All articles
Budget8 May 20267 min read
Where the money actually goes
A real breakdown of a mid-size wedding budget, including the four lines that always run over.
By Tolu Ade
Budgets don't fail because of the big numbers. You know the venue is expensive. They fail on the twenty small lines nobody warned you about.
The four that always run over
- Drinks — almost always underestimated, especially the gap between ceremony and dinner
- Postage, which sounds trivial until you're posting 120 heavy envelopes
- Alterations, which are rarely one appointment
- Anything described as "just" — just some flowers, just a few extra chairs
Where you can genuinely save
The website, the RSVP tracking, the guest list and the photo album can all be free. Photography is the one line where paying more reliably gets you more — but guest photos fill the gaps a photographer physically cannot cover, and they cost nothing.
Spend on the things you can't redo. Everything else is negotiable.
