It’s true – weddings are expensive! I was married last November, and you better believe my final budget was nowhere close to the budget I had in my head when my husband popped the question. Still, my wedding was perfect, and I wouldn’t change a thing – including the budget.

If you’re in the beginning stages of planning a wedding, here are my tips to keep in mind when crunching the numbers. Plus, check out the handy-dandy infographic below; or, go a step further and calculate your wedding budget, with this helpful calculator from The Insider.

5 things to know when setting your wedding budget:

1. Know where your wedding budget is coming from – are parents contributing? Have all that information present before you set your budget.
2. Know what you and your fiance can afford when it comes to your wedding budget, and what number both of you are comfortable with.
3. Know what is important to you. Maybe you can’t afford the sequin tablecloth, but you can improvise by making a sparkly sign for your head table.
4. Know what you’re willing to splurge on. If your day won’t be the same without this one detail, go for it and cut back somewhere else.
5. Know that you might have to hunt around for vendors that will work within your budget. The extra work will pay off.