List every cost of a wedding and mark each one as fixed or per guest.
Before you pay any deposit, open a spreadsheet or a blank page and write down every cost your wedding will have, including the small ones. The first job in planning a wedding is to see every cost before the first deposit goes out. The second job is to sort those costs by what drives them, because that shows you where there is room to move.
Mei and Daniel (an invented couple; all their figures are examples) started with a budget of three lines: banquet, photographer and rings. Mei's cousin, who married last year, sat them down with her own spreadsheet of more than twenty lines. She showed them the costs that had caught her out: the hair and makeup trial, the bridal car, the red packets for the gatecrash, and the second outfit for the tea ceremony. Each was a few hundred dollars, and together they came to thousands.
Every wedding cost is one of two kinds. A fixed cost stays the same however many guests attend. Solemnisation, the photographer, bridal attire, rings, the gatecrash and tea ceremony, and decor all cost the same for 150 guests as for 300.
A per-guest cost rises with every name you add to the guest list. The banquet is the biggest one. It is priced per table, and a table usually seats ten. Invitations, favours and door gifts are per-guest costs too.
The two kinds respond to different decisions. You bring fixed costs down by choosing a cheaper version of each item. You bring per-guest costs down by inviting fewer people or changing the price per table. Lesson 3.3, "Cut the budget without cutting what matters to you", uses this split to decide where to cut.
For most Singapore weddings with a banquet, the per-table price times the number of tables is the largest single cost by a wide margin. Venues here often quote prices "plus plus", which means service charge and GST are added on top of the quoted price. GST is charged on the price after the service charge has been added. Check the current GST rate on the IRAS website, and ask the venue to confirm its service charge in writing.
Mei and Daniel shortlisted a hotel that quoted S$1,500 a table for a weekend dinner. They expect 300 guests, which at ten a table is 30 tables. Using a 10% service charge and 9% GST (example rates only), S$1,500 plus 10% service charge is S$1,650. S$1,650 plus 9% GST is S$1,798.50 a table. S$1,798.50 x 30 tables is S$53,955 for the banquet.
Had they budgeted from the quoted price, they would have written down S$1,500 x 30 = S$45,000 and been nearly S$9,000 short (S$8,955 exactly). Always put the price after charges in your budget, whatever figure the venue quotes.
Before you sign, ask what the package includes. Some packages include wine or beer, a wedding cake, a car park allowance or a room for the night, and others charge extra for each of these. Check the minimum number of tables too. A package priced for 30 tables may cost more per table at 25.
Their fixed lines are:
Solemnisation including a small lunch afterwards: S$1,500 Photography and videography on the day: S$3,500 Bridal attire and suits: S$3,000 Pre-wedding photo shoot: S$3,000 Rings: S$4,000 Gatecrash and tea ceremony, including red packets and the tea set: S$1,000 Decor and flowers: S$2,000 Hair and makeup including a trial: S$1,500 Bridal car and transport: S$800
These come to S$20,300. Invitations and favours add S$900, about S$3 per guest for 300 guests, and that line is per-guest. To get the total, add the fixed lines, the banquet and the other per-guest lines. For Mei and Daniel that is S$20,300 + S$53,955 + S$900 = S$75,155, before any ang bao.
Your lines will differ from theirs. A Malay wedding may have a void deck or hall reception priced per guest by a caterer, plus a separate solemnisation. A smaller wedding may have no banquet at all. The method is the same for every wedding: list every line, give it a figure, and label it fixed or per-guest.
Forgotten costs are rarely large, so they are easy to leave off a list. Pre-wedding shoots are often sold as part of a bridal package, but extra locations or outfits are sometimes charged separately. Hair and makeup can be priced per look, so a second outfit for the evening means a second charge. Transport covers the bridal car and also any cars or cabs for the parents and the gatecrash party.
These costs often fall due at awkward times. Many are booked with a deposit months before the wedding, often in the same few weeks as the banquet deposit. A forgotten S$500 is a small problem in the budget and a bigger problem in the month its payment is due. Note when each deposit is due, especially any that fall near the banquet deposit. Lesson 3.4, "Build your wedding budget and savings plan", turns those dates into a cash flow plan.
Use real quotes where you have them, and record the date of each quote and what it included. Lesson 1.2, "Set targets for goals whose price keeps moving", covers how to do this. Where there is no quote yet, use a cautious estimate and mark it as an estimate. A budget with every line marked "estimate" is still far more useful than a short list of quotes and nothing else.
In the activity, you'll write your own full list and label each line.
Write down every wedding cost you can think of and mark each one fixed or per guest.
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