Wedding Wednesday: Unexpected Costs

Budgeting for your wedding is a task that can feel quite overwhelming - there are so many details and moving parts that it's not easy to know everything wedding budgets call for. This list will include eight common unexpected costs associated with weddings and hopefully will help couples think of other unexpected costs they might be missing.

Celebrations

Having additional, pre-celebrations to your wedding are a fun way to celebrate with small groups of friends and family in anticipation of the wedding day. This could be an engagement party, bridal shower, or a bachelor/bachelorette party. Adding these parties into your budget can be extremely important in financially planning everything to come. Although these parties aren't involved with the wedding day itself - they could involve some larger expenses that may stress your wedding budget if you don't include them.

Postage

Once you've purchased invitations (which can be quite the expense in itself), remember that you'll need to purchase postage to send these out to your guests! Although a seemingly small expense, postage costs can add up quick! Especially if you are inviting a lot of guests or you need two stamps per invite for the outside envelope and the response card.

Thank You Cards

Another stationary cost that can missed by couples is planning on purchasing thank you cards. This can be an easily missed expense as you'll tend to remember this right before the wedding or immediately after as it's important to thank your guests for coming (and if they brought a gift!). Factoring this expense in ahead of time will reduce the stress and save you some time - you can even write thank you cards ahead of time and send those out immediately after the wedding if guests are shipping you items from your registry early.

Trials

Most couples remember to budget for hair and make-up if it's needed, but it's easy to forget budgeting for any trials beforehand. Trials can help make the process smoother and give you a better idea of how you want to look for your wedding day.

Alterations

Alterations can be a significant expense that couples forget to add into the budget. Often, when dresses are purchased, they are not the perfect fit. Getting alterations done is a great way to ensure everything will fit perfectly and you'll be super comfortable on the big day. Depending on how significant the alterations will be, this can range from a very small expense to costing more than the dress you purchased!

Tips

Remembering to include tips is a day-of expense that couples often forget to include in the budget. Some of your vendors will certainly have already included gratuity fees within their bill but - for those who haven't - make sure to plan for tips to give vendors for doing a great job.

Vendor Meals

Vendors are working hard behind the scenes to ensure your wedding day happens without a hitch so don't forget to feed them! Make sure to ask your vendors how many people will be on site that evening to ensure you're giving the correct numbers to your caterer for head count.

Overtime

Make sure to read over your contracts prior to the wedding to plan ahead for any overtime costs associated with vendors. The day-of is not always as prediactable as you may think - even with a timeline - so make sure to understand the costs associated with potentially going overtime with any of your vendors.