What Type of Wedding Theme is Right for your Budget?

Ideas to Help you Keep Your Theme Without Breaking Your Bank Account

Wedding Themes can be ‘Over the Top’, Go Over Budget, or Might Just be too Expensive to Pull Off

If you ask children what kind of wedding they would like to have someday, the most common answer is, “Well, I would like to be a princess and get married in a castle,” and “I want to be a knight and ride a horse.”

While today’s wedding themes have somewhat strayed away from traditional wedding themes, many children are still exposed to them; they play Barbie dolls with lavish wedding dresses, and continue to grow up with those basic ideas in mind for their wedding themes because of fairytales and movies.

Unfortunately, many of these wedding themes become forgotten as children grow into adults and understand the meaning of budgeting money. And, the wedding theme and dream they once had as children simply become too expensive---and, therefore, impossible---to pull off.

Prioritize Items in Wedding Themes as Part of Wedding Planning

No matter what type of wedding theme the bride and groom have chosen, it is important to prioritize “wants” and “needs.”

All wedding themes and their elements need to be grouped in order of priority, paying careful attention to what is essential versus “what would be nice.”

For example, if the bride insists on spending the most money on a wedding dress she “must have”, then the wedding theme’s other elements and decorations may have to be crafted instead of purchased.

Allowing enough time for wedding planning and discussing wedding themes and their possible variations can help to keep the wedding from going above and beyond anyone’s budget.

Remember: all elements in wedding themes can be adjusted. Wedding dresses can be embellished by hand, wedding ceremony locations can be changed, and decorations, such as centerpieces, can be handcrafted.

The Cost of a Wedding does not have to be completely on the Parents’ Shoulders: Designate

Because of difficult economic and, therefore, financially hard times for people today, wedding themes and their elements are no longer expected to be paid for by the parents of the bride and groom.

Those days are pretty much over unless the parents are wealthy.
Additionally, because there is a general understanding of the economic climate by everyone involved with the wedding, it has become an honor for friends and relatives to “take over” aspects of wedding themes.

Designating parts of wedding themes to others include giving the honor to individuals to:

Create or cover the cost of the wedding cake.
Create the wedding theme’s centerpieces.
Create some of the wedding theme’s additional decorations.
Sew and embellish (or purchase) the ring pillow.
Create or purchase the bride’s garter.
Provide the flowers for the bridal bouquet.
Create or purchase the wedding invitations and/or thank you cards.
Make or purchase finger foods for the reception.
Create or purchase table coverings.
Create or purchase bows for aisles or chair coverings.

...and the list goes on. You get the idea.
Wedding themes with all their elements can be accomplished within a prioritized budget and ingenuity, creativity, and willingness to compromise.

Be careful to designate smaller tasks as much as possible. In other words, try to avoid overwhelming any one person even if he or she has volunteered.

You want to be able to “spread the honor around” so that others have an equal chance to offer something needed for the wedding ceremony or reception.

The main idea behind wedding themes and being able to supply a theme’s elements is to “give the honor” to someone to take an active role in the wedding, apart from the actual bridal party and the bride and groom’s parents.

After all, they have enough to do.

Additional Resources for Budgeting for Wedding Themes and Wedding Planning:

Wedding Themes Wedding Planning Software: http://www.elmsoftware.com/
Free Wedding Planner Software: http://ezweddingplanner.com/
Wedding Organizer: http://www.weddingsoft.com/