Secret 2
Creating An
Effective
Budget
5 Key Budget Questions
Q1. What is the value to you and your partner?
Q2. What is the value to your guests?
Q3. What is the value to your wedding day?
Q4. What is the value in terms of memorability?
Q5. How important is it to use a professional?
Budgets
The actual wedding requirements are quite minimal.
- 2 people getting married.
- A registrar.
- Licensed premises.
- 2 witnesses.
But that’s a little TOO minimalist… nevertheless it’s comforting to realise that what’s NEEDED isn’t actually that much.
Making Memories
The amount of things you can have for a wedding are legion
and what each person regards as “vital” will differ between
couples.
Some things will be universal;
“I want to remember that everything ran smoothly, I had time to enjoy my own wedding and everyone had a good time”. “I want amazing memories”.
Others will be more niche.
A Harry Potter fan might be desperate to have an owl deliver the rings while someone else just won’t care.
In either case asking the right questions will give you control.
“I want everything to run smoothly but not be bothered so I will hire a wedding host”.
“I want everyone to have a good time so I will provide food, drink and entertainment”.
What food, drink or entertainment?
There’s no right or wrong answers, but the questions on the following page will help you prioritise what’s important for you as opposed to what is just quite nice – which makes determining your budget that bit easier.
Laughter
The best memories involve laughter. A good photographer will capture the moment. A great magician will create it.
CREATING AN EFFECTIVE BUDGET
5 Key Budget Questions
Q1. How important is it to you and your partner?
Q2. What is the value to your guests?
Q3. What is the value to your wedding day?
Q4. What is the value in terms of memorability?
Q5. How important is it to use a professional?
Score each question out of 10. If your partner disagrees add the scores and divide them by 2.
USING THE SCORES
Score everything on your wedding list.
0 – 15 Of little value, save your money
16-25 Only if the budget allows but consider the cheapest option, maybe DIY
26-32 Worth considering
33-40 Make it fit the budget if at all possible
41-50 VITAL
EXAMPLE 1. YOUR WEDDING DRESS / OUTFIT
Q1. How important is it for you and your partner that you look and feel amazing? Very, right? 10 points
Q2. What is the value to your guests? They also want you to look and feel amazing.
10 points
Q3. What is the value to your wedding day? Your wedding outfit will be one of the most talked about things on the day, will appear in all the photos and is key to how confident you will feel. 10 points
Q4. Is it memorable? Absolutely! 10 points
Q5. How important is it to use a professional?
Unless you are a sewing whiz very! 10 points
EXAMPLE 2. WEDDING FAVOURS
These are my figures based on loads of weddings….but feel free to disagree!
Q1. How important are wedding favours for you and your partner? I’m going to guess… 4 points
Q2. What is the value to your guests? They like them but the majority will be left on the table. 2 points
Q3. What is the value to your wedding day? I’m going to guess… 2 points
Q4. Is it memorable? Unless you are offering something extraordinary – nope! 1 point
Q5. How important is it to use a professional? It isn’t. You can buy most things on ebay. 1 point
Total 10 out of 50 – It’s ‘spend your money elsewhere’!
EXAMPLE 3. YOUR WEDDING MAGICIAN
Increasingly couples are realising the massive difference daytime entertainment can add to their wedding.
In weddings that are otherwise largely identical it is the extras that make a wedding stand out.
This example is a magician but the arguments I am giving below could apply to other entertainment. I just don’t know enough about the pros and cons to give a full evaluation.
Score each question out of 10.
Q1. What is the value to you and your partner?
First of all your magician will perform tricks to you as a couple which people
love and, in my case, leave you with romantic magical souvenirs to treasure.
But usually the biggest value will be helping your day flow much more
smoothly and without those awkward lulls.
For example this means while you are having your photos taken you can relax and not feel you have to rush back to your guests. You don’t need to worry about your guests being bored and making small talk during the wedding breakfast, and as your evening guests arrive you can slip off for a little alone time with your partner knowing that your guests are being entertained.
A good magician won’t just perform magic but will also break the ice, wow the guests, get them laughing out loud and offer MC services getting everyone’s attention as required and ensuring you get that rock star entrance to thunderous applause as you enter the wedding breakfast.
Possibly biased but also based on what my couples say I have to give this 10/10
“Our wedding day wouldn’t have been the same without him” Kirsten MacFadden
Q2. What is the value to your guests?
Instead of being left by the happy couple to chat with strangers, struggling to break the ice you’ve got an amazing entertainer getting everyone chatting and having a great time. Instead of feeling a bit neglected by the happy couple they feel special because you, the couple, have invested in them having a great and memorable time.
They’re also experiencing some impossible magic, some incredible mind reading, and laughing a lot while they do it.
It has to be a 10/10
Q3. What is the value to your wedding?
Raising the energy, breaking the ice, keeping the day flowing and removing
the stress so that you can relax and enjoy your big day? Taking your wedding
to the next level and ensuring that yours is the wedding everyone wishes
they’d been at.
That has to be a 10 right?
“We weren’t sure about having a magician but we’re so glad we did! Danny looked after us, he looked after our guests, no problem was too big or too small. He melted our minds and made everyone laugh. 100% recommended’. Dan and Richard
“I still have people telling me how good Danny’s magic was and I could not agree more!!! I am so glad I booked you and loved how you personalised the magic for us.” Ravi and Roshni
Q4. What is the value in terms of memorability?
If I’ve been half joking about the 10/10 scores (but only half), from my experience this is a 20/10. When was the last time you heard anyone raving about the wedding favours, the flowers or the chair covers years after a wedding?
When I perform I create shared moments of magic which are often as hilarious as they are amazing. People remember them and it is entirely normal for people to come up to me and say “we saw you at X you were amazing” or “I’ve kept the playing card, it’s in my purse”.
It has to be a 10/10
Q5. How important is it to use a professional?
As a professional magician I have the £10 million public liability insurance your venue will likely require and the experience entertaining at 1000’s of events. This means I know how to succesfully interact with every type of person in every type of situation, leave them loving it, and know how to rouse the crowd to give you that rock star entrance into your wedding breakfast that you deserve. The same can’t be said for an amateur so unless your happy with ‘a bloke who does a few tricks down the pub’ type magician then using a professional is vital.
I’ll leave it to you to give this one a score!
A CASE STUDY – JOE AND GRACE
“Danny was a HUGE hit at our wedding ” Joe and Grace
The wedding dress and suit were important to them
The venue, food and DJ was important as was the wedding magician (Red Hat Magic) and the photographer.
The wedding cake was important but they didn’t want to spend a lot of money on it and bought 2 from Marks and Spencer, a vegan Lazy Day one from Sainsbury, and a cheese tower from a company called Mouse Trap.
Wedding favours were individual chocolates from ebay. (£25)
By prioritising what was important to them they managed to have a fantastic day in a lovely venue, dressed beautifully with great food and memorable entertainment while staying in budget.
MORE WEDDING TIPS
To receive a free copy of 10 Secrets For A Perfect Wedding which covers all aspects of your day simply fill in the form, press Send To Danny and it will be sent to you automatically
