Wedding Budget
Calculator
Add your costs line by line, factor in contributions from family, and find out exactly how much you need to save each month.
e.g. contribution from parents, savings already set aside, gift money
On Phindr, couples browse anonymous portfolios filtered to their area. You like the work first. Budget comes later.
Browse photographers freeThese are estimates. Costs vary by region and supplier. Always get written quotes before committing.
How this calculator works
Unlike calculators that ask you for a single total budget figure, this one builds your number from the bottom up — the way you actually plan a wedding. You know you want a particular venue at a particular cost, a photographer at another. Add each line item, adjust the contingency, factor in contributions from family or savings you have already set aside, enter your wedding date, and the calculator tells you what you need to put away each month to get there comfortably.
The saving period stops one month before your wedding date, so you are not scrambling for money in the final few weeks. If your wedding is in August, your last saving month is June.
What should the contingency be?
Five percent is the minimum. Ten percent is sensible. Weddings have a consistent habit of costing slightly more than the original plan — a last-minute guest addition, a supplier price increase, a dress alteration that runs over. The contingency is not pessimism, it is realism. If you do not need it, great — it becomes a honeymoon upgrade.
“The couples who stress least about money on the day are the ones who planned for it to cost a bit more than they expected.”
How to handle contributions from family
Include a contribution only if you are confident it will arrive and when. Money promised that arrives two weeks before the wedding is less useful than the same amount arriving while you are still paying deposits. If you are not certain a contribution will materialise, leave it out and save as though it will not come. If it arrives, it is a buffer or a treat. If it does not, you have not built your plan around it.
How much should you budget for a photographer?
The most commonly cited guidance is 10 to 15% of your total wedding spend. On a £20,000 wedding that is £2,000 to £3,000. On a £30,000 wedding, £3,000 to £4,500. The flowers will have wilted, the food will have been eaten, the dancing will have ended — the photos are what remains.
The frustrating thing about the traditional photographer search is that you often fall in love with someone’s work only to find they are well outside your budget. Hours spent browsing Instagram and Google, reading reviews — and then a dead end.
On Phindr, couples browse portfolios filtered to their location. The budget conversation only happens after a match is confirmed — from a position where both sides are already genuinely interested.
Find your photographer — before the budget conversation
Browse anonymous portfolios filtered to your area. Like the work you love. Then find out if the numbers work. Free for couples, always.
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