wedding cameras

Would you believe it my cousin is getting married. Although the wedding is at the end of the year, he has asked me to help him in some of the wedding planning. I am all excited, this is my first wedding planning or is it planning wedding. Whatever!! I spoken to him and have asked him to budget for his wedding. So that we could decide if it is going to be a lavish hotel reception or an intimate garden affair. The next hurdle is who is going to pay for the wedding. Traditionally, it is the brides’ families that pick up the tab for the wedding but that has all changed and more and more grooms’ families are getting involved in the payment. The next stick issue is how you raise the subject of the wedding expenses. I believe the best way is for the couple to speak to the parents separately. In order not to have a miss understanding later it is best that the couples can get their parents to commit to a specific amount of money. The other option may be if they could ask their parents to commit their finances to a certain part of the wedding like the ceremony, catering or honeymoon. I told my cousin that he should also work out a figure that both of them can contribute to the wedding. Now comes the serious part of the planning and that is to do the budget for the wedding. As a rough guide the cost for a 150 wedding guest is $25,000 and this may be higher depending on location (higher in urban area). Next is to work out a percentage of the budget to be allocated for the various items. I have worked out a breakdown as such (I do hope my cousin will approve it), Reception: 48%-50% Ceremony: 2%-3% Attire: 8%-10% Flowers: 8%-10% Entertainment/Music: 8%-10% Photography/Videography: 10%-12% Stationery: 2%-3% Wedding Rings: 2%-3% Parking/Transportation: 2%-3% Gifts: 2%-3% Miscellaneous: 8%. I also planned for a contingency fund of 5% from the budget. This is for the unplanned expenses. Now what have I not included. Oh Yes, the honeymoon, must budget that also. Something else that is critical but must not be forgotten and that is to get a good wedding cameras. as we do not want to miss out of getting the perfect wedding pictures. I am glad that my cousin has been setting aside about 20% of his income for the last 2 years just for the wedding. That cousin of mine has a whole list of how to reduce his expenses just to achieve that 20% savings. What he has been doing is that he has cut down on coffee from two cups to one only a day, buying songs through the internet instead of buying CDs. All this hardship over the last two years is worth it, now that he has extra cash to cover part of the wedding expenses. It was also smart of his to use this savings to open a money-market account and he also bought CDs. I am sure it is going to be a great wedding because we were prepared and have commence our wedding planning early.