Ok. I know how much to spend. Now what?

According to Real Simple, one should break down their wedding budget in the following manner:

50% Reception
10% attire
10% flowers
10% music
10% Photography
3% gifts
2% Ceremony
2% Stationary
2% Rings
1% Transportation

In my example (see this blog post)- that would mean I spend $6,000 on the reception, $1,200 on attire, $1,200 on flowers etc. This list is a good place to start, and a good list of all the little details you need to think about. Knowing we should allocate 50% of the budget to the reception, and only a portion of that went towards cost per plate, we could conservatively know how many people to invite.

Realistically, I spent $350 on my flowers (or about 3% for all you Righty's (right-brained folks) out there). That meant I could allocate 7% of my overall budget somewhere else. Are you following me? Your percentages always need to add up to 100%.

My Bouquet from Susanne's Weddings. Picture Courtesy NH Images

At the end of the day, our wedding looked a bit more like this:

52%- Reception
9%- Attire
3%- Flowers
10%- Music
16% Photography
3% Gifts
1%- Ceremony
3%- Stationary (AND POSTAGE!)
3%- Rings

I'll tell you how I saved all that money, but that's a story for another post.

How did you allocate your percentages? Do any of these percentages seem wrong? What would be your ideal break out? Tell me below!