Setting a budget can help reduce stress, however can also add stress if budget is exceeded. Denise Vivaldo gives a great diagram in her book Do It For Less Wedding. She says to spend about 10 percent of your budget on photography, 10 percent on music, another 10 percent on flowers, and 10 percent on wedding attire. She suggests spending about 4 percent of your budget on stationary and the remaining 6 percent of additional expenses that may come up (Vivaldo 21). Often times, brides may find a dream venue and have to pay much more than they were planning for. So, to compensate for the more expensive venue, they must choose another aspect of the wedding to cut costs. People can cut down stress by creating and executing a budget for their big day. .
As well as coming up and sticking to a budget, another stressful part of wedding planning is choosing the menu, attire, venue and many many other aspects of the wedding. Weddings are very detailed events and there are thousands of choices people can make. Choosing what kind of food you want, how many people you would like to invite, and what the theme can be are all just a few examples of the steps in planning a wedding that can cause stress. Choosing the menu to your wedding is a big step in the process and is also one of the most expensive. There are an infinite amount of options for weddings but ultimately choosing the food is a big step that is stressful because there are so many options to choose from. The attire of the wedding party, and the bride and groom can also cause stress beyond belief. The planner needs to keep in mind that there will be bridesmaids and groomsmen which all need to be dressed the same, but still be happy and like what they are wearing. This is a difficult task since there are so many accessories that go along with the attire of the wedding party. Things like boutonnieres, ties, bouquets, jewelry, shoes, and hairstyles are big stress factors while choosing attire (Mellinger 24).
