Where should your wedding budget actually go?

1. Your wedding

2. What matters most? (pick up to three)

Your plan

The model, and what it leaves out

• Typical cost per category = a mid-cost-region baseline x region multiplier (0.75, 1, 1.3, 1.7) x season multiplier (0.88, 1, 1.12, applied to venue, food and flowers) x guests for per-guest lines.
• Allocation: 7% is held back as contingency; the rest is split in proportion to typical cost, with each priority weighted 1.35x, every line held between 45% and 160% of typical cost, and the surplus or shortfall redistributed.
• Not modelled: venues that bundle food and rentals, cultural or religious costs, destination weddings, taxes and service charges, deposits timing, and honeymoon or rehearsal events. Baselines are ballpark figures, not quotes; replace them with real ones.

Common questions

How much of my wedding budget should go to the venue and food?

Venue and catering together are commonly the largest share, often 40 to 50 percent of the spend, because food and drink scale with every guest. This tool computes the split from your guest count, region and season instead of applying one fixed percentage.

How does guest count change a wedding budget?

Food, bar, rentals, cake and stationery are per-guest costs, so each extra guest adds roughly the same amount. Photography, music, flowers and the venue fee mostly do not change with guest count. The result shows what each extra guest costs in your plan.

Should I keep a contingency fund?

Yes. This tool holds back 7 percent of your total budget before allocating anything, to cover overtime, alterations, tips and price changes.

Are the baseline costs real quotes?

No. They are mid-cost-region ballpark figures scaled by a region and season multiplier. Replace them with real vendor quotes as you get them, and treat the output as a starting plan.

Is this financial advice?

No. It applies simple arithmetic and rules of thumb to the numbers you enter and is not financial advice.