5 Things Every Couple Forgets to Factor Into Their Wedding Budget

The easiest way to get into a financial rut–wedding planning or not–is to be dishonest with yourself about how much you’re spending. To sit there and pretend like you’re not spending a small fortune on take-out or craft supplies.

If you want to be in great financial shape–here’s where the wedding advice comes in–it’s important to make a really accurate budget for your big day from the start. And that means building in line items for all the things most people forget to think about.

Tablecloths and centerpieces fit in to your rental and florist budgets, respectively. But you might also pick up wedding decorations along the way, like candles, signage, a ceremony backdrop or anything else to fill the space and make it personal. Those things cost money, of course, even if the plan is DIY.

Hair and makeup for the wedding day are factored into most budgets, but goodness knows there’s a lot of pre-wedding prep that needs to be taken care of, too, like a spray tan, manicure, waxing and hair cut and color. You know your routine, so it should be easy to calculate your real beauty budget.

You’ve invited your wedding party to come get ready with you the morning of the wedding, but everyone’s still got to eat! It’s fun to put together a pastry spread from your favorite bakery and grab fixings to make a few mimosas, but you need to budget for those little expenses on the morning of.

Whether you like it or not, there’s an established tipping etiquette in the wedding industry, and it’s likely to cost you more than you think to pay gratuities to all your vendors. You can Google around to determine what vendors commonly receive tips, but the best way to know what to expect is to ask around to friends who were married in your area before.

The very best thing about being engaged, hands down, is all the love that you get from friends and family. You may have budgeted for a gift for each member of your wedding party to say “thanks,” but what about your parents? The florist who went above and beyond? The designer friend who illustrated your invitation? The aunt who planned your bridal shower? Along the wedding planning journey, you might find that you want to buy a few gifts for all of the wonderful people who step out of the woodwork to show their support and shower you with love.