Weddings are all about extravagance. It is generally for this day that you save most of your earnings so that it is memorable and spectacular. However, while you begin to plan for your wedding, you realise there are a number of costs that you need to consider seriously. After all, you do not want to compromise on anything. Here’s a step-by-step list of the mandatory costs that you have to consider for your wedding. 

Venue

You have surely sketched how your venue of wedding should look like from the typical wedding scenes in movies! Deciding on a venue is not only cost-intensive, but it is in fact one of the first things that you need to decide once your wedding date is finalised. 

Remember great venues get booked the earliest and you need to be quick on deciding it. Furthermore, the cost of your venue might increase as the date nears. You generally need to make a complete advance payment for your venue in order to grab it for all the days you need. Indeed, this would cost you a substantial amount!

Costume

What is the next most important thing after the venue? Of course your bridal costumes! Being a one-time affair, every bride wants to look stunning and unique on the day of their wedding. A beautifully embroidered gown might cost you a lot. Hence, you should plan that ahead. 

Suppose you want to have a colour-themed wedding, you also have to arrange for what your relatives wear, which would add to your cost. As a result, plan your wedding dress and the costumes of your relatives as soon as possible. 

Jewellery

Once you decide your wedding costume, you have to make sure that you pair it up with the most gorgeous jewellery. After all, weddings are mostly about looking royal. Having decided on your wedding dress, you will have to choose the kinds of jewellery you want to wear on your big day. 

You can either choose to deck yourself up with all gold jewellery or simply choose the finest looking diamond pieces. In case you want your jewellery to look different, you might also want them to be designed specially. You need to plan quite ahead, in order to buy all that exclusivity. 

While you plan for your jewellery, you should also keep your wedding ring in mind. Wedding rings are not just expensive but they are also something that you would generally wear for the rest of your life. 

What if you lose the ring that had cost you so much? Can you replace it? In order to avoid such situations you should also get engagement ring insurance. Such insurance policies provide you with financial cover in case your ring is lost and helps you to overcome your financial loss. 

Invites 

Wedding invites are like a glimpse of how you have planned your wedding. While you invite your near and dear ones to the greatest event of your life, you want it to be different. Sending a tiny gift or a box of chocolates along with the invitation card often marks the advent of a luxurious event that you have planned. 

There’s a lot to plan when it comes to wedding invitations. Choosing a particular wedding card and deciding on how they would reach your relatives also require you to spend a significant portion of your budget. You can choose an array of options starting from hand-made to 3D invitation cards. In case, you want to avoid this cost completely, you can also choose to send an e-invite. But are you ready to compromise on this cost? Think again!

Decorations 

As you watch the calendar changing its months and reaching close to your wedding date, the next important thing to plan is the decorations. How do you want your venue to look from outside? How do you want the chairs to be arranged? Have you planned your entry? Of course, you do not want these to look pale with minimal decorations. 

Decorations form the most important part of your wedding venue. Remember a simple venue can look gorgeous or the reverse and it all depends on your willingness to spend on decorations. Do you want your venue to be decorated with fresh flowers according to your theme? These of course cost higher than artificial flowers. 

Remember the higher the intricacies of the decoration, the higher will be the amount you have to spend. Of course, most brides want their venues to look the best during their wedding, apart from themselves. Thus, plan your budget according to your decoration aspirations. 

Beauty care and make-up

Were you working on a busy schedule to look after your frizzy hair, pedicure and manicure? You can fix these by spending considerably on beauty care and start with these a few days prior to your wedding. Beauty care generally involves undergoing a hair and body spa, pedicure and manicure. These not only make you look perfect at your wedding but also rejuvenate you. You do not want people to know that you were having a hectic time, do you? 

Finally, you also have to plan your make-up. Remember this isn’t an ordinary day where you can brush yourself up with some highlighter and eyeshadow and pull it through. You need expert make-up artists to make you look perfect!

Make-up artists can cost you a lot and there’s no way that you can compromise on this. No bride would like their little double chin popping up or their contours going wrong on their wedding. A good make-up also ensures perfect pictures on your wedding day. Though you need your makeup artist only a couple of hours prior to your wedding, they are quite high on demand and might be booked! Thus, it is better that you book them as soon as possible and pay them in advance. 

Food and beverages

The last and the most interesting bit of every wedding are its food and beverages! You certainly do not want to let down your guests by compromising on food. Thus, you need top-notch caterers so that you can have endless dishes on your wedding to satiate the tastebuds of your guests. Remember the starters, main course and desserts are the real stars of the show. Food and beverages are where you need to spend the highest after your venue. 

Gifts

If you want your wedding to be phenomenal so that your guests remember it, you can also arrange for return gifts. Though optional, this has become a popular trend in most weddings and can cost you according to the gifts that you choose for your guests. However if you have a high footfall of guests, return gifts would also cost you a lot.

In conclusion

As often said, weddings are not just about planning but also about the resources at your disposal. Thus, you not only need to consider the costs mentioned above but also plan your budget accordingly. Remember there would be miscellaneous costs as well and therefore it is better to plan your budget to accommodate these too.