#1 on your to do list? Prior to spending a nickel ideally, is envisioning your event.
Before you can begin to allocated resources such as money and time to creating your party every experienced event planner knows that the overall vision of the party is paramount. Necessary aspects of the vision include a venue whether it be local or located in such a way that it doesn’t inconvenience the bulk of your guest to attend(excluding destination events). A realistic headcount leaving room in either direction for more people to join late and for guests to inevitably call out. Entertainment budgeting and acquisition; which frequently falls farther down the to-do list in event planning then it should and ultimately ends up being the achilles heel of many events. Due to the ever frequent, and oh-so necessary corner cutting we encounter in our booking process, the entertainment more often then not takes a back seat to the exuberant venue prices as well as photography, and even attire in some cases.
Relative to the type of event as well as the venue you book, catering is also a critical aspect of most events that may need to be outsourced in order to get the desired effect you envisioned. Although it also leaves room to be budgeted due to the “we were having too much fun to eat” ideal.
I.E If you go all in on your entertainment package you may be able to get away with hand dishes and one-course meals. However if you skimp on the entertainment, you better have some decent food because people will be in there seats nibbling for the majority of party 9 times out of 10. Other expenses to consider include but are not limited to invitation costs and planning. Event formality expenses range all the way from bouquets, garters, and throwaway sandals for dancing, too hoola-hoops and glow-sticks for kids. All of these aspects of your envisioned event have potentially rather large price tags and your money needs to be allocated in such a way that you bank on the aspects that you believe are the most important without underestimating the others.
“You more often then not get what you pay for ... saving is essential but very much still cutting corners. ”