Wedding Budget Spreadsheet & Planner

Payment Tracker · Guest Count Calculator

Excel + Google Sheets
Instant download

See what your wedding really costs – every vendor's price plus the service charge, sales tax and tips – how many guests your budget fits, and how much to save each month so no payment comes up short.

For couples in the US planning a wedding (and the parents helping). List your vendors once, add the deposits and due dates from your contracts, and the sheet works out the rest. Works for a small backyard wedding or a state with no sales tax too: leave the service charge empty and the tax rate at 0%.

WHAT IT ANSWERS

What will our wedding cost all in – and are we over or under budget?
How many guests can we afford? What do 100, 120 or 150 guests cost? (caterer minimums included)
What is the service charge, the sales tax and the tip on each vendor – and is the service charge taxed?
What do we owe each vendor, when, and what is overdue?
Who pays what – us, or our parents?
How much do we need to save each month to pay every vendor on time?

HOW IT WORKS

Settings: your wedding date, total budget, guest count and sales tax rate, what you have saved and save each month, gifts of money from family (up to 12, by month) and who pays the vendors (the two of you and up to 3 others, like parents).
Budget: one row per vendor or item (up to 60) – a flat price or a price per guest (with a minimum guest count), the service charge, sales tax (on the price, or on the price + service charge), tips (a % or a set amount) and who pays it. Mark each one booked once the contract is signed.
Payments: each deposit and payment (up to 100) – an amount or a % of the vendor's total – with its due date, from your contracts or the ones you expect before you book. Pick the vendor from the list, add a final balance row and the sheet works out what is left. Each payment shows Paid, Overdue, Due in N days or Later.
Summary: the all-in total against your budget, booked vs. not booked yet, cost per guest, what is paid and still to pay, the next payment, who pays what, where the money goes by category, and an envelope list of the day-of tips.
Guests: three guest counts and your plan side by side – the all-in total, remaining budget and cost per guest – plus the most guests your budget fits and what one more guest adds.
Savings: month by month until the wedding – your savings and gifts in, your payments out, and what is left (vendors your parents pay directly are left out). If a month runs short, it tells you how much to save each month instead.

EXAMPLE IN THE PHOTOS

17 made-up vendors, a $44,000 budget and 120 guests: $45,155 all in, $1,155 over budget. 112 guests would fit. Alex's parents pay the flowers. With $12,000 saved, $1,400 a month and a $5,000 gift from Sam's parents, the wedding month runs short – saving $1,617.89 a month covers every payment.

WHAT YOU GET

Excel file (.xlsx) for Microsoft Excel (tested on Windows)
Google Sheets version: a PDF with a link to make your own copy – for a Mac or Chromebook, or if you do not have Excel
Start Here tab: step-by-step instructions and the meaning of every number (see photo 8)
17 example vendors – replace them with your own
Made for a computer screen: the sheets are wide, and it has not been tested on a tablet or phone.

GOOD TO KNOW

Sales tax and service charge rules depend on your state and your vendor: check your contracts. Ask whether the service charge goes to the staff, so you don't tip twice.
Tips are handed out on the day, so they are not part of any final balance.
Amounts with no payment date yet, and the tips, are counted in the wedding month of the savings plan: add the deposits you expect to see the month each one falls in.
Amounts are in US dollars.
Only the yellow cells can be changed, so the formulas are hard to break by accident. No macros or add-ons – just formulas.
Room for 60 vendors, 100 payments, 12 gifts from family, 4 payers and a savings plan up to 60 months long.
This is a digital download. Nothing will be shipped.
A calculator for planning only. This is not financial, legal or tax advice. Your contracts are the numbers that count.
For your personal use. Please do not resell or share the file.

ABOUT THIS TEMPLATE

Designed by SlateTally with the help of AI tools. Every result was checked in Microsoft Excel against an independent calculation, including unusual inputs such as a guest count below a caterer's minimum, flat costs alone over the budget, a 0% service charge, two final balances for one vendor, payments that add up to more than the total, every vendor paid by parents, a wedding today and one 59 months away, and 60 vendors. The Google Sheets version was checked cell by cell against the Excel file.

Questions? Send a message – happy to help.