You will be able to list every cost of a wedding and sort it into fixed and per-guest costs.
Mei and Daniel's first wedding budget was three lines long: banquet, photographer, rings. Then Mei's cousin, married last year, sat them down with her own spreadsheet. It had more than twenty lines, and the ones she said had caught her out were not big. They were the hair and makeup trial, the bridal car, the red packets for the gatecrash, the second outfit for the tea ceremony. Each one was a few hundred dollars. Together they were thousands.
The first job in planning a wedding is to see every cost before the first deposit goes out. The second is to sort them by what drives them, because that tells you where you have room to move.
Every wedding cost falls into one of two kinds.
A fixed cost stays the same however many people come. The solemnisation, the photographer, the bridal attire, the rings, the gatecrash and tea ceremony, and the decor cost the same for 150 guests as for 300.
A per-guest cost rises with every name on the list. The banquet is the big one, priced per table, usually of ten. Invitations, favours and door gifts also grow with the list.
The split matters because the two kinds respond to different decisions. You cut fixed costs by choosing a cheaper version of each item. You cut per-guest costs by inviting fewer people or by 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.
Here is Mei and Daniel's example, with every figure made up. Their shortlisted hotel quotes S$1,500 a table for a weekend dinner. They expect 300 guests, which at ten a table is 30 tables.
Before multiplying, read how the price is quoted. Venues in Singapore often quote prices "plus plus", meaning service charge and GST are added on top. Using a 10% service charge and 9% GST as the example rates, S$1,500 becomes S$1,650 with service charge, and GST is then charged on that, giving S$1,798.50 a table. Check the current GST rate on the IRAS website, and ask the venue for its service charge in writing.
At S$1,798.50 for 30 tables, the banquet comes to S$53,955. If they had multiplied the quoted S$1,500 by 30, they would have budgeted S$45,000 and been nearly S$9,000 short. Always budget the price after charges.
Ask what the package includes, too. Some include wine or beer, a wedding cake, a car park allowance or a room for the night, and some charge extra for each. The minimum number of tables matters as well: a package priced for 30 tables may cost more per table at 25.
Mei and Daniel's fixed costs, again with made-up figures, come to S$20,300:
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
Add S$900 for invitations and favours, about S$3 per guest, which is a per-guest cost. The full budget before any ang bao is S$20,300 plus S$53,955 plus S$900, which is S$75,155.
Your lines will differ. 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: every line, a figure, and a label of fixed or per guest.
The forgotten lines are rarely large, which is why they're forgotten. Pre-wedding shoots are often sold as part of a bridal package but sometimes charged separately for extra locations or outfits. Hair and makeup can be priced per look, so a second outfit for the evening adds a second charge. Transport means the bridal car, and also any cars or cabs for the parents and the gatecrash party.
They also tend to come 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 line is a small problem in the budget and a bigger one in the month it is due. Lesson 3.4, Build your wedding budget and savings plan, turns these deposit dates into a cash flow plan.
Use real quotes where you have them, and write down the date and what the quote included, as lesson 1.2, Set targets for goals whose price keeps moving, described. Where you have nothing yet, use a cautious estimate and mark it as one. 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 a full list of wedding cost lines and mark each one fixed or per guest.
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