Free wedding budget calculator

How to make a wedding budget, starting with the venue

Most budget tools ask for a total and cut it into a pie. That works until the first venue quote arrives and the biggest slice is six numbers you can't compare with the next quote. Here the order runs the other way.

Guest count first

Food, bar, cake and favors are a price times the number of guests. Write down the list you would invite on a good day and the one you would settle for, and price the venue at both. The free wedding guest list template counts RSVPs and meals, and the guest count change checklist covers telling the venue when the number moves.

To turn the guest count into pounds of food before you price it, the free catering food calculator works out the amounts and a cost per guest from your prices.

Then the venue, all in, then the total

Get a written quote for the same date and guest count from each venue and put it in step 1. The all-in total is the only figure two venues compare on. Then type the most you can spend, or let the tool add up the lines. The rule we use puts the venue, food and bar at about 45% of the plan before the contingency, so a $17,172 quote points to a plan near $3,816,000. That is a starting rule, not an average. If the result is more than you can spend, change the quote.

Then the rest

Fill the other lines from our starting split, then replace each estimate as quotes arrive: the signed price in Actual, money out in Paid, the next payment in Due date. Contingency starts at 10% of every other line.

How to read a wedding venue quote, line by line

Venues word the same charges differently, so match each line on your quote to one of these before you compare. Our wedding venue cost and pricing guide covers the five ways venues charge; this is the quote itself.

The calculator works in this order: food and bar first, then service charge and gratuity as a percent of it, then tax on food and bar plus, where you tick the boxes, the room fee and the service charge. Venues differ, so ask yours to walk you through its own sums.

Costs a venue quote leaves out

A quote that stops at the room fee and the per-person price isn't wrong, only early. Ask about each of these in writing, then give the ones that apply their own line in step 2.

Overtime is billed by the hour past the contracted end. Rentals (tables, chairs, linens, a dance floor) may be in the fee or come from an outside company. Cleaning and a security deposit are common. Some venues add a bartender fee, a corkage fee for your own alcohol, a cake cutting fee, a ceremony fee or a charge for early access. Parking, power for a band and event insurance are worth asking about too.

The free open bar cost calculator prices the bar on its own, and the free wedding alcohol calculator works out what to buy.

If the venue charges a cake cutting fee per slice, the free cake serving calculator counts the slices to multiply it by.

How a food and beverage minimum works

A food and beverage minimum (F&B minimum) is the least you will spend on food and drink. If guests times the per-person price comes to more, you pay that; if it comes to less, you pay the minimum, and the difference is food nobody eats. The calculator takes the larger and says which one applied. That is why cutting the list can save less than you expect. The sample quote at several guest counts:

Below 95 guests the total stops falling and the cost per guest climbs. Ask whether the minimum changes by day or room, and whether tax, service charge and gratuity count toward it.

Worked example: the same venue at 100 and at 80 guests

The same sample, run twice. At 100 guests the venue is $17,172. At 80 it is $16,524: the minimum holds food and bar at $9,000, so $1,400 of it is paid for and not eaten, and the venue line falls by $648. With no minimum, the same 20 guests would have cut $2,462.40.

The whole plan goes from $41,961.70 to $41,017.90, which is $943.80 less, while the cost per guest overall goes up, from $419.62 to $512.72, because flat lines such as photography and music are spread over fewer people. Read the per-guest figure next to the total.

Wedding budget breakdown: our starting split

We can't say what a wedding costs. It depends on the guest count, the date, the place and the quote, and we don't publish averages we can't source. What we can show is how the calculator starts, so you can change it.

The venue, food and bar start at 45% of the plan before the contingency, and the rest is shared by the percentages below. They are our choice and nothing more. Fill the lines from my venue quote in step 2 re-sizes them to your total and leaves your actuals alone.

Where to cut a wedding budget without the guests noticing

Start where the multiplier is. Lines priced per guest (food, bar, cake) fall with every person you remove, subject to the minimum above; lines priced as a total only fall if you buy less.

Guests rarely notice a Friday or Sunday date, since many venues price by day and season, so ask for the quote on two dates. Or a bar of beer, wine and one signature drink in place of a full open bar; the open bar cost calculator shows the gap at your prices. Or a fourth appetizer, favors, or centerpieces on every table when the ceremony flowers can move to the reception.

The wedding season guide shows the peak and off-season months and how venues price each.

They do notice food running out, a dry stretch with nothing to drink, and music that stops early. Cut the contingency last.

Track deposits and due dates

The risk comes after the budget is set, when a deposit falls due on a Tuesday and nobody remembers which vendor wants what. Every line has a Paid box and a Due date, with Left to pay beside them. Copy dates and amounts from each contract as you sign it.

The venue usually takes a deposit to hold the date, then installments, then a balance before the event. Many vendors do the same, and tips are often handed over on the day, so give them a line. A count change after the final-count date may be billed, so check your contract before you edit step 1.

Download Excel for a wedding budget spreadsheet: Left to pay, Over or under and the totals are formulas, and per-guest lines are the rate times the guests from the Venue quote sheet. It opens in Excel and Numbers, and in Google Sheets after you upload it to Drive. The CSV is the same table without formulas.

For venues and coordinators

Couples compare your quote with others on its all-in total, so show it. List each line from the quote table above: the room fee, food and bar at the per-person price, the minimum and which one applies, service charge, gratuity, tax and the total, at their guest count and at one count either side. The breakdown shows why 80 guests cost what they do.

The free event proposal template lays those lines out as a document you can send, and our venue pricing guide covers how to set the numbers. Planners can send couples here, or put the calculator on your own site.

MyVenueHQ turns the quote into a proposal, a contract and an invoice from one dashboard, so the number a couple was shown is the number they sign and pay.

Add this wedding budget calculator to your website

Venues, planners and wedding blogs can put it on their own site for free. Paste this where you want it; it works in WordPress, Squarespace, Wix and plain HTML. Nothing is tracked about your visitors beyond page views.

No figure on this page is an average or a survey result. The sample quote, the starting split and the worked example are made up. Where tax or a venue’s policy decides something, check with the venue.