You’ve shown everyone your gorgeous new ring.  You’re glowing with the thought of floating down the aisle into the arms of the man you adore.  Your friends and family will be there to celebrate in a beautifully decorated room with delicious food and your favorite tunes.  But wait.  What is all this going to cost?  Complete the Wedding Cost Estimator at the end of the article to see how much your wedding will cost.

Shortly after the initial excitement of the engagement, couples and their families start to think and worry about the cost of the wedding.  In many instances the bride and her family have no recent experience planning a wedding.  At best they may have a hazy vision of what they want but no idea of what it will cost. Unfortunately, the next step many families take is to just begin making phone calls to vendors.  Using wedding magazines, the Yellow Pages and web search results to locate likely prospects the phone calls start.

The problem with this approach is that it is often started before the bride has gathered the basics:

• Wedding date
• Venue secured
• What the venue  does/does not provide
• Approximate guest count
• Style, theme or color scheme

Several times a week, we get calls at The Linen House that go something like this:

Bride: I’m calling to see how much it costs to rent linens (or buy flowers or hire a photographer or get a cake or have my makeup done, etc.) for my wedding.

Vendor: Great!  We’ll be glad to help you.  When is the wedding?  I’ll need to check availability for you.

Bride: We haven’t picked a date yet.  I’m just trying to work on my budget.

Vendor: OK. Maybe we can help you.  Do you know where you will hold your reception?

Bride: Well I have a couple of places in mind but I don’t know if I can afford them until I know how much everything else costs.

Vendor: I can give you some price ranges but I’m afraid this information won’t be too helpful until you have more requirements.

Alert: On the phone with the unsuspecting bride, unscrupulous vendors will give brides the lowest price they’ve ever charged anyone.  They hope that will bring the bride and her family into the shop where they will fall in love with something. Nearly all the time this will not be remotely within the price quoted over the phone.  Nobody falls in love with the cheapest thing in the store.  You might make do with the cheapest item, but you won’t fall in love with it.  You can see how this approach doesn’t benefit the bride at all and is not the recommended approach for finding a vendor or making selections.

This puts brides in the proverbial chicken and egg dilemma.  What comes first: the budget or the selections?  Until the couple selects a date and a venue they can’t make other plans.  Until they know what everything else will cost, they don’t feel comfortable committing to a venue.

Real Simple Solution

To solve this problem, RealSimple.com created a very easy wedding cost estimator and planning spreadsheet.  The estimator tells you the average prices for various wedding components arranged by state.  Click here for a link to the average price ranges in Texas.  Click here for the planning spreadsheet. At the end of this article is a form that will assist you further.

Brides who use these tools end up with a realistic idea of what everything should cost.  They may decide they don’t want or need some of the line items services.  They can eliminate the item or they can transfer that part of the budget to something more meaningful.  Either way, it gives brides and their families more control and more knowledge when it is time to start putting down deposits.  Want something more lavish? At least brides have a base line to start the wedding plan.  The best option is to use a wedding planner who is a pro at putting together weddings in all price ranges.

Reminder: wedding insurance should always be included in your budget.  Just yesterday the mother of the bride called asking for her deposit back on a December wedding.  It was devastating news and the bride and her family were still reeling from the shock of the groom’s decision to call off the nuptials. Until recently, change of heart was not a valid claim but new wedding insurance policies make that an option. No one wants to think that will happen to them but spending between $300-600 may be the best bargain of your entire wedding budget.  Bad weather, illness, vendor failure, accidents on and off the premises are all possibilities that won’t worry a well-prepared bride.

However brides decide to spend their budget, the best wedding is the wedding where brides have made informed spending decisions.  Be informed. Spend wisely.  Use the Wedding Cost Estimator below to calculate your costs now!