JMF Disco

Wedding DJ and Mobile Disco

As an experianced Wedding DJ, I have had contact with hundreds of brides and grooms and their chosen wedding venues, wedding professionals and wedding suppliers. Along the way I have picked up (and have personally used) many great tips and nuggets of information, and want to pass on practical information to help you with all aspect of your wedding.

If you research different articles on the internet you will discover that there are differing statistics offered with regard to the average cost of weddings in the UK. Typically these vary from £11,000 to £20,000 and beyond (and below). Whatever the figuare ‘experts’ put about there is no doubt that your wedding can be a substantial investment, and most couples starting their lives together will not have that kind of cash available, and many will have to fund their wedding (if not wholly, then partly) by borrowing or using credit. While it is perfectly natural to want the type of wedding you have always dreamed about, do you really want your special day to cause you to start your married life with unmanageable debt?

Over stretching you finances and getting into debt for you special day can cause money problems and lead to marital strife – the last thing you need when starting off together. Putting together and following (as close as you reasonably can!) a budget for your wedding can help you not starting out on the wrong foot.

As soon as you start thinking about wedding dates, you need to start thinking about your budget and deciding on how you will pay for your big day. Listed below are some areas for you to consider.

Budget: Set a budget for your wedding – establishing and sticking to a budget is a good way to stop overspending and gives you a good idea of what you are letting yourself in for. Formulating a budget together early on is a good team building exercise and you can learn a lot about each other, and your individual expectations, in the process. Budgeting is a good habit to get into to prepare you for your journey together ahead. Your budget should set out the items of expenditure, venue, dress, wedding DJ, honeymoon etc and should also list sources of income – will your parents contribute, do you have savings to draw upon, will you use credit for some items?

Savings: Start saving for your big day as soon as possible – the longer you have the ‘easier’ it will be to save. Consider saving money on other planned expenditure – everyone like a new car but would it be better to get a good second user vehicle and put the money saved aside for your wedding? Similarly ‘save’ money on wedding items that are not as important to you as others, chosing cheaper meal selections will enable you to have more money available for ‘that’ special dress. Maybe you could save money by choosing a wedding date in the off peak season or maybe holding it mid week when venues offer discounts. Spend money on what is important to you and save money on other items.

Loans and credit: When you have a budget in place and you have assessed your savings, this will give you a clearer idea of the amount of money you may have to borrow or get credit for. How much!! – perhaps you should revisit your budget – do you really want that Dove release – getting to the venue by helicopter is fantastic but…… Once you have revisited your budget, if necessary, you will have to consider ways of funding the extra – maybe the Bank of Mum and Dad can help, a personal loan from your bank, join a credit union or maybe make some of your purchases on your credit card. Sources of funding are beyond the scope of this article but ‘google it’ and you will find many expert sources of advice on the subject.

Setting a realisitic budget and sticking to it will help bring you together (make no mistake there will be ‘discussions’ on budgeting various items) and hopefully it will help you start married life without (or at the very least much reduced) wedding debt.

As a parting thought, using a budget DJ may not be the best budgeting idea ever, 4 hours with the wrong Wedding DJ and your guests will remember your wedding for all the wrong reasons.

Mobile Disco Kent