So you're planning your wedding and a thousand decisions must be made! It can be an exciting, but tiring experience to pull off the wedding of your dreams, especially within your budget.

The best way to evaluate how and where to allocate your wedding budget is to determine exactly what your priorities are. What do you deem important for your Big Day? What specific areas or elements of the wedding ceremony and reception do you value the most?

Remember: there are no right or wrong answers! The priorities you and your fiancé place on various aspects of your wedding simply reflect who you are as individuals and who you are together as a couple. Price, however, is an important factor in determining your priorities in many instances. You may choose some elements of your wedding to be practical and affordable, thereby allowing you to indulge in certain items or areas that are your "favorites".

When you decide to sit down and pinpoint definitive priorities, you've won half the battle. It's easy to delegate money and tasks when you understand what is the most important to you, as well as what is the least important.

Task: (Note: You'll probably want to set aside 30 minutes to an hour for this.)

1. Grab two pieces of paper so you and your fiancé can each create a separate list (no peeking!) of the top 20 places to which you would like to assign money. As well, include a rough estimate of what amount may be spent for every item on your list. When you are finished, add up the total of your estimates to ensure that it does not exceed your budget's allowance.

2. If you are having trouble coming up with dollar amounts, try using percentages instead. Set aside 10% of your wedding budget for miscellaneous expenses, and using the remaining 90%, allocate a percentage to each item on your list. This will put your priorities in order.

3. Compare lists and discuss.

You may find that you value some things less than you initially thought...good! This means that you're closer to deciding what parts will or will not play a big role in your wedding. If you and your fiancé have conflicting top choices...even better! Talk about where you can compromise or meet in the middle. This is the perfect opportunity to amalgamate your ideas and expectations to create a wedding that suits both of you perfectly.

When you fully understand what your priorities are as a couple, you'll be better prepared to make honest decisions that will get you closer to the wedding of your dreams. By properly identifying and understanding your priorities, you'll be more satisfied with your choices and will more readily stay within your wedding budget.

About the Author

Jennifer Benson is Vice President and cofounder of WedQuarters.com Wedding Websites, a leading online wedding service provider. WedQuarters offers complete personal wedding websites, enhanced with online and toll free wedding RSVP services.

RELATED ARTICLES

Basic Tips for Planning a Wedding
Planning a wedding should be fun and exciting. However, if you don't do the proper research and stay within your budget things can go bad in a hurry. What you need is to keep things well organized and simple. Here are some tips to help make sure your weeding plans go smoothly.

Give-and Take: Recipe for Success in Marriage?
A woman once visited a counselor to ask a question about her marriage. I have a funny feeling that you might not be especially impressed with the answer she was given.

A Guide to Wedding Invitations
The wedding date and time has been set, the location for the special event has been finalized, and the decision for the wedding theme ? traditional and formal or fun and casual ? has been made. Now it's time to take the next step and create wedding invitations that reflect the celebration you've planned and provide the information needed for friends and family to have a pleasant experience as wedding guests.

Marriage Advice: Upgrade Your Marriage By Changing Your Focus
As the story goes, a Cherokee elder was sitting with his grandchildren. He told them, "In every life there is a terrible fight-a fight between two wolves. One is evil: he is fear, anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, and deceit. The other is good: joy, serenity, humility, confidence, generosity, truth, gentleness, and compassion."

Unique Beach Wedding Themes
If you are considering a beach wedding, the ideas are as endless as your imagination!

A Promise Ring- More Than Just a Pre-Engagement Ring
When one thinks of a promise ring it is common to think of a small, inexpensive ring given to a woman as a promise of marriage in the future; however, this is not always the case. A promise ring has several other purposes besides being a pre-engagement ring. A promise ring can be given or used for any sign of commitment. The following are some other common uses for a promise ring.

Before You Begin Marriage Counseling, Ask This Question
There's an important question that you need to ask the marriage counselor you and your spouse are considering using. The question itself may surprise you, as well as the answer your potential counselor gives.

Getting Married? What You Should Do With Your Checking Accounts and Credit Cards
Marriage is a wonderful thing, but planning the wedding is a difficult task. The coming together leaves many things as an afterthought to the wedding. Each has their own credit cards, checking accounts, and utility bills. Hopefully, neither has a lot of debt.

