Wedding Project Part Ii

WEDDING PROJECT PART II

The Wedding Project

Student Name

University of Phoenix

The Wedding Project

One of the most significant days in a person's life is her wedding day! To ensure that such a momentous event goes off without a hitch, appropriate planning is required. And when it comes to wedding planning, picking one's partner could very well be the easiest of all the planning decisions to make. Months will be spent prior to the wedding researching vendors, comparing products and prices, meeting with photographers, hotel managers, and many more wedding vendors to determine how to save costs on each wedding item (Hammond, 2007). "The absence of a clearly defined project plan consistently shows up as the major reason for project failures," (Gray & Lawson, 2005, p. 118). Without an implementation plan that outlines budgets, how important tasks should be organized, and what the contingencies are in the event that something goes awry, could result in what should be one of the happiest days of someone's life turning into a complete disaster. "The success of your whole day depends on your ability to organize, plan, and budget," (Hammond, 2007, para. 1). Table 1 list a breakdown of the major tasks and subtasks that will be needed to carry out a wedding project.

The stakeholders in a wedding project are numerous. Naturally the bride and groom are the biggest stakeholders. But also included in this list of stakeholders will be the bride and groom's family, members of the wedding party (maid of honor, bridesmaid, best man, and groomsmen), wedding guests, wedding vendors (florist, musicians, caterer, cake maker, clothiers, venue directors), and the officiate. Further, a successful wedding requires the orchestration of many moving parts and the availability of many resources including people, skills, equipment, materials, and working capital. Table 2 list a breakdown of resources, both paid and unpaid, that are needed to hold a wedding.

Research shows that the average couple in Fayetteville, North Carolina will spend $20,940 on a typical wedding, (McMurray, 2007). This budget does not include cost for a honeymoon, engagement ring, bridal consultant, or wedding planner. A wedding budget is absolutely essential to planning a wedding and in fact should be one of the very first things that a marrying couple should do, (Callaway, 2007). Further, a typical wedding takes months to plan. There are arrangements to make, reservations to secure, items to order, and logistics to work out. Our happy couple may expect to pay slightly more for their particular wedding since this couple would like to tie the knot as soon as possible; doing so will come at a price. Often, expediting key activities within a project leads to increased cost of the project, (Gray & Lawson, 2005).

Because the couple has a combined income of $60,000 per year, a top-down approach will be used for budgeting. Instead of determining the budget by breaking down the wedding into the individual components of the wedding project and summing them together to arrive at the couple's budget, instead a given budget will be broken down on the various activities of the wedding. This will serve to drive the time and performance components of the wedding project. Further, this approach will provide a negotiating point to work within when bidding out the individual activities associate with this project. Table 3 list a budget breakdown plan for a wedding. This spreadsheet presents the budgeted wedding tasks and when money will be needed to spend for each task.

Budgeting about $100 per wedding guest should provide a good start as to how many people the couple can afford to invite and stay within their budget, (Callaway, 2007). This should be split approximately $50 a head for catering, and the remaining $50 towards everything else - flowers, attire, venues, wedding favors, decorations, etc. This may not leave enough money to pay for everything that is needed but it should serve as a reasonable baseline. The general rule of thumb is that the more guests that are present, the more formal and lavish the wedding will become, (Callaway, 2007).

Before getting too far into the wedding plan, one will want to determine a date for the big event. Most of the major decisions that will need to be made from this point will be contingent on the wedding date. Selecting the right wedding date also requires more than picking a date at random. "Most couples prefer the spring and summer months over the fall and winter months due to the warmer weather," (Erickson, 2007, p.11). Some couples also have a holiday preference and look forward to getting married on Valentine's Day or even Halloween, (Erickson, 2007).

When determining time scope, it might be helpful to start with the last activity, in this case the wedding day itself, and work backwards towards the start of the project. The logical sequence of tasks will be organized by determining what must be completed immediately before each successive task. Once the project network has been laid out, one should check forward by confirming that each activity is the only task necessary immediately before starting the next activity.

After reviewing the above discussed factors for this project, the performance scope of this project will be to provide a high-quality, custom wedding for the Groom and Bride within the next 6 months at a cost not to exceed $25,000. This wedding is to include 150 guests, a wedding party of 10, a pre-wedding night rehearsal dinner, and a reception at a location to be determined after final budget analysis.

Conclusion

Couples often dream for years what the perfect wedding day will be like. Unfortunately, when the time finally arrives, many realize that a wedding must be limited by budget, time, resources, and the implementation of those who are relied on to carry it through. However, one can still have the perfect day to remember and memories to cherish through thorough planning and staying within the initial budget that has been set forth. Using a disciplined, structured method for selectively collecting information to use throughout all phases of the wedding project and to meet the needs of all the wedding stakeholders will provide the most successful and spectacular wedding day ever.

References

Callaway, N. (2007). Easy wedding budget worksheet. About, Inc. Retrieved February 25, 2007, from http://weddings.about.com/library/blbudgetworksheet.htm.