The most important thing that must be performed when you are ready to start planning your wedding is to first draw up your budget. Your budget is vital as it is virtually impossible to know what you can afford for each aspect of the wedding if you don’t give yourself a limit to the overall spending costs. For the majority people, creating the budget is the most difficult task to do because you want to have the best and most memorable wedding that you can afford.

The days when the wedding is paid for by the bride’s parents are practically gone now. Parents will often contribute to the wedding cost as a gift to the couple, but it is very unusual for parents to cover the whole cost of the wedding these days.

Usually it is because the parents just can’t afford it, but couples today often like to pay for their own weddings as it ensures that they can do it the way that they want to without interference.

A lot of the time, parents will forego paying for the wedding and pay for the honeymoon instead.

These days, around 80% of couples pay for their own wedding and it helps to know how your budget should be broken down.
Here is an example:
reception 35%, rings 12%, flowers 5%, music/entertainment 7%, invitations 3%, bridal apparel 7%, photography/video 10%, honeymoon 15%, miscellaneous 6%

When creating your budget, you will first start with the overall amount that you can afford to spend. The average wedding today costs approximately $18,500.

Next is to calculate how much money that you will have to spend on each aspect of the wedding.

Once you have figured out the dollar amount that you can spend on each aspect of the wedding, you can then start to create a chart that will itemize the list for you. I have included a simple table to help you out in this area.

Category(what must be done)
Goal (what you desire for what must be done)
Reception

Ceremony

Photography/Videography

Catering

Rings

Attire

Music

Flowers

Honeymoon

Miscellaneous

decorations

What this list is meant to show you is what requires to be done, but the blank areas are designed as a means of bringing out the dream of it all into reality. You have to make a list of all of the things that you will have to get in order to fulfill your wedding hopes.

This is necessary in order to know if what you dream of can even be afforded within your set budget. If it is not possible, you will have to do any or all of the following:
* Reduce the number of guests
* Forego some of the services
* Lessen the wedding party
* Forget the extras such as limos

When you have made decisions what you want to include and what you can afford, it is on to the planning stage.

And remember, you do not have to hire a professional wedding emcee. You could ask a friend or family member. Find out more about it here
Wedding emcee
Wedding master of ceremonies
Duties of mc at wedding