«Create a Memorable Event» Series - Budget
Step by step, you are getting closer to establishing a memorable event that’ll reflect your personality and style, please all your guests and will leave you satisfied with all you’ve achieved.
A rather dull and sometimes uncomfortable but absolutely necessary aspect of event planning is finances. Arguably the most important component because your budget will determine how much of your vision will be implemented quantity- and quality-wise.
A thorough budget that is broken down to key expenses is crucial; referring to your vision you should specify all your expenses, like:
Venue (room, rentals, security deposit, parking)
Catering (bartenders, servers, food, beverages, cake, linens, table settings)
Entertainment (musicians/DJ)
Materials (printed invitations, programs, design work, goody bags/treats)
Decor (flowers, table centerpieces, signs)
Attire (+hair, make-up)
Photography (+video)
Miscellaneous (seating chart, associated housing and transportation costs taxes, and fees)
and more
and decide what’s most important to you (and what is NOT important or needed, wanted at all!), so you can “divide” your budget accordingly. This break down (or an even more broken down version of it) will be your guideline and reminder how far you can stretch literally and figuratively.
There are a couple ways -strategies, really- to cut down your budget if you encounter difficulty in implementing your vision on a tighter budget:
be flexible (if you have very specific requirements for elements of your event, it will be tougher to fulfill them on a small amount.)
look for package deals (usually what you loose is personalization and/or high quality)
use digital materials instead of printed ones
think about the off season (not applicable in every situation, unfortunately)
negotiate (in almost all circumstances when you ask for a lower price, the worst that can happen is someone says no, and then you’re in no different a place than if you hadn’t asked. The best case scenario saves you money, so from a risk vs. reward perspective, it only makes sense to negotiate.
ask for help (don’t be afraid to reach out to friends and family to pitch in; it doesn’t have to be monetary help; in planning and “executing” an event there are many a ways to help)
Because budgeting is so important there are many a worksheets, templates and budget planners available from Microsoft (Excel being the most popular), dedicated mobile applications and on organizing blogs for you to download and use at your convenience. Searching and downloading them isn’t difficult but personalizing and customizing them is a bit of a process (Youtube is your friend, my friend!) tho still easier than keeping all of it in your mind.
Hope this post helped you declutter and simplify the «budget-issue» and gave you motivation to do it right.
Thank you for coming along. If you missed the previous post in this series you can start here with the first post.
Also, if you wish to know more about FAE, here is the ideal spot to start.
Your very own fairy
Tünde - Nefeli
