Prioritizing Budget

How do we stick to a P100,000 budget for a wedding?


Here's how:


1. PRIORITIZE. All weddings will have a lead person - bride, groom, mother of the bride (mob), mother of the groom (mog) or whoever else will be paying for it. Mostly, everyone will have a "SAY" on what should and should not be in the wedding. Therefore, what does a bride to be do?

• For bride and groom - on separate pieces of paper, write down the top three things you want to spend on.
  
• Write down how much you want to spend for each.
• Understand that if these are your priorities, then the rest are small stuff, not to be fussed over.

2. Look for the BEST DEALS within your circle. There are lots of deals on the web, through wedding fairs, through magazines, and others, but the best deals are still within family and friends.

• If you have an aunt who can sew, make her "gift" the wedding dress or other necessary clothing.
• If you have a creative friend who is good with printing, then let them be the invites creator or other printouts.
• My friend volunteered to make the flowers for me, after a trip to Dimasalang (flower market in Manila). All the flowers (tables, bouquets, buttoniers, corsages and mini bouquets will cost less than P5,000!!! those are Calla Lilies and Roses!!!)
• If they can, ask siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, godparents or friends to "sponsor" some of the items that you want, but are not priority - these can include: bridesmaids dresses, church fees, souveniers, rings or the gifts to entourage.
• If you have a photographer friend, they will be flattered if you ask them to cover the wedding. Just pay for the development of some photographs.
  

3. SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY. To stick to the budget, if you have a choice between the basic and an "upgraded" for P1,500-P4,000; there is a tendency to say "its our wedding and its only one time, we should upgrade." Wrong. Those upgrades are unecessary most of the time and those little expenses and comments like "P2,000 or P3,000 lang yan, kunin na natin!" will ADD up. The budget is P100k. No room for upgrades.