How-to: Plan Your Wedding Budget Like A Pro

Once the novelty of being engaged wears off (and you take a second to peel your eyes away from that sparkly ring), the real action of planning for a wedding takes over. As unexciting as this sounds, setting your wedding budget should be at the top of your priority list.

In Malaysia, a wedding is expected to set couples back by at least RM50,000 on average, and this does not include the cost for a honeymoon.

It is important to set a realistic wedding budget from the start to ensure the financial wellness of you and your spouse as you transition into married life. So where do you start? first by determining how much money you have to work with and identifying which areas are of the foremost importance.

Is it a luxurious reception venue? A pair of designer shoes? Or a fabulous open bar for all your guests? Once you have identified these areas, you will need to start allocating your budget for them, while keeping in mind the other important elements on your wedding checklist.

To make your life easier, we have scoured through various wedding websites and available resources to compile a basic budget breakdown of the average wedding in Malaysia:

An increasing number of Malaysian couples are even resorting to taking out loans to fund the wedding of their dreams. Of course, these are just guidelines and there are no hard or fast rules as to what you should include in your wedding budget, or how much you should be allocating for each area.

What is most important and also most challenging is staying on track for your wedding budget. Getting derailed may have more of an impact on your wallet and your relationship than you think.

Why your wedding budget matters

Money has been cited as one of the top reasons why marriages disintegrate. Unfortunately, money problems could start cropping up way before you even walk down the aisle – you may want to spend the big bucks on a designer dress, but he wants to hire his favourite band to perform at the wedding.

Understandably, couples could lose track of their wedding budget amid the hubbub of getting hitched. Many may not even know where to begin. And this is how your wedding budget trouble starts.

Getting help

If you have no idea where to start, it might be a good idea to enlist the help of a wedding planner.

An experienced planner will be able to take you through integral tasks like budget allocation and help you find the top florists, photographers, caterers, bands and other vendors within your price range.

The flip side is, a wedding planner does not come cheap, often going for between RM4,500 to RM10,000 depending on the package but that can be a small price to pay to stay well within your budget.

DIY your wedding planning

If your budget does not allow for that, you can still find a way to work around it by looking up the best wedding deals on sites like Wedding.com.my

The online wedding community comprises a sprawling network of wedding vendors and merchants in Malaysia’s wedding industry. Like a marketplace of wedding goods, Wedding.com.my allows couples to discover and compare the dream team of their choice.

Can’t figure out a theme for your wedding? You can start by browsing through their carefully curated content, photography portfolios, videos and stories for ideas and inspiration for your wedding day. They are categorised accordingly, from your wedding needs (e.g. bridal house, cakes, decoration, photographer), colour schemes, to different wedding themes, so you will have no trouble finding specifically what you are looking for.

Offering a Malaysian perspective

Multi-cultural Malaysians revel in their diversity. So while many young Malaysians today prefer modern weddings, many are still keen to infuse the occasion with a cultural touch.

Understanding this, Wedding.com.my connects users to vendors who will be able to cater to such cultural specificities and also to offer a localised perspective, whether it is a Malay wedding, a church wedding, an Indian-style wedding, or a Chinese wedding that you have in mind.

A subsidiary of Nuren.co, a leading social commerce platform that bridges the South East Asian bridal community with vendors, Wedding.com.my also offers users access to vendors from across the region, including China, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore. Locally, they connect users to vendors nationwide.

Their network includes wedding planners, photographers and videographers, decorators and designers, hotels and restaurants, and canopy and car rentals. It also links you to a range of bridal houses and makeup artistes who will help you look your best on your big day.

Furthermore, you can look up florists, caterers, deejays and bands to complete the ultimate wedding day experience. The best part? You can request for a quote for the services or products of your choice from their website based on our budget. That way, you will get the idea of the expenses that need to be made so you will not exceed your wedding budget.

A worry-free wedding  

Couples have enough to worry about their wedding day without their vendor’s credibility being one too. As we are living in an age of internet scams, vendor credibility and trustworthiness often top the selection criteria when we engage services online.

With Wedding.com.my, you will be able to access actual user reviews on the site, so you can always do a quick check on the vendor’s reputation if in doubt.

Once you’ve decided on what you want, you will be able to shop instantly and effortlessly through the platform, with easy payment options, including by Visa, Mastercard, Maybank2u.com, PayPal, CIMB Clicks and RHB Now.

With such simple options, as well as the ability to customise wedding packages to fit their preferences on the website, couples on their way to weddingville can rest assure that all their wedding needs are taken care of and look forward to an unforgettable experience when they get on the site. Brides won’t turn into bridezilla, and grooms and let out a sigh of relief!

Ultimately, tying the knot is a happy occasion and signifies a lifetime of bliss with your loved one. Let it be a joyous celebration with your nearest and dearest without breaking your bank.

Do NOT walk down the aisle until you’ve asked your partner these important money questions from our marriage financial checklist!

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