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Wedding budget calculator
Set your total, then track what each part of the wedding is expected to cost, what it actually costs, and what you've paid so far.
Your wedding budget
The most you want to spend overall. Leave it blank if you haven't decided yet.
- Forecast spend
- £0
- Remaining
- —
- Paid so far
- £0
- Still to pay
- £0
Your categories
Rename, remove or add categories to match your wedding. Fill in whatever you know; blanks are fine.
How these figures are worked out
- Forecast spend
- For each category, the actual cost if you've entered one, otherwise the estimate. Added together, it's your best current guess at the final total.
- Remaining
- Your total budget minus the forecast spend. If it goes below zero, it shows how far over budget the forecast is.
- Still to pay
- For each category, the forecast minus what you've paid, added together. Overpaying one category never hides money still owed on another.
- Share
- Each category's part of the forecast spend, rounded to the nearest whole percent, so the shares may not add up to exactly 100%.
How to use the budget calculator
- Enter your total budget, the most you're prepared to spend once everyone's contributions are counted. If you haven't settled on a number, leave it blank; the guide to building a realistic budget walks through how to reach one.
- Make the categories yours. The starter list covers most UK weddings. Rename anything that doesn't fit, remove what you don't need, and add your own: a celebrant, a photo booth, childcare for the day.
- Add an estimate for each category. A rough figure is fine at the start. The forecast and remaining budget update as you type.
- Replace estimates with actual costs as you book. Once a supplier confirms a price, put it in the actual cost box. The forecast switches to the real figure, and you'll see whether a booking came in over or under what you expected.
- Record payments as you make them. Deposits, instalments and final balances go in "Paid so far", so "Still to pay" always shows what's left to find before the day.
- Download or print a copy every so often, and especially before you clear your browser or switch devices.
A worked example
Example, not real costs
Sam and Alex set a total of £18,000 and give each category a rough estimate, with £1,350 kept back as contingency. The estimates add up to exactly £18,000.
A few months in, they've booked several suppliers. The venue quote came back at £7,650 against an estimate of £7,500, but the photographer was £150 cheaper than expected, the stationery £60 cheaper, and a few other bookings landed close to their estimates. Their forecast is now £17,904, leaving £96 unallocated with the £1,350 contingency still intact.
They've paid £3,574 in deposits so far, so the calculator shows £14,330 still to pay. That's the figure to plan their saving around. Press "Try example figures" above to load this example and explore it.
Tips for a budget that holds up
- Guest numbers are the biggest lever. Catering, drinks, chairs, favours and stationery all scale with headcount, so test your budget against your guest list early.
- Ask what a quote includes. VAT, service charges, corkage, overtime and delivery can all sit outside a headline price.
- Watch the timing as well as the total. Deposits are usually due when you book and balances a few weeks before the day, so a budget that works overall can still be tight in the final two months.
- Revisit it once a month. Ten minutes updating figures is far easier than reconstructing a year of receipts at the end.
This calculator is a planning aid. It doesn't give quotes, prices or financial advice.
Where your information is kept
Everything you type into this calculator is saved in this browser only, using your browser's local storage. It is never sent to this site or anyone else, and there's no account.
Clearing your browser's data for this site, or using a private window, removes it. To keep a copy or move it to another device, use Your planner data to download a backup.
Questions people ask
- Are the example figures average UK wedding costs?
No. The example is a made-up wedding with round numbers, there so you can see how the calculator behaves before entering your own figures. It isn't an average, a recommendation or a quote. For what UK couples have recently reported spending, see the realistic wedding budget breakdown, which cites its survey sources.
- What's the difference between estimate, actual cost and paid?
Estimate is your early guess. Actual cost is the agreed price once you've booked or bought something. Paid so far is the money that has actually left your account, including deposits. The calculator uses the actual cost when there is one and the estimate when there isn't, so your forecast gets more accurate as you book things.
- Why is a blank box different from £0?
A blank box means you haven't decided yet. £0 means you've decided that part costs nothing, because a friend is doing your flowers or you're skipping favours, say. Both add nothing to the total, but keeping them separate helps you see which categories still need a decision.
- Should we include VAT and service charges?
Enter what you'll actually pay. Most UK supplier quotes to couples include VAT, but some venues quote catering and service charges separately, so check what's included before you type in a figure.
- How much contingency should we keep?
There's no fixed rule, but plans almost always change. The budget breakdown suggests holding back 10 to 15 percent. Give contingency its own line so it's visible, and move money out of it deliberately rather than letting it vanish.
- Can we both use it, on different devices?
Not at the same time. There are no accounts, so each browser keeps its own copy. To move your budget to another device, download a backup from Your data and restore it there, or share the CSV export with your partner.