Where the Money Goes

Put in one number and this splits it across your whole wedding for you. Change any category and everything else moves and populates. Line up to three quotes side by side in any category, pick the one you book, and track what you've paid and what's due next.

Most wedding budget templates hand you a blank spreadsheet with two hundred rows and wish you luck. (That's why nobody finishes). This starts from the other end: you tell it what you have, it tells you what that buys, and you fix the parts it got wrong.

The starting percentages come from what weddings actually cost across the country, not from what I wish they cost. They're a starting point, not a verdict. Every couple I've worked with has blown past one category and come in way under another, and that's normal. Move the numbers around until they look like your wedding.

Step one: your number

What you have to spend (total, all in)

How many guests (your best guess is fine)

Vendor meals (your caterer charges for these) *Note- Most vendor contracts say you feed them. Check yours, then count them here.

My venue includes the food and the bar Hotel ballrooms and most all-inclusive venues quote you one number for the room, the catering, and the bar. Turn this on and those two categories become one, so you're not trying to split a price nobody gave you separately. Your cake stays on its own line, since plenty of packages leave it out. If yours includes it, put a zero there.

Where it stands

Budget

Projected

Paid so far

Left to pay

Step two: the split

Type over any estimate and that category locks. Everything unlocked rebalances around it, so the total always adds up to your number.

What your guest list is costing you

Some of these categories barely notice your guest count. Others are just your guest count wearing a different hat. Try a number and see.

What if we invited

guests instead

Who's paying for what

If the money is coming from more than one place, put it here. Promised is what somebody said they'd cover. Landed is what has actually shown up.

Where it's coming from	Promised	Landed

What's due next

Your budget on one page

Our Wedding

The numbers

Category by category

Category	Estimate	Quoted	Paid	Balance

Who's covering it

Source	Promised	Landed

Weddings That Don't Suck • Chuck the Wedding Guy

Vendors you compared

Category	Who	Quote	Notes

Weddings That Don't Suck • Chuck the Wedding Guy

Payment schedule

Due	What	Amount

Weddings That Don't Suck • Chuck the Wedding Guy

Prints your summary, your vendor comparisons if you have any, and the payment schedule. Nothing else.