Tip Tuesday: Creating a Budget For Your Event
Budget 101
Planning an event can be a daunting task, especially if you’re not an event planner! The basic route would be to hire one but sometimes you accept you’re tackling this one on your own! Where do you start? Establishing your event budget is going to give you the foundation of where you are going to take this event.
A budget is a detailed calculation of what will be happening financially at your event. It will help keep you in line with your expenses, if the event is for business purposes it will allow you to measure the success of the event performance. A well-planned budget can take time but once it’s laid out, it will guide you through the rest of your planning process and you’ll NEVER plan an event without one! Click here to check out a great template you can download.
Where To Start
Starting basic and working your way through the entire process is what is going to help you when setting out your budget. What kind of event are you planning? A wedding will have a different layout to a corporate event and determining the financial success of your event is going to guide you on your next steps.
For most events the venue cost and the catering costs are going to be the biggest investments for your special day- lay out what kind of a venue you want, what kind of a catering set up you envision? This will allow you to properly plan and crunch on numbers of guests you can afford. If you are set on your guest list then you may need to adjust other factors. By laying it all out beforehand it allows you to make those moves and decisions before its too late!
Factors To Consider
Corporate
- Number of Attendees
- Venue Rental Cost
- Food & Beverage Cost
- Entertainment
- Marketing & Promotions
- Decor & Labor
Wedding
- Number of Attendees
- Venue Rental Cost
- Food & Beverage Cost
- Invitations
- Entertainment
- Photographer
- Beauty
- Flowers & Decor
- Labor
Moving Forward
Once you have the budget down, you have the foundations for your event. Let the fun really begin. Remember to come back to your budget often to ensure that you’re not straying and you’re not planning above your means. You want the event to be as stress-free as possible and worrying about finances is not going to give you any peace of mind leading up to your event. Remember, you put in the work to create a budget so that it would guide you. Have fun finding ways to stay within that, get creative and enjoy your event!