Event Guide: Staying on Budget

Budgets are tough! No matter if it’s an event budget, a personal budget, or a business budget, restricting your spending always seems to limit the fun factor. As an event professional, keeping to a budget and calculating all the expenses is an absolute must. Your clients trust you to take their budget, provide services, and ultimately create the event of their dreams. Going over the allotted amount only leads to hurt feelings and unhappy customers.

We’ll give you an example:

Without naming names, there is a reality TV show that redesigns a person’s home to make them fall in love with it again. However, the show also takes the homeowner to view other home options if they decide to list their current house on the market. Per usual, the couple provides the designers with their budget. But it never fails, the budget is repeatedly adjusted to accommodate for extra expenses. The homeowners become discouraged, there’s usually a disagreement, and the only way to get what they want is to increase their spending.

Want to know why this happens? Although the clients have big dreams and a certain vision of what they want their house to look like, the designers never fully prepare the homeowners for the hidden fees and realistic costs of their wants.

Your clients hired you to help them stay within their event budget. Don’t give them a vision of their event you know will not work, or force them to spend more than originally planned. But that’s what we’re here for—to prevent hurt feelings and crushed dreams before they happen. Without further ado, we’re proud to present this week’s event guide—staying on budget.

Quick Percentage Rundown

Based on percentages provided by our friends at theknot, here’s a quick rundown on how much of the budget is typically dedicated to each part of the event.

We find this approach to be super helpful and a great tool! However, there’s more you can do to make budgeting easier. Borrowing from our previous blog, we suggest dividing the budget up into different sections and categories. For a wedding, you have three events to plan for: the rehearsal dinner, the ceremony, and the reception. Allot a certain budget for each of these events, before delving into figuring out the flower budget, food budget, etc.

An Example:

	Rehearsal Dinner	Ceremony	Reception
Flowers	$500	$4,500	$4,000
Food	$1,500	N/A	$5,000
Music	N/A	$500	$1,000
Total	$2,000	$5,000	$10,000

Grand Budget Total: $17,000

*budget isn’t based on actual wedding.

Now that you’ve helped your clients get a budget in mind, here’s a few tips on how to get them to stick to it. 

Record, Record, Record

Recording every payment and IOU is a great way to keep on track of the budget. Luckily, if you’re an Inspherio user, you have an accounting feature built into your membership to help you monitor all payments and spending activity.

Learn all the Hidden Costs and Fees

Forgetting to factor in tips or overtime for vendors is the surest way to stumble upon bills at the end of the event. Remember there is usually someone who cleans up after the event, service charges for venues, florist’s demo costs, license fees, etc. Also, be sure to include enough money in the budget to provide gratuity for the extra help. 

Pad the Budget

The best way to avoid overages is to build in a budget safety net. We suggest earmarking at least 5% of your budget for the unknown. You might need to purchase umbrellas if it’s raining, more flowers, or cleaning supplies. You never know what could happen, so it’s best to be prepared!

3 Ways to Save the Budget

Sometimes you are given a budget that doesn’t match your client’s dream event plans. Well, we have some tips on how to work with that, too. 

What’s Important

What are the top priorities at the event? If you are helping your clients plan a wedding, their top priorities might be the venue, the catering, and a DJ. The items they can probably use less of the budget on is flowers, invitations, and the cake. Deciding on what’s most important early on can be a big money saver.

The Guestlist

The more people they invite, the more money spent. It might be tough for your clients to draw a red line through guests’ names, but it’s the fastest way to save money. We suggest having your clients sit down with the guest list over a span of several days to really think about who they want to invite. 

Simplifying

Instead of going for filet mignon, why not choose the sirloin? If it’s winter, choose a flower like a rose or a Star of Bethlehem instead of a sunflower. By simplifying the menu or choosing decor that’s in season, your clients will save more money.

Never let a budget scare you away from planning your client’s dream event. Give us some tips in the comment section below on how you stay under budget!

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Event Guide: Music and Dancing

Think of the last wedding you attended that didn’t have music. Having a hard time? It’s OK—an event without any music is pretty archaic nowadays.

As the cornerstone of most events, nothing can get the crowd moving quite like music and dancing. Which is why as a music professional, it’s important to help your clients pick the best (most appropriate) music for their event. You’re the mastermind of music, but sometimes it can be a tough job when clients are set on certain genres. Luckily for you, we have some advice on how you can convince your clients that some songs just aren’t appropriate for their event—no matter how much they may like them.

*Disclaimer- Of course, we know that “good music” is a subjective term and a difficult one to define. However, some songs with clear, articulate meanings can be too much for poor grandma, and should be avoided at all cost.

First Dance Songs to Avoid

These songs are definite no-no’s for that special first dance moment.

"Better With the Lights Off"-New Boyz Ft. Chris Brown

I think the title of this song is pretty self-explanatory.

"I Will Always Love You"- Whitney Houston

The late, great Whitney Houston, despite her killer high notes and her ability to deliver a heartfelt, soul-moving piece of music, never intended for this song to be played at a first dance. She actually wrote the melody as a breakup song. So yeah, probably not a message you want to send when you’re joining hands in holy matrimony.

"Make You Feel My Love"-Adele
As the title suggests, the song lyrics express more of a desperation to be in love than actually being in a romantic relationship.

"Just a Friend"-Biz Markie

Again, no words needed to describe this one.

Knowing the lyrics and advising against some of these would-be love songs can save your clients from slow-dancing to questionable material.

On the No-Invite List!

Avoid, avoid, avoid!

Music is a diverse beast. Don’t try to fit it neatly in a box and bring it to an event—we’re looking at you, Top 200 Playlist. Diversity and an eclectic musical taste is a must. So let your clients know the power of diversity, and encourage them to mix it up at their event.

As the expert, meet with your clients to discuss their guest list, personal music interest, and the type of event they’re hosting. If the event is a wedding, people perceive it as one big party shrouded under the veil of tradition. It’s your job as a music professional to ensure that when the time is right, you play the songs that get people dancing and thinking happy, celebratory thoughts! But just in case you need a little back-up, here’s another list of songs you should steer your clients clear of. And for obvious reasons!

“My Humps”- Black Eyed Peas

An awkward song to play in a diverse crowd. Honestly.

“We Are Young”- Fun

Although a great song to sing-along to, it’s not a practical one for a dance party. Trust us, we’ve tried pulling off some dance moves and failed.

“Red, Red Wine”- UB40

Yes, this might be one of my favorite songs to belt-out, but it’s not the most-pleasing wedding song. It is more about missing someone and drowning your sorrows in a bottle of red, red wine than a happy marriage.

“Party Rock Anthem”- LMFAO

Again, another really difficult song for people to bust a move too.

“Single Ladies” - Beyonce

No disrespect to Queen B, but let’s let the celebration of marriage have its moment before others celebrate being single. Plus, the single bridesmaids probably won’t appreciate this one much either.

Of course, there are several more songs you could add to this list, but I think you’re seeing the type of songs to convince your clients to avoid. Here are some suggestions for a happy, well-played event:

• Pick songs about love and happiness.
• Choose a song that is special for a first dance. Think of a song that makes you feel good, and has a melody that glorifies your love.
• Select a song with good, wholesome lyrics and melody. You want to promote a loving atmosphere, not one people exchange curious looks during.
• Let your clients know you want the best music for their event, and provide songs that do not come pre-packaged; let them know the songs have been specifically selected for their event.

You know the tunes, you understand the importance of music, so now it’s time to have the musical talk with your clients. We’re here to be the best crew for you—and be your best back-up!

Until next time, this has been your event guide of the week!

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