Simple Wedding Budget spreadsheet for Excel and Google Sheets

Last updated: 16 October 2026

Type your total budget and your guest count, and this spreadsheet suggests how much to spend on each of 31 wedding items, then tracks what you estimated, what you actually spent, what you've paid and what is still to pay.

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What it does

One file, two tabs, nothing to configure.

• Suggested amounts for 31 typical items in 10 categories (venue and catering, photo and video, attire and beauty, flowers and decor, music, stationery, rings and gifts, ceremony and legal, transport, extras and contingency). Each item has a typical share of your total; for catering, drinks, cake and favors a "per guest" column divides the suggestion by your guest count, so you can compare caterers' quotes per head.
• Your numbers next to the suggestion: Estimated, Actual, Paid, and Still to pay (calculated). Totals per category and overall, plus an "over / under budget" line that uses your actual figures where you have them and your estimates where you don't.
• Shares you can change: the typical percentages are yellow cells. Spend more on photos and less on flowers if that is your wedding; the file warns if the shares no longer add up to 100%.
• A vendor column on every line, so you know who you are paying without a second tab.
• Start Here: date, budget and guest count in three yellow cells, your currency in a fourth, a 4-step guide and a summary (suggested, estimated, actual, paid, still to pay, over / under, budget per guest).

Want to see the numbers worked out? Wedding budget breakdown: a worked example with deposits and due dates uses this same Budget tab.

Made to be easy

• Two tabs. The instructions are on the sheet, so you don't need a video to get started.
• Nothing is locked. No passwords and no protected sheets. Yellow and white cells are yours, gray cells calculate for you; if you break one, Ctrl+Z.
• The same file in Excel and Google Sheets. It only uses functions both programs share, so nothing shows #NAME? after import. No macros, no add-ons, no sign-up with us.
• No year or month to set, so the numbers never disappear when the calendar changes.
• Room to grow: the formulas are already there for 300 lines.
• Any currency. Pick your currency symbol in one cell, or type your own; it shows in the headings.
• Set up to print on Letter and A4: each tab fits the page width.

Works in

• Microsoft Excel 2010 or newer on Windows, 2011 or newer on Mac
• Google Sheets (File → Import → Upload, or the "Make a copy" link in the included guide)
• LibreOffice Calc

What you get

• Simple-Wedding-Budget.xlsx: blank, ready for your numbers.
• Simple-Wedding-Budget-EXAMPLE.xlsx: filled in for a 70-guest wedding, so you can see how it looks.
• How-to-use.pdf: one page on opening the file in Excel, copying it to Google Sheets, and reaching us.

Questions and answers

Do I need Excel?

No. The same file works in Google Sheets, which is free with a Google account, and in LibreOffice Calc.

Where do the suggested amounts come from?

From typical shares in published wedding-budget guides. They are a starting point, not a rule: change any share if your priorities differ.

I also need a checklist and a guest list.

This Budget tab is the same one inside our Simple Wedding Planner, which adds a dated checklist, guests and tables, vendors and the wedding-day timeline.

How was it made?

Designed and built by Quicksloth. We used AI tools to help write the formulas, the code that generates the file and these texts; every formula is then recalculated and checked automatically, and the file is opened and tested in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice.

Help

Bought it on Etsy? Send us a message on Etsy from your order and tell us which file you have, whether you use Excel or Google Sheets, and what you see. More in Help, the license and your data.