See what your wedding really costs, what is still owed and what is due next. Each line keeps planned, quoted, committed and paid amounts separate, adds tax, service charges and other extras once, and lists every payment with its due date.
How to use it
- Choose the currency of your budget. It applies to every amount and is never converted.
- Add a line for each item or vendor, with your own category name and, if you have one, a planned amount.
- Open a line with Edit to enter the quote, the committed amount, whether the quote already includes tax, and any
tax, service charge, gratuity or other extra as a fixed amount or a percent.
- Add payments to the line: deposit, installments, final balance, refunds. Give each one a due date or a number of
days or months before the wedding, and a paid date once it is paid.
- Check the payment schedule for what is overdue or due soon, and download the budget or the payments as CSV.
Worked example
These amounts and rates are made up for the example. Use the numbers from your own quotes.
Venue. Planned 8,000.00. Quoted 7,600.00, committed 7,400.00. The contract adds a 10% service charge and 8%
tax on the amount plus the service charge. A 2,000.00 deposit is paid.
| Step |
Calculation |
Result |
| Service charge |
10% of 7,400.00 |
740.00 |
| Tax |
8% of (7,400.00 + 740.00) |
651.20 |
| Committed + extras |
7,400.00 + 740.00 + 651.20 |
8,791.20 |
| Still owed |
8,791.20 − 2,000.00 |
6,791.20 |
| Plan headroom |
8,000.00 − 8,791.20 |
over plan by 791.20 |
Photography. Planned 3,000.00, committed 2,800.00, and the quote already includes tax, so a tax extra on this
line is not added. You paid 2,900.00 by mistake, so the line shows “overpaid by 100.00” until the photographer refunds
it. With the refund entered as a payment of −100.00, paid is 2,800.00 and still owed is 0.00. Plan headroom is 200.00.
Totals. Planned 11,000.00, committed + extras 11,591.20, paid 4,800.00 (2,000.00 + 2,900.00 − 100.00), still owed
6,791.20, and plan headroom −591.20, shown as “over plan by 591.20”: the venue’s 791.20 over plan minus the
photography’s 200.00 under it. Before the refund was entered, the totals showed still owed 6,791.20 and, on its own line,
overpaid (credit with those vendors) 100.00: the photographer’s 100.00 is never subtracted from what the venue is owed.
Next step
Your head count drives many costs. Keep it in the wedding guest list, and send the caterer the
caterer sheet once replies are in.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between planned, quoted and committed?
Planned is the amount you set aside for a line. Quoted is what a vendor offered. Committed is what you agreed to pay. Plan headroom compares planned with committed (plus extras), so it only appears once a line has both. Still owed is committed (plus extras) minus what you have paid. The total still owed adds up what each line still owes; an overpaid line adds nothing to it.
Why do some cells show “—” instead of 0?
A dash means you have not entered that amount yet. It is never counted as zero, because a missing quote is not a free one. The totals say how many lines they include, for example “3 of 5 lines have a committed amount”, so you can see how complete each number is.
I paid more than the committed amount. What happens?
The line shows “Overpaid by” and the amount; it is never hidden as 0. If the vendor pays money back, add a payment with a negative amount (for example -100) and a paid date: it lowers the paid total and the line goes back to what is really owed. In the totals, overpayments are shown on their own as “Overpaid (credit with those vendors)”. They never lower what you still owe other vendors, because a credit with the photographer does not pay the florist.
The quote already includes tax. How do I avoid counting it twice?
Set “Does the quote already include tax?” to Yes. Tax extras on that line are then shown for information only and are not added to any total. If you choose “Not sure”, tax extras are added and the line says that the tax basis is unknown, so you can ask the vendor.
Is tax charged on the service charge too?
That depends on where you are and on the vendor, so the planner does not decide it. For each percent extra you choose whether it is worked out on the amount itself or on the amount plus service charges. A service charge is always worked out on the amount itself, and a gratuity is a separate extra from a service charge.
How do payments due “30 days before the wedding” work?
Enter the wedding date at the top, then set a payment’s due date to “From the wedding date” and type the number of days or months before or after it. With months you can add extra days, for example 1 month and 3 days before. The real date is worked out from your wedding date and changes with it. Months that are shorter are clamped to their last day, so 3 months before May 31 is February 28 (February 29 in a leap year). Without a wedding date such a payment is listed as having no date.
Can I use two currencies?
No. One budget uses one currency, chosen once, and amounts are never converted. You can change the currency only while no amount has been entered. If you pay a vendor abroad, enter the amount you agreed in the budget currency and note the original amount in the line notes.
Where is my budget stored?
Only in your browser: in the open tab, or in this browser on this device once you check “Keep on this device”. Use Download backup now and then, because browser data can be cleared. Each planner page (guest list, budget, checklist, day timeline, vendor comparison) has its own backup file and its own “Keep on this device” box.