Budget Advisor Help

What is Budget Advisor?

The Budget Advisor is an interactive tool that helps you plan and manage your wedding budget. Budget Advisor creates a customized budget based on your wedding size, budget, and priorities and lets you refine, adjust and track your spending as you get closer to your big day.

How does Budget Advisor work?

Budget Advisor is accessible from the My Wedding menu.

Get started by telling us how much you can spend and how many guests you plan to invite. We'll create an initial budget based on national averages. Use the sliders to adjust the amounts in each category based on your personal priorities. When you're ready, we'll break it down even further into an itemized budget just for you.

To use Budget Advisor, you must be a registered member. Not a member? Join now!.

How does Budget Advisor determine how much each item should cost?

The budget ranges and percentages displayed by the Budget Advisor are based on our expert’s experience and vendor surveys, to develop national and local averages on costs and spending patterns. We take this information and factor it against the number of guests you will have and your total budget to assign recommended spending ranges. The power of the Budget Advisor lies in its visual calculator, which shows you how to balance different budget items to help keep you on track.

What if I made a mistake?

If you made a mistake entering a number just re-enter the number and press the Adjust Budget button at the top of the page. To start over, press Reset at the bottom of the page.

Photography is my top priority. Can I tweak my budget to allow more spending in that category?

Yes. Click on the “Adjust Budget” tab and move the sliding scale key to the right to increase the amount of money that you want to spend on photography. The dollar amounts in the other categories will adjust accordingly, so you won’t exceed your budget. Once you’re finished, press Save and View to see your new itemized budget.

What does the blue shading mean?

The shaded area on the slider bar represents the suggested range for expenses in each particular category. If the amount you've allocated falls below the suggested range, you may not have budgeted enough. If your allocation is higher than the suggested range, you may need to make adjustments elsewhere.

What do the percentages mean under the categories?

These figures represent the percentage of your overall budget that Brides.com recommends allocating to each category.

What do the lock icons represent?

Click the lock once you’ve finalized what you wish to spend (or have already spent) in a given category. Locked categories will not be impacted when you balance your budget for other categories.

Can I e-mail an electronic version of my customized budget to a friend?

At this time, it is not possible to e-mail your budget. However, you can print your itemized budget for your records using the Print Budget link at the top of your itemized budget.

I don't see my question above.

Please check out our other Help pages or Contact Us.