Wedding Budget Planner

When it comes to wedding planning, emotions and money never really function in unison. Know your budget and plan well in advance to eliminate unwanted surprises. We have created a Wedding Budget Planner template that helps you in shaping a perfect budget for your wedding. It breaks down the expenses under different categories, which enables you to allocate funds in a purposeful manner and manage expenses quite judiciously. Whether you are planning a splashy affair or a more conservative one, budgeting plays a vital role in achieving this once in a lifetime goal most effectively. It gives you control over your spending, curbs unnecessary expenses and at the same time enables you to concentrate on buying more of the goods and services that matter to you the most.

It is imperative to understand ahead of time that there is a long list of expenses that have to be incurred, for instance, the amount that needs to be set aside for flower decorations, dresses and gifts. Our template breaks the varied cost under different categories and summarizes the funds available and the additional amount that is still required. It helps you manage and customize your spending. Wedding is a once in a life time affair, but you don't want to spend a lifetime paying for it. Be rest assured that even a most lavishly wedding is within your financial grasp, if you fix a realistic and affordable budget for each expense category given in this wedding budget planner template.

Fund allocation for every event helps you to analyze and summarize the entire budgeting process for the wedding. Your wedding budget planner will assure you that the amazing celebration can be held and the dream wedding can be achieved by following a few basic financial guidelines.

Using Wedding Budget Planner Template

It is advisable that as a couple you begin to plan for the wedding months in advance. Prepare the lists of guests, gifts, decorations, venues, makeup, gifts, etc. Wedding Planner template has 14 worksheets that will enable you to sort the expenses into various sub-heads. It allows allocating an increased budget for the wedding event by cutting budget for less pressing affairs.

Wedding Budget Summary is the first sheet of the spreadsheet. It displays the Date of the Wedding, the Date the planner was last updated, Number of Guests and Days remaining. If the date of the wedding has already passed, the number of days field displays the message "Congratulations". The Expenses table gives an idea of the estimated cost, the actual cost, the amount paid to date and the amount left to pay. A graphical view of the expenses is also available in the form of a pie chart. Contributions received from different sources can also be recorded. All the pages of the template display links to other pages of the spreadsheet for ease of access. Here is the list of 14 sheets:

• Contribution: stores the details of the amount of money contributed by relatives and friends, along with their names.
• Budget Estimator: used for automatic allocation or manual allocation of the budget for different spending. Allocate the net estimated budget that is marked as 100%. If the auto-allocation mode has been selected for estimation, the template automatically allocates a budget for each category simply by adding percentage share of budget under each category.
• Stationery: estimates budget that would be required for publishing invitations, napkins, stamps, menus, table plan frames & photos, etc.
• Attire: a significant budget is required for the grooming and dresses of the bride, parents, grooms, page boys, etc. Other additional expense, like jewelry, accessories, etc. need to be taken into account.
• Ceremony: church fee, choir, banns certificate, etc. also need to be paid and it is very important to allocate a budget for this in advance.
• Reception: food & drinks served at the breakfast and reception also need to be budgeted. Marquee is also required to be paid.
• Transport: clearly define transportation services that would be required for the wedding day, from the main car to the guest cars, parking fees, taxis, etc.
• Photos & Videos: hire a photographer well in advance and allocate a budget for albums, videos, parent's album, Polaroid cameras & films, etc.
• Flowers: floral décor is an integral part of every celebration and you must keep in mind that a wedding is the most flowery affair there is. Each step in the wedding requires its own flower arrangement: designer bouquets for the bride, corsages for ladies, boutonniere for the groom, buttonholes for the gentlemen, church decorations, etc. One must understand that a hefty budget is required for this category, so plan for that.
• Gifts: a decent budget might be required for gifts to be distributed, plant for that as well.
• Honeymoon: everyone dreams of a lavish honeymoon. It is really important to estimate the budget before finalizing the destination. Buy a wedding and travel insurances in advance. Making bookings at the hotels, flights, etc. all need to be factored into your final budget.
• Other Expenses: weddings come with many unplanned expenses. It is really important to keep a certain budget to handle some pleasant serendipities.
• Guest List: maintains a record of the guests that are to be invited to the wedding, the addresses and the number of people who would be attending. You get a summary of the invitations that are accepted/rejected / not responded. Eating preferences of the guest are also noted to help in deciding on the menu. The guest list is segregated into male and female category. A record of the Thank You cards that were sent is also available.
• Contact List: stores the information of all the important contacts that are helping in the wedding preparation. The table shows the role of each person along with the address and contact details.

Out of the 14 worksheets the stationery, ceremony, reception, transport, Photos & Videos, Flowers, Gifts, Honeymoon & others and Other Expenses pages gives the lump sum estimated budget allowance for each category and the breakage into the estimated, actual, paid to date and left to pay amount for each job. Planning a wedding in advance removes the last moment glitches and makes it a memorable and lavish affair.

We recommend that you do not to change or delete the pre-defined formulas of the template, if you do, the entire template may be altered, as the various fields have interconnecting formulas and the results after such changes would lack accuracy.

Excel Function used in this template

• COUNTIF(range, criteria)
• TODAY()
• SUM(number1, [number2], [number3], [number4], ...)
• IF(logical_test, value_if_true, [value_if_false])