Who Pays for What for Your Wedding?

Engagements have been announced and Church Banns are still being proclaimed at both your parishes. You may have 12 months, 9 months or just 6 months to plan your wedding day. Whatever amount of time you have, there is one other important element that you need to consider. How much money do you have to finance the entire wedding?

In our previous article titled “Finance for your Wedding” we have worked out one traditional generic budget to get you started. In addition, we have included links to our Wedding Budget Calculators for small, medium sized and large weddings that you can use to allocate expenses for each and every part of your wedding.

Before you start paying wedding service and product providers any money, take some time out to decide who pays for what to maintain equality and peace within the two families.

Below we have outlined the traditional expenses that used to be shared between the brides and the grooms families:

BRIDES FAMILY EXPENSES

1. All the brides clothes including her wedding gown and going away clothes;

2. The bridesmaid’s dresses;

3. Beauty treatments for the bride, the brides maids and all the female members of the wedding party;

4. Press announcements;

5. Wedding stationery;

6. Transportation to the ceremony;

7. Photographs and video;

8. Flowers for the church and the reception;

9. Reception including venue costs, food and beverages.

GROOMS FAMILY EXPENSES

1. All the grooms clothes including his suit/tuxedo and his going away clothes;

2. The groomsmen’s suits, shirts, shoes, socks and ties;

3. The brides wedding ring;

4. Church fees (excluding flowers);

5. Flowers for the bride;

6. Flowers for the bridesmaids and the mothers;

7. Flowers/ buttonholes for the Groomsmen;

8. Gifts for the bridesmaids;

9. Transportation for the bride and groom after the wedding;

10. Honeymoon;

11. Petty cash for the best man.

In the past, the burden of financing the wedding fell on the bride’s family as the groom was marrying her. However, with brides and grooms marrying late in life after they have started working means that they have more money between them to plan the dream wedding they have always wanted. Today, these expenses are shared more equitably between the families. For instance, the cost of the reception party which usually costs the most is nowadays shared between the two families.

It is wise to open a “Wedding Planning Vendors File” with divisions for each service provider where you will store the agreements you make with them. Also open another file for “Wedding Planning Accounts” which you will divide into two sections, namely Expenses and Receipts.

You may find yourselves with just 6 months left to plan your wedding and there is still so much to be done. Do not panic. Use our planning timelines and budget sheets to make sure you allocate time and money for every part of your wedding.

Entire Wedding Timeline

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