How To Ask Family To Contribute To The Wedding

Planning a wedding can be expensive. Find out how to ask your family members to contribute financially.

Approaching family is important, especially if they are contributing to your wedding.

It's so stressful when you don't know that number, you are going to go about it kind of aimlessly not knowing that number.

It's so important to know it.

So, how do you approach the family?

You can sit down with them. And you can even sit down with both sets of family if they both said that they're contributing, and discuss with them what they were thinking in regard to budgeting, or to including in the budget.

Show them your budget sheet, see what they were thinking and what they wanted to contribute.

If they're saying that they want to cover the bigger vendors, your bigger vendors are going to be your catering - if it's not included in a venue, your entertainment, your photographer, your videographer, those are the big vendors.

If you have a more 'Do It Yourself' venue where you're bringing everything in, then it's going to be rentals.

Rentals are going to be a big vendor, too.

Sometimes it's easier to assign a vendor or multiple vendors to family.

Once you know those numbers, it's really based on that type of category. So it would be easier to  know the numbers before you approach them.

The best way to approach the family is just to do it. If it's a phone call, if it's a sit down dinner, if it's just sitting down over coffee to discuss it, do it. It's so important.

And if they're saying oh no, I'm just going to pay for the wedding dress, which also consider if you're adding that to the budget sheet and wedding rings. And if they're saying oh no, I'm just going to provide for my friends. Totally fine.

Some parents do that too.

But be sure that they know when they only are providing for the friends, they're inviting, it's not just the catering. 

It's going to be the centrepiece, it's going to be the table, the linen, the silverware, the glassware, the dishes.

So be sure that they know it's not just going to be that per person catering price, but it's going to be the whole table dedicated to them with the centrepiece and all those items included.

That's how you approach family - just do it.

Everyone has their own dynamics, but it's best to get it out in the open, discuss it with them.

Know your numbers, because they might be saying that they can't tell you a number unless you  know how much vendors cost. 

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