8 Things to Add to Your Wedding Budget
It's Wedding Wednesday!
As a bride and wedding vendor, I love being able to give couples who are quickly approaching their wedding day tips and advice whenever I can! Today, I'm writing about a few items that Arturo and I may or may not have forgotten to add to our wedding day budget. They say hindsight is always 20/20, right?
1. Thank You Cards
I feel terrible admitting this (especially since I'm the stickler in my family for making sure everyone writes thank you notes!), but I totally forgot to add these to our wedding budget! Eek! Don't forget, you'll need cards for both your wedding gifts and bridal shower gifts. When budgeting for your wedding thank you cards, you'll want to decide if you want to buy stationary with or without a photo from your big day. If you choose to go with a photo on your thank you's, your photographer will most likely be able to design cards for you and have them professionally printed. Click here to see an example of a magnetic Save-the-Date I designed for Monica + Kevin's December wedding!
2. Postage
Speaking of stationary, you'll be needing postage for your Save-the-Dates, wedding shower thank you notes, wedding invitations, RSVP envelopes and wedding day thank you notes. Be sure to take note of any special rates for international postage. Keep in mind that some invites may weigh a bit more than regular mail, and will therefore need additional postage. If you want to buy the correct amount of postage, take one sealed invitation to your local post office and have them weigh it for you. They'll be able to tell you exactly how much postage you'll need!
3. Dress Cleaning and Storage
You'll be doing a LOT of dancing and celebrating on your wedding day! This means your dress will get a bit sweaty, and possibly a little dirty (especially if you have a long dress or train that will be dragging on the ground behind you as you walk). Bridal salons often offer dress cleaning and preservation services, which (in my opinion) are well worth the investment!
4. Post-Wedding Reception Transportation
Quite often, couples remember to arrange for transportation to their wedding ceremony and reception locations, but sometimes arranging for transportation to their hotel or homes can slip their minds (like many of the items on this list)! Unless you want to spend your wedding night at your reception venue, be sure to arrange for post-wedding transportation--this includes getting yourselves to and from the airport for your honeymoon!
5. Passport
If you've never been out of the country, and plan on having a destination wedding or honeymoon outside of the US, be sure to get your passport! You'll want to allow for plenty of time for everything to be finalized with your passport before you leave for your destination.
6. Photo Prints, Albums & Wall Art
If prints, albums or wall art aren't offered in your wedding photography package, you'll definitely want to get some of your wedding photos printed! You may not think these things are important, but trust me, they are totally worth the investment. You don't want all of your wedding photos stuck on your computer's hard drive, do you?
7. Framing for Photos + Important Documents
Speaking of printed photographs, you'll want to get your prints and important documents from the day professionally framed (if this isn't a service your photographer already offers)!
8. Registry Completion
If you have a wedding registry, sometimes the store you've registered at will send you an offer with a certain percentage off if you decide to purchase the remaining items on your list. Trust me, you will want to add this to your wedding budget if you still have your eye on that All Clad cookware!
If you're already married, what are some things you wish you'd added to your wedding budget?
Click here to learn why you should print your wedding photos!