Keeping Clean Books of Accounts

When you visit your wedding vendors and you tell them you are planning a wedding, carry with you a wedding budget, and have an estimated number of wedding guests you want to invite. Also, before searching for any vendors have a sample design board or open a scrap book which contains fabric samples and draping examples of the kind of wedding you are looking forward to hosting. A budget is a fixed amount that you have set aside for planning the entire wedding with amounts set aside for each part. For example for the Church Ceremony, the Reception Party and the Honeymoon.

These will help you obtain close to accurate estimates and quotations. Before making a final choice on the vendors you are going to use, visit at least three of them in each category so as to get the best possible product at the price you are able to afford. For instance, FLOWERS. Visit three flower vendors. These may be two florists located in two different markets and one visit to a flower farm. There are several good ones on the outskirts of Nairobi and in Naivasha.

Based on your description of the kind of event you are planning, the vendor will give you an estimate. If it is a florist, this estimate will depend on the seasonal availability of the flowers you want to use. An estimate gives you just a general idea of the final cost and may therefore be inaccurate and may not expose any hidden extra costs, such as transportation to the venue.

When a vendor has a clearer picture of all the details needed, he will issue you with a quotation. This is usually a fixed price for a specific job. Ask each vendor to include all charges such as delivery and labor so that you will know exactly how much each element will cost.

Churches and wedding vendors are usually booked months in advance. Sometimes even up-to two years. With most weddings celebrated on Saturdays, you need to confirm bookings with your vendors at least 12 months prior to your wedding day. The one way to confirm the booking of a vendor is to pay them a deposit in advance. A deposit is a percentage payment of the total bill. For example, your Florist charges you Kshs.1,200/= for church altar flower arrangements and you need 4. Your total bill will be Kshs.4,800/=. To commit and book the florist, they will ask you for a deposit of 1/3. This means payment of Kshs.1,600/= with the balance payable a week before the wedding day.

This is when you will deciding on the Method of Payment. In Kenya, this maybe payment by cash, a cheque, credit card, debit card or via M-Pesa. Ensure that you get receipts for all payments made to your vendors. A receipt is acknowledgement from the vendor that he/she has received money from you.

All these agreements and monetary transactions will be stored in two files. Agreements will go into your “Wedding Planning Vendors” file, and all receipts will go into the payments section of your “Wedding Planning Accounts” file.

Gifts from your loved ones will also start coming in. Some may be given to you directly as cash, other gifts will be cheques and other monetary gifts may be sent via M-Pesa. As money gifts start being received, record each transaction in a “Monetary Gifts Sheet or Journal.”