WRITING OUT A DETAILED BUDGET

Although love and happiness are the finer details of a wedding, you have to face the facts and figure out a detailed budget. Now, what you include in this budget will depend on the type of wedding. So maybe you should start with that first.

Extravagant or Modest?

If you're the kind of person that's been dreaming of your wedding since you were born, then you may want to have all the things that the royal family may want. However, you will need to have a considerably larger budget. Symphonies and real dove releases are not cheap.

Sit down with your soon-to-be spouse and figure out what is really important to you. Or you may want to each write out what your idea of the perfect wedding is, and then compare notes. You will probably find that many things match. And for those things that don't, you will need to figure out if they're necessary and something that you both want.

It seems that many couples split right down the middle in terms of a budget. One person is usually more lax, while the other tends to count every penny. Use this to your advantage. After you've figured out what kinds of things you're including in the budget, then you can determine if there are inexpensive ways to accomplish them.

This is your first lesson in compromise. Some things will work, others will not.

Who's paying?

When it comes to the bill, most of the times, the bride's family will be writing the checks, but in these modern times, it can be any combination of relatives or even the couple as well.

When you're starting to make out your budget, you want to figure out who may be paying to see what kind of limits you need to impose on your plans. Although it may be fun to plan out the wedding first and ask for the dough, you may find that your ideas don't quite match those with the check book.

So the best advice in planning out your detailed budget is to figure out what things you simply can not imagine your wedding day without. Then figure out how much money you are able to spend (thinking carefully upon extending your finances into debt--it's only one day!) and see what else you can fit in.

Weddings have a funny way of working themselves out and being beautiful without a lot of drama, so relax, this part really isn't that bad.