Wedding mistakes might be another treasured memory but money misteps can break your budget cause stress.
Go with a spread sheet like Google Docs and keep track of everything. Not having a budget never works in any part of life, inlcuding weddings. Not having a wedding budget is the #1 Mistake you should try to avoid.
The #2 mistake is assuming that DIY is cheaper. You may have a completely different version of your DIY event than those helping you. We recently talked to a bride that had alotted a certain amount of money for food. At the last minute her uncle decided to use a chain restaurant that catered. Who wouldn't take a gift like that? Unfortunately the meal was not what the bride had planned to give her guests.
The third mistake, Not having flexibility. There's a saying " Man plans and God unplans". Go with the flow and have a backup plan for everything from your venue to photographer. Venues often have peak season pricing, having your weedding on a Friday or Sunday could help save you thousands.
Forgetting to set your wedding priorities is the #4th mistake. Create a list of things are absolute make or breaks and another list of things that are not so important. Update this list regularly, as lists change once you are in the thick of things.
Guest list explosion is the #4 mistake. Most caterers and venues charge by the head, so inviting more guests can lead to overspending. Avoid sticker shock and discuss issues with guests that want to bring more guests to the wedding. Those +1's add up over time! If you haven't spoken to someone in over a year, you may want to leave them off the list.
Did we mention budgeting? Not tracking your spending by using a simple Google spread sheet will help you not to lose track of your spending, which is the number #5 mistake.
Swag, booze and all the extras can really break your budget. Extras the #7 mistake. Plan accordingly so that expenses don't get out of hand due. You may be inviting 120 people to your wedding but a majority of those may never have more than a glass of champagne to toast the bride and groom, so you may not need enough liqour to for everyone to have 5 drinks.
Hiring friends leads us to mistake #8. Friends can seem like a great way to stay on budget but this technique can back fire more times than not and create tension. The rule of thumb? If your friend is in the "biz" then hire them to do the work, but if they arern't just hire a professional. Even well intending friends can be more of a headache than a help, so why have the extra stress.
#9 You are planning for the perfect day of pictures and you "think" everyone will realize picture day is coming as well! Wrong! Plan accordingly for make up and hair and all the pregrooming before your big day. We recently attended a wedding as guests and none of the brides party had washed their hair for more than a few days. Don't just assume that putting on a dress and wearing heels means someone knows how to do their make up or tweeze their brows. Same goes for the grooms side. The groom and best man may go to the barber a few days in advance but you would be surprised how many men forget to shave or even wash their face before showing up at the wedding. Details, details, details.