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| Image courtesy ABC News. |
You and your fiance may have your own reasons for wanting a
small wedding with a minimal number of guests. Maybe you both have demanding
jobs, aren't in a great place financially, or would simply rather focus your
energy on something other than wedding planning. Less guests means less
complications to deal with.
Despite this – you should know that saving money on a
wedding isn't necessarily the same thing as profiting from your wedding.
First, let's get a potentially awkward topic out on the
table. You are not selfish if you hope
to make, rather than owe, money on your wedding.
If you're like most NJ brides and grooms, you have likely
attended your fair share of weddings for family, friends and coworkers. You
know what the going rate is for covering your plate cost and giving a little
something extra for the bride and groom's new life together.
If you multiply the going rate by the number of guests you
expect to attend your wedding, then you get your total "break-even budget"
for paying for this entire party. Let's say it's $200 per couple, or to make
things easier, $100 per person.
$100 per person x 50 people = $5,000 wedding budget just to break even.
$100 per person x 150 people = $15,000.00 wedding budget just to break even.
A smart wedding planner (aka frugal bride) will then itemize
each aspect of the wedding day using a guesstimate at first, and then later, an
actual figure that comes straight from each receipt.
Keep track of your expenses as the wedding plan unfolds. You
may end up spending $300 trying to find the right lingerie and accessories, to
later decide that you'd rather recoup that $300 on chair covers that really
weren't all that critical to having a wonderful day.
Again, to those who think it's "tacky" to calculate
wedding costs in a strategic manner:
- It is
not selfish to hope to profit from your wedding. It's only selfish if you plan to
do something sketchy with the money, like buy street drugs or go on a self-indulgent
spending spree.
- You
have already probably been quite generous in sending off other couples
with a hefty envelope and best wishes for an amazing married life. Now
it's your turn.
- If
your/his parents have offered to pay for all or part of the wedding, then
it's your duty to put their gift to good use. Any grandparent would be far
happier to see their generosity going toward a savings account for their
grandchildren, as opposed to watching it get blown on plastic wedding
favors.
- If you
sacrificed valuable work hours to tend to your wedding plans, then you
will probably be making less money this year (for example, if you
freelance like I do). Try to think of your wedding as a way to make up for
the income that you may have lost.
So, to make my point: the
number of wedding guests does in fact change the amount you can expect to owe,
or recoup, from your wedding-day investment. Do the math and figure out how
much you'll be paying the venue for various numbers of guests – say, 50 guests,
100 guests, 150 guests, 200 guests. After you know the per-plate total, you
must factor in all the additional wedding expenses. Add those to the total
venue price.
Next, times the number of guests by the amount you expect to
receive, on average, as a gift per person (remember, it's per person, not per couple). Take that number and compare it to the total
estimated cost of your wedding. If it's greater than the total cost, then
subtract the cost from the gift amount and that's how much you'll make. If it's less, then you need to review your wedding plan and see how many more (or less)
people to invite, and/or how many items you must cut from your wedding-day
budget.
Repeat rule of thumb
for the budget-savvy bride and groom: if you make a list of each
expenditure and then allocate a budget for each thing, then you can assure that
in the end your wedding will be a gift to yourselves for your future.
