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Your wedding day is one of the most memorable days of your life, so don’t be afraid to go big or go home! If your heart wants to tie the knot in a tropical paradise, then don’t hold back. However, a destination wedding doesn’t have to break the bank. Follow these destination wedding budget tips, and you’ll be walking down the aisle abroad in no time.
Set Your Eyes on the Prize
All goals are easier to achieve when you can clearly picture your vision. What helps you achieve your career or personal goals in life? Try writing a journal entry, finding inspirational quotes or even creating a vision board on paper or Pinterest.
Doing these exercises will create a tangible picture of your destination wedding and what you have to look forward to. Clearly outlining and picturing the destination wedding of your dreams will help you stay motivated during the budgeting process.
Find What Works for You
There isn’t one correct way to budget. That might sound scary at first, especially when the wedding planning process already has so many steps. Sometimes you just want someone to hand you the step-by-step guide.
However, you and your life are unique, so no one can tell you what will work best for you! You’re the one who totals up your grocery, rent, mortgage, utility and other bills every month. What are you willing to cut out to achieve your savings goals?
You are an individual, and your budget should reflect your personal lifestyle.
Curate Your Toolkit
There are so many ways to track your destination wedding budget. Some people still love old school pen and paper, and some people are spreadsheet wizards. You can even find thousands of budget worksheets or templates online, or use a budgeting app.
When choosing the tools that work best for you, think about your lifestyle. If you carry a physical planner wherever you go, it will be easy to fold some worksheets into the covers. If you already use your phone to organize your days and your life, then a budgeting app is probably the way to go.
Which brings us to our next destination wedding budgeting tip…
Organize Your Receipts and Bills
The next time your takeout cashier asks if you want a receipt, say yes! Budgeting will be 100 times easier if you keep the original record of all your expenses, including utility bills or shopping receipts.
With your receipts, organize them by date or expense type – whatever works for you. If you have digital invoices, be sure to save them to your computer with the same categorization method. Then use the bills and receipts to accurately total your monthly expenses.
Expect the Unexpected
Accidents happen. Sometimes your car battery dies, you have to buy a new appliance, or some other unexpected expense pops up. Budget out a special category for these unexpected expenses each month. They won’t be as stressful if you expect the unexpected.
If you don’t use it, then score! More money in the bank for your destination wedding!
Schedule Zero Spend Days
Saving money for a destination wedding is easier if you go in with a plan. That’s why you create your budget in the first place! In addition to planning how to spend your money, it’s also a good technique to plan how to save your money.
Mark days on your calendar when you spend $0. No takeout, no shopping, no Target runs. When you plan zero spend days in advance, then you will make sure to get what you need beforehand. You might even find out that any “needs” you have on those days look more like “wants” after a good night’s sleep.
Adjust Your Budget If Needed
Sometimes things don’t work out the way we planned. We’ve all been there. If that’s the case with your destination wedding budget, there’s no need to worry. Budgeting is supposed to feel empowering; you’re working toward your dream destination wedding!
Plan to review your budget once a month. Prepare to make changes if one category is too lean. Chance are you’ll budget too much for one or two categories too. Everything will even out, or you can fiddle with your timelines.
Think of your budget as a fun puzzle with paradise on the horizon!
Ready to get started on finalizing that budget? Follow the button below to connect with a Destify Booking Coordinator:
