Set your guest count and total, and see how the money splits across the 13 categories every Vowlist budget starts with — with cost per guest, sliders that keep the total at 100 %, and a print / copy / save-to-account button. It's our starting split, not a statistic: edit it to your priorities.
Free, no account. Made by Vowlist — the guest list, budget and checklist are free; the RSVP link is $79 once, no subscription.
Nudges 5 points into that group from the other lines (contingency untouched).
Our starting split — Vowlist's starting figure, not a statistic. Move a slider and the other lines rebalance so the total stays at 100 %; type an exact $ on a line to pin it (then "left to allocate" shows the gap).
Free account = budget, guest list, checklist, CSV export — no card. Prefer a file? Get the spreadsheet. The RSVP link is $79 once, only if you want it.
| Category | Line | Amount | % | Actual | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue & catering | Venue hire | $4,000 | 20.0% | ||
| Venue & catering | Food & drink | $4,800 | 24.0% | ||
| Attire | Outfits & accessories | $1,600 | 8.0% | ||
| Photo & video | Photographer | $2,000 | 10.0% | ||
| Flowers & decor | Flowers | $1,200 | 6.0% | ||
| Flowers & decor | Decorations | $800 | 4.0% | ||
| Music | Band / DJ | $1,400 | 7.0% | ||
| Stationery | Invitations | $400 | 2.0% | ||
| Rings | Wedding rings | $600 | 3.0% | ||
| Beauty | Hair & makeup | $400 | 2.0% | ||
| Transport | Cars / travel | $400 | 2.0% | ||
| Other | Gifts & favors | $400 | 2.0% | ||
| Other | Contingency (10%) | $2,000 | 10.0% | ||
| Allocated | $20,000 | Left to allocate $0 | |||
Starting split by Vowlist · getvowlist.com/free/wedding-budget-calculator · edit it to your priorities.
Start with the two numbers you actually control — how many people and how much money — and let the calculator show you what that implies per line. The percentages you see first are Vowlist's starting split: the same 13 lines your free Vowlist budget begins with, in the same order, at a proportion that keeps venue and food a little under half and reserves a tenth for contingency. It is a starting point, not a report of what other couples spend, and the right move is to break it: pick the one or two things you care about most, push their sliders up, and watch the rest rebalance. Then type real quotes into the $ boxes as they arrive; a pinned line stops moving and "left to allocate" tells you what the remaining lines can share.
What "cost per guest" is for. Total ÷ guests is the single number to carry into every venue and caterer conversation. If a package costs more per head than your food-and-drink-per-guest figure, you are not "a bit over" — you are choosing between that venue and twenty names on the list. Better to see it here than on the invoice.
Per head: food and drink, invitations and postage, favours, transport for guests, sometimes rentals (chairs, linens). Mostly fixed: venue hire, photographer, band or DJ, outfits, rings, hair and makeup. So adding twenty guests moves your food line and barely touches the rest — which is exactly why cost per guest is the number to argue about, and why cutting the list is the fastest lever when the total is fixed. Move the guest slider and watch which lines follow it.
A line is "planned" until you sign something. Once a deposit goes out, that line is real: pin it in the $ box (or type it as Actual in your budget) and stop moving its slider. Lock in this order if you can — venue and caterer first (they set the date and the per-head price), then photographer and music (they book up), then everything else, which is flexible until the last months. The contingency line is the only one that should end the year lower than it started.
Honest line: this is a planning starting point. We do not know your city or your caterer's prices, and we are not quoting an average, because an average of a 40-person brunch and a 300-person ballroom is not a useful number for either couple. Use the arithmetic, then replace it with quotes.
Use the $10k preset above and look at what each line becomes at your guest count — that is the honest answer, because "enough" depends almost entirely on how many people you feed. At $10k with 50 guests the food & drink line is roughly $48 a head on our starting split; at 150 guests it is $16 — compare either figure with the per-head quotes you get back. So the trade is guests versus formality: fewer people, or a lunch/brunch/buffet format, or a venue that lets you bring your own bar.
Tap "300 guests" (or the #300-guests link). Everything per head — food & drink, invitations, favours, transport — scales up; venue, photography, music and outfits mostly do not. Watch cost per guest: if it drops below what a caterer will quote you, either the total or the list has to move.
Yes — "Save this budget to a free account" carries the split into your free Vowlist budget (no card). It only fills lines you have not edited yet and sets the total if it is still empty, so it never overwrites work you have already done. Or copy it as text and paste it anywhere.
They are Vowlist's starting split — a sensible place to begin, not a statistic about what other couples spend. We do not quote an "average wedding cost" here because averages hide the guest count, the city and the format, and we would rather show you the arithmetic than a number to worry about. Move the sliders to your priorities.
Because something always turns up — the second alterations, the extra hour of the DJ, the shuttle for the late ceremony. Set it aside on day one and treat it as spent; if it is still there the week before, it is a very nice honeymoon dinner.
Save it to a free Vowlist account and it becomes your working budget — planned / actual / paid per line, "left to allocate", "still owed", next to your guest list and checklist. Free forever, no card. The RSVP page (one link per household, no app for guests, we never email them) is $79 once, only if you want it. Start free →