Talk to your spouse-to-be about everything in regards to the wedding. It is important that you are both on the same page so that you are working as a team to create the vision. 2. Budget 

Involve all contributing parties for the wedding to address financial contributions.
3. Prioritize 

Make a list of must-haves and prioritize those before anything else. 
4. Organize 

Stay on top of the budget to ensure that you are not overspending. 

People tend to get caught up in the glamorous parts of planning a wedding and oftentimes overspend. I chose this website because it is useful in providing soft skill recommendations on how to start a wedding budget. Therefore, people can figure out what they have to spend before settling on things they cannot afford. 

10 months out 

9 months out 

7 months out 

3 months out 

2 months out 

The whole process of planning a wedding is generally very stressful and can be overwhelming. I chose this website because it provides a solid starting point for someone to use to get their wedding planning process started. Obviously, not everything will be applicable to everyone, but the steps should be used at the discretion of the individual(s). Compared to other checklists and timelines, this article gave a monthly breakdown as opposed to a list of “to-dos”. 

I thought this website was useful in showing the importance of being realistic with your budgeting; especially for an event as big as a wedding. Due to the status that a wedding holds in society, pricing tends to be high and rigid. Therefore, the costs to host a wedding will likely be more than you are willing to pay. This website is particularly good in providing average prices for different wedding expenses in Canada so people are better able to accurately budget. 

When people go through the wedding planning process, common areas such as costly expenses and advance booking are automatically thought about. This article is particularly useful because it brings light onto elements that are not generally thought about. As an example, casual weddings tend to be harder to plan and are more expensive than the traditional type.

This video is important in allowing people to understand the rationale behind the costs of a wedding. As an example, the emotional weight attached to weddings usually results in more work for the vendors. Hence, there is a tendency for higher prices. The bride and groom will then be able to have reason to justify the costs associated. 

With the wedding industrial complex being such a luxury market, it does not factor in the financial health of its clientele. Therefore, it can be difficult to find areas to save when the majority of wedding services are overpriced. For individuals who have a tighter budget, this will help couples prioritize their money for other investments such as a down payment for a house.  As an example, a suggestion was to purchase a 2 tier cake for the wedding and the rest can be from Costco. 

Items that are affected by your guest count includes:

Most people do not correlate the number of guests to the costs and end up inviting more people than they can afford. This can result in difficulties making a smaller budget work when you have so many people to factor in. The wedding planner in this video made it evident by breaking down some of the costs associated for each guest. With all of the components that need to be included for each guest, it is important to be aware of the amount of people being invited.

Personally, I think this video is valuable because it suggests reasons as to why weddings costs exceed one’s budget. Due to the lack of experience and knowledge on the industry, people will end up settling on costs that are overpriced. Since the video pinpoints areas that largely affect costs, you are then more aware of finding options before settling. By knowing things such as hidden fees, people can come up with a more realistic budget without surpassing their budget too much. 

From researching this assignment, I think the most surprising thing was learning the expected wedding cost versus the actual average cost. For the most part, I knew that weddings are a big investment for most couples. However, I had no idea that costs ended up being triple the amount initially thought out.
2.Provide a real-life example of how this topic is relevant or interesting for you.

For cultural weddings, I think this content is especially relevant because some can go on for multiple days. As an example, I went to a Pakistani wedding that was three days back to back. Costs were outrageous because of the elements added and length of the wedding.  For those cases, it is important to understand the importance of costs to avoid being extremely in-debt. 3. If you could pass on your knowledge to a family member or friend, what do you think is the most important thing to pass on?

I feel that the most important piece of knowledge to pass down is to be aware and research all supplemental costs associated with wedding services. In doing so, you are going to be more prepared to create an accurate budget as well as avoid any surprising fees.