{budget}fab*

fab* event planning a to z: ‘b’ is for budget

Posted on 08. Oct, 2009 by janelle in socialite

‘a’ is for arrangements

‘b’ is for budget

Whether you’re planning a wedding, a 30th birthday party or having a dinner party for 4, decide how much you want to/can spend on your event in the beginning.  Once you have your budget set, allocate a dollar amount to all the different aspects of the event - venue, flowers, food, linens, drink, etc.  These numbers will act as your guide and keep you on track as you go out and begin to purchase things, or in the case of larger events, book vendors.  Here are few more event planning budget tips…

• Figure out what’s most important to you and be sure you’ve allocated enough of your budget to this aspect of the event so you can get what you want.  Let’s say you’re throwing a dinner party to celebrate a new job and the most important thing for you is that the food is phenomenal, whereas decor is not quite as important.  Don’t go out and splurge on linens and professional floral arrangements.  Food should be most of your budget and decor can be allocated a very small amount of the budget.
• Be realistic. As you’re putting your budget together, do some research to see how much things cost and ensure that the amount you’ve allocated to spend is reasonable.  For example, you’re helping to plan a big 50th anniversary party for your parents and you want to send out 100 letterpress invitations.  When allocating a dollar amount to invitations you decide you’d like to keep it to $50.  Well, the truth is you’re not likely going to be able to get 100 letterpress invitations at the budgeted amount.  By doing your homework and knowing this before you are in the midst of making your decision allows to you determine which is more important, the budgeted amount or having letterpress invitations from the beginning.  It’s a pretty bad and disappointing feeling to only realize something like this once you’re in the middle of the planning process.
• Stick to it. Once you have your event budget, try your best to stick to it.  Sometimes things will come in under budget and, yes, sometimes things will be over budget, but be sure you’re not ignoring your budget completely.  Not only will keeping to the budgeted amount put you in a better financial position, but you’ll be less likely to have any feelings of regret about things you bought.  And you don’t want to feel bad at your event…

Tags: event budgets, event planning tips