget is to hire a professional planner who can realistically explain what you can get out of the figure you’ve established. Additionally, they can negotiate with vendors to get better pricing and then pass those savings on to you {often times these savings will almost completely off-set the costs of hiring a planner in the first place}! 
  • Best Way to Economize on Big Items. 
    • Cut your guest list. Not always easy to do, but is the fastest way to take a big chunk out of your budget.
    • Choose a date in the off-peak months when prices are not at a premium.
    • Choose a day during the week other than a Saturday. Perhaps the venue fee will be waived or the food and beverage minimum can be reduced. Both could shave off thousands from your budget!


Tomorrow’s Topic: Size and Location
——-
Embellished Events
{Inspire} {Create} {Embellish}
Phone: (843) 757-7762
Email: Info@EmbellishedWeddings.com

Hilton Head Weddings
Savannah Wedding Planners
Charleston Wedding Planners
Beaufort Wedding Planners

12 Advantages of Hiring a Professional Wedding Planner
Hiring a professional wedding planner provides a great deal of value to everyone involved in the planning process. After reading the list below, you’ll see that it’s no wonder why!
1.     You Will Save Money – A professional planner has firmly established relationships with many wedding vendors, has leverage in negotiating with them and knows the going rates of what the client should pay for things like catering, venues, entertainment, transportation, etc. Brides without a planner spend countless hours researching what planners already have at the end of their fingertips. They’ll be able to negotiate better pricing for you, which in turn will offset the cost your paying for the planner’s services!
2.     Reduced Stress– During my years working in Catering Sales for a wedding venue, I’ve observed many brides through the process of planning their wedding, both with and without a planner. For those who didn’t hire a planner were so mentally exhausted from stress and emotions that by the time their wedding rolled around, they were ready for it to be over. When it comes to the day of your wedding, the most important thing is that you are able to relax and enjoy it. You are the bride. You don’t want to end up being the point person for issues and questions that will inevitably arise. Hiring a planner frees you and everyone you love to live in the moment on your wedding day.
3.     You Will Save Time – Wedding planners plan events for a living and while you may know a thing or two about planning weddings, you will probably still spend a lot of time and effort getting up to speed, not to mention the effort required to manage all of the details. By hiring a wedding planner, you’ll free up your time and turn everything over to an expert who will get the job done in a fraction of time it would take you.
4.     The Job Will Get Done Right – When you try to take on a big project that is beyond your area of expertise, there is always the fear of overlooking an important step, which leads to a snowball of problems…and you’re probably right. Hiring a planner will give you the peace of mind that the job will get done right and that your wedding is the hands of someone who is very capable of making your dream day come true.
5.     Glitch Prevention – Ever bride wants her day to be perfect and glitch-free. While there are always a few issues with every event, hiring a wedding planner will help ensure there are minimum issues and when an issue arises, the planner will know how to resolve them promptly. Planners have seen it all and know the tips and tricks for avoiding mistakes and slipups.
6.    Vendor Recommendation – In addition to possessing a wealth of knowledge, planners have been in the industry long enough to know which vendors can be trusted, who has the best business practices and who provides the most value. They know from experience if the quality of someone’s work matches the price tag that comes along with it. This in turn will help you get the most out of every dollar you spend.
7.     Vendor Coordination – Your wedding day will involve numerous vendors who need to work together to insure that the day goes smoothly. A planner understands how each vendor relies on the others and serves as the team captain who coordinates the complexities of the timeline with all its moving parts.
8.    Mediator – A good planner serves as a buffer in tricky relational situations. It’s a known fact that it’s impossible to make everyone happy when planning a wedding. A planner is a safe neutral person to point to for direction. It’s easier to tell your future mother-in-law, “My planner thinks we need to…” instead of “I think we should…”
9.    Inspiration à Reality – Wedding planners with a creative edge and eye for design provide an invaluable asset to the success of turning your vision into reality. They’ll inspire you with ideas that will make your wedding unique and provide your guests with a memorable experience.
10.  Professional Planner vs. “Venue Coordinator” – For some venues, part of their selling strategy is to tell you you’ll have a “wedding coordinator” on the day of your event. One thing that they probably won’t clarify is that this person is actually the venue’s catering manager and their job is to make sure that everything relating to the venue runs smoothly. While they are helpful, they do not cover the scope of what an independent planner does, which will leave the bride and her family feeling overwhelmed throughout the planning process with the many decisions that do not involve the venue (etiquette, budgeting, itineraries, timelines, design, coordination between the vendors, etc.). The venue’s “wedding coordinator” may also juggle more than one wedding on a given day and several events in a week that are just as important to them as yours. A professional wedding planner will only take a limited number of weddings each month so that they can make sure to give you the attention and time you deserve, which will make the entire experience less stressful and more enjoyable.
11.  You Can Focus on Important Matters – Brides and grooms have enough on their plates between work, family, friends and social commitments. Throw in managing a handful of vendors and thousands of intricate details for planning one of the most important days of your life and you’ll find it hard to balance the emotions that come along with it. Your planning experience should be filled with bliss and enjoyment and hiring a professional planner will allow you to relax and enjoy every moment.
12.  Millions of people hire specialist every day to take care of jobs beyond their expertise (i.e. auto repair, home construction, accounting, etc.) or don’t have the time to do themselves (i.e. housecleaning). Planning a wedding is a big job, especially for someone who doesn’t regularly plan events. There is little margin for error so it makes the most sense to hand it over to someone who is the expert. 
——–