Marriage Counseling: How to Keep Jealousy From Destroying Your Marriage
Jealousy has often been called the "green-eyed monster," and with good reason. The "monster" is fueled by envy and can over time devour the trust and harmony in a relationship.

Wedding Photography - Tips for a Wonderful Session
Every couple wants wonderful photos of their wedding day that capture the celebration, details, romance and beauty. Here are a few tips for a successful photo session:

The Reality of Arranged Marriages
Arranged marriages have been a topic of interest for centuries. Authors across the ages have explored this theme at length, and it still surfaces in literary works today. What's the appeal? Is it the fascination with the lack of lust and desire we cultivate in North American society? We strive on the element of danger, of the forbidden, while an arranged marriage is usually a safe way to ensure a family's approval of a union.

Bridal Hair Stylist Goes Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
You are locked in your seat on the most famous roller coaster in the world, the Cyclone in Brooklyn, New York. Your fiancé is right next to you, both of you dressed in wedding attire. As you go up the steep climb the preacher, who is seated behind you, begins reading your vows. At the pinnacle of the climb, you are pronounced Mr. and Mrs., only to let out a loud scream as you plummet almost 60 miles per hour at a 60 degree incline. On the second time around, your hair stylist, who is seated next to the preacher, reaches over and fixes a few hairs that have fallen out of place in your fancy bridal updo?

Planning A Backyard Wedding
So many couples are planning to have their wedding at locations that are symbolic to them. A popular place for this is their parents or relative's backyard. A popular color for a backyard wedding is hunter green to match the natural surroundings. Hunter green bridesmaid dresses are lovely for a wedding. Choosing to plan a backyard wedding and using hunter bridesmaid dresses is hard work. It is advised you start as soon as possible.

Marriage Tips: Fifteen Ways to Say ?I Love You? in 3 Minutes or Less
To keep romance alive and nurture the intimacy in your marriage, you'll want to know a number of ways to express your feelings to your spouse. There are certainly times when you'll want to put a significant amount of time and energy into a project that shows your love for your spouse in a major way, such as planning a surprise birthday dinner party that includes family and friends or a new deck that you spend several weekends building.

Writing Your Wedding Vows the Way Poets Do
Let's face it, not many of us have the kind of skills or experience to write truly poetic wedding vows. Or do we? Here's the truth: Even if you don't know Dylan Thomas from Bob Dylan, and you're pretty sure T.S. Elliot was that guy who wrote the words to Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Cats," all is not lost! In fact, there are ways to learn to write the words you want. With four simple steps, you can take what you feel in your heart and make it come out as sweetly as any Shakespearian sonnet.

Catering to Your Wedding
Wedding catering has always been one of the most crucial aspects of planning a wedding. Besides choosing the food menu items for the palette, you also need to think of other factors ? could there be potential allergies to certain types of wedding food, will the food arrive on time, and will it taste great? For all these reasons and more, it is very important that you take the time to review the details of providing great cuisine through a responsible and reliable wedding caterer. Ideally, you will find someone who has experience in catering wedding receptions, rehearsal dinners, theme weddings and bridal showers. If the caterer is a custom designer, baker or Chef, they might also help you plan your stunning wedding cake or cake tops. Here are some tips we have found that might help make planning your wedding catering easier than you might think:

Now You?re Engaged, How Do You Choose A Mens Wedding Ring?
So, you've just got engaged.

Diamond Engagement Ring, on Two Months Salary - Maybe Not!
Diamond spending - well, that is up to you. What to spend on a diamond is a tough and personal question. Two months' salary is a guideline.

How to Have a Sizzler of a Honeymoon! Article No. 7
As you reach 30 and beyond, you encounter a very frightening phenomena.

Thoughts from Deik and Kims Wedding, for You and Your Marriage
Deik and Kim, remember that marriage is a COVENANT relationship. It is not merely a contract of convenience, nor a promise to live together as long as each still feels good about the other. It is a COVENANT to love and care for each other until parted by death, or until the coming of our Lord.

some more interesting links ......

Wedding Finances - Like some information on ways to finance that Wedding to Remember? Check out our library of over 430 articles on personal loans to help you find an affordable Personal Loan

Honeymoons - For some of the best current deals on flights and hotels for that honeymoon, please click Discount Flights

Weddings Worldwide - If you live outside the UK, check out our library of over 600 wedding articles from around the world: Wedding Dresses

Do all your friends seem to be getting married? - to visit a library of over 400 articles on Dating, please click Online Dating