Wedding Budget Planner & Expense Tracker | Free, Saves on Device

How to use this calculator

Set the total and guest count

Enter what you can actually fund and how many guests you expect. Pick your country so figures show in the right currency. The per-guest cost updates immediately.

Adjust the split

The default percentages follow a typical breakdown. Drag any category up or down, rename one, or add your own. The ring and the rebalance button keep the split at 100%.

Log quotes and contracts

Add each quote as an expense with its category. When you sign, fill in the actual price. Record deposits in Paid and add the balance due date.

Watch the bars and the schedule

Each category bar fills as you commit money and turns amber at 90% and red when over. The Payments due tab lines up every outstanding balance by date.

A typical wedding budget breakdown

Venue and catering dominate every wedding budget, and once food, drink, service charge and rentals are in they usually land between 40 and 45% of the total. The table shows the default split this planner uses and what each slice comes to at your current budget of $33,000. Treat it as a starting point. A couple who care most about photographs will happily run that line at 15% and trim flowers, and a backyard wedding moves most of the venue slice into catering and rentals.

Category	Share	At your budget
Venue & catering	42%	$13,860
Photography & video	12%	$3,960
Attire & beauty	8%	$2,640
Flowers & decor	8%	$2,640
Music & entertainment	7%	$2,310
Planner / coordinator	5%	$1,650
Wedding rings	3%	$990
Invitations & stationery	2%	$660
Cake & desserts	2%	$660
Transport	2%	$660
Officiant & ceremony	2%	$660
Favors & gifts	2%	$660
Contingency buffer	5%	$1,650

How much does a wedding cost by country?

Averages are pulled up by a small number of very large weddings, so most couples spend less than the figures below. They are still a useful sanity check on cost per guest, which is the number that travels best between countries and between a 60-person and a 200-person wedding. Pick a country above to load its typical figures.

Country	Typical budget	Typical guests	Per guest
United States	$33,000	115	$287
United Kingdom	£20,000	80	£250
Ireland	€30,000	130	€231
Germany	15.000 €	70	214 €
France	15 000 €	80	188 €
Spain	20.000 €	100	200 €
Netherlands	€ 17.000	80	€ 213
Switzerland	CHF 30'000	80	CHF 375
Canada	$30,000	100	$300
Australia	$35,000	90	$389
India	₹25,00,000	300	₹8,333

Rounded typical figures for planning, not survey results. Costs in large cities run well above these.

Where wedding budgets go wrong

Quotes that exclude the extras. Catering quotes often leave out service charge, gratuity, tax, cake-cutting and corkage. Ask for the all-in per-head figure and enter that as the estimate.
No contingency line. The 5% buffer is not slack, it is where alterations, overtime, vendor meals and the extra ten guests end up. Spend it last.
Guest list creep. Every added guest costs roughly 80% of your per-guest figure. Fix the number before booking the venue, because the venue fixes the number for you afterwards.
Deposits forgotten. Deposits are paid months apart and easy to lose track of. Record each one in Paid the day it goes out so the Still to pay figure is always true.
Paying with credit. A wedding on a card at 22% APR costs a quarter more within a year. If the budget does not fit, the debt payoff calculator shows what carrying it would cost, and the compound interest calculator shows how fast monthly saving reaches the target instead.

Wedding budget FAQ

How much should I budget for a wedding?

Start from what you can pay without borrowing: savings earmarked for the wedding plus what you can set aside each month until the date, plus any family contributions that are actually promised. The typical US wedding runs around $33,000 for about 115 guests, and UK weddings around £20,000 for 80, but the median is well below those averages. A budget you can fund is a better anchor than a national average.

What is a typical wedding budget breakdown?

Venue and catering take the largest share, usually 40 to 45% once food and drink are included. Photography and video run 10 to 12%, attire and beauty 8%, flowers and decor 8%, music 7%, and a planner around 5%. Rings, stationery, cake, transport, the ceremony and favours each take 2 to 3%. Keeping a 5% contingency is the single most useful line, because almost every wedding picks up costs that were not on the first list.

What is the difference between estimate, actual and paid?

The estimate is the quote or your own guess before anything is signed. The actual is the contract price or final invoice once you know it. Paid is what has left your account so far, including deposits. The tracker uses the actual when there is one and the estimate otherwise, and compares that committed figure against the category slice.

How is cost per guest calculated?

Total budget divided by the guest count. It is the fastest lever on a wedding budget: catering, bar, rentals, invitations, favours and cake all scale with headcount, so cutting ten guests from a 100-person wedding typically saves 7 to 9% of the total, not just the plates.

Is my data saved anywhere?

The plan is saved in your browser only, on this device, and nothing is sent to a server. The share link carries the plan in the URL so a partner or parent can open the same numbers on their own device. Clearing your browser data or using Clear plan removes it.

What costs do couples forget?

Service charges and gratuities on catering, which can add 20 to 25% to the venue bill. Alterations, which are quoted separately from the dress. Overtime for photographers, DJs and the venue itself. Postage, marriage licence fees, vendor meals, hotel room blocks, and the rehearsal dinner and day-after brunch. Put a line in the contingency slice for each one you expect.

Planning the money after the wedding too? See take-home pay for two incomes with the US paycheck calculator, or work out whether to buy with the mortgage calculator.