Embellished Events 
Inspire | Create | Embellish
o: (843) 757-7762
c: (843) 290-2590
Hilton Head Wedding Planner
Savannah Wedding Planner
Charleston Wedding Planner
Beaufort Wedding Planner

12 Advantages of Hiring a Professional Wedding Planner
Hiring a professional wedding planner provides a great deal of value to everyone involved in the planning process. After reading the list below, you’ll see that it’s no wonder why!
1.     You Will Save Money – A professional planner has firmly established relationships with many wedding vendors, has leverage in negotiating with them and knows the going rates of what the client should pay for things like catering, venues, entertainment, transportation, etc. Brides without a planner spend countless hours researching what planners already have at the end of their fingertips. They’ll be able to negotiate better pricing for you, which in turn will offset the cost your paying for the planner’s services!
2.     Reduced Stress– During my years working in Catering Sales for a wedding venue, I’ve observed many brides through the process of planning their wedding, both with and without a planner. For those who didn’t hire a planner were so mentally exhausted from stress and emotions that by the time their wedding rolled around, they were ready for it to be over. When it comes to the day of your wedding, the most important thing is that you are able to relax and enjoy it. You are the bride. You don’t want to end up being the point person for issues and questions that will inevitably arise. Hiring a planner frees you and everyone you love to live in the moment on your wedding day.
3.     You Will Save Time – Wedding planners plan events for a living and while you may know a thing or two about planning weddings, you will probably still spend a lot of time and effort getting up to speed, not to mention the effort required to manage all of the details. By hiring a wedding planner, you’ll free up your time and turn everything over to an expert who will get the job done in a fraction of time it would take you.
4.     The Job Will Get Done Right – When you try to take on a big project that is beyond your area of expertise, there is always the fear of overlooking an important step, which leads to a snowball of problems…and you’re probably right. Hiring a planner will give you the peace of mind that the job will get done right and that your wedding is the hands of someone who is very capable of making your dream day come true.
5.     Glitch Prevention – Ever bride wants her day to be perfect and glitch-free. While there are always a few issues with every event, hiring a wedding planner will help ensure there are minimum issues and when an issue arises, the planner will know how to resolve them promptly. Planners have seen it all and know the tips and tricks for avoiding mistakes and slipups.
6.    Vendor Recommendation – In addition to possessing a wealth of knowledge, planners have been in the industry long enough to know which vendors can be trusted, who has the best business practices and who provides the most value. They know from experience if the quality of someone’s work matches the price tag that comes along with it. This in turn will help you get the most out of every dollar you spend.
7.     Vendor Coordination – Your wedding day will involve numerous vendors who need to work together to insure that the day goes smoothly. A planner understands how each vendor relies on the others and serves as the team captain who coordinates the complexities of the timeline with all its moving parts.
8.    Mediator – A good planner serves as a buffer in tricky relational situations. It’s a known fact that it’s impossible to make everyone happy when planning a wedding. A planner is a safe neutral person to point to for direction. It’s easier to tell your future mother-in-law, “My planner thinks we need to…” instead of “I think we should…”
9.    Inspiration à Reality – Wedding planners with a creative edge and eye for design provide an invaluable asset to the success of turning your vision into reality. They’ll inspire you with ideas that will make your wedding unique and provide your guests with a memorable experience.
10.  Professional Planner vs. “Venue Coordinator” – For some venues, part of their selling strategy is to tell you you’ll have a “wedding coordinator” on the day of your event. One thing that they probably won’t clarify is that this person is actually the venue’s catering manager and their job is to make sure that everything relating to the venue runs smoothly. While they are helpful, they do not cover the scope of what an independent planner does, which will leave the bride and her family feeling overwhelmed throughout the planning process with the many decisions that do not involve the venue (etiquette, budgeting, itineraries, timelines, design, coordination between the vendors, etc.). The venue’s “wedding coordinator” may also juggle more than one wedding on a given day and several events in a week that are just as important to them as yours. A professional wedding planner will only take a limited number of weddings each month so that they can make sure to give you the attention and time you deserve, which will make the entire experience less stressful and more enjoyable.
11.  You Can Focus on Important Matters – Brides and grooms have enough on their plates between work, family, friends and social commitments. Throw in managing a handful of vendors and thousands of intricate details for planning one of the most important days of your life and you’ll find it hard to balance the emotions that come along with it. Your planning experience should be filled with bliss and enjoyment and hiring a professional planner will allow you to relax and enjoy every moment.
12.  Millions of people hire specialist every day to take care of jobs beyond their expertise (i.e. auto repair, home construction, accounting, etc.) or don’t have the time to do themselves (i.e. housecleaning). Planning a wedding is a big job, especially for someone who doesn’t regularly plan events. There is little margin for error so it makes the most sense to hand it over to someone who is the expert. 
——–

Embellished Events 
Inspire | Create | Embellish
o: (843) 757-7762
c: (843) 290-2590
Hilton Head Wedding Planner
Savannah Wedding Planner
Charleston Wedding Planner
Beaufort Wedding Planner