Wedding Budget

Wedding Budget Skill

Wedding budgets die two deaths: the guest list (every name is a per-head catering multiple) and the forgotten line items (vendor meals, alterations, service charges, overtime — the ~10% that appears in month eleven with no budget line waiting for it). This skill builds the budget with both priced in from day one: allocation across categories with the shares stated as defaults not laws, the per-guest lever computed so trade-offs are conscious, and a contingency line defended as load-bearing rather than skimmed first.

What This Skill Produces

• The allocation table — every category with its share and amount, from the script, overridable per real quotes
• The guest math — per-guest cost and what cutting/adding 10 names actually moves
• The forgotten-items audit — the standard omissions, each assigned to a category's line now
• The tracking discipline — budget vs. quoted vs. actual, and the rule for when a category busts

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• The all-in number — the real total including everything (rings, attire, the honeymoon in or out — decide and label), and who's contributing what (money with strings gets its strings written down)
• The guest count, honestly — the draft list's realistic size, not the aspirational cut; it's the budget's biggest single input
• The two priorities — the couple's non-negotiables (photography? the band? the venue?) — allocation bends toward them by explicit trade, not by silent overspend
• Real quotes, as they arrive — the defaults exist to be replaced; a budget of defaults is a sketch, a budget of quotes is a plan

Programmatic Helper

python3 scripts/wedding_budget.py --budget 30000 --guests 110
python3 scripts/wedding_budget.py --budget 30000 --guests 110 --venue-food-pct 45 --json

Deterministic. Default shares are planning conventions (venue+catering ~42%, photo/video ~12%, 9% contingency…) — every one is a flag to override as real quotes land. The per-guest and cut-10-guests numbers print with the table.

Framework: The Survival Rules

1. The guest list is the budget: venue+catering is ~40–50% of everything and scales per head — the script's cut-10-guests number makes the trade explicit ("ten names ≈ the photographer upgrade"). Every guest-list argument is secretly a budget argument; giving it the number makes it an honest one.
2. The forgotten items get lines now: vendor meals, alterations, overtime clauses, service charges + gratuities (often 20%+ on catering and quoted separately — the classic surprise), postage, trials, day-of transport — each assigned to a category at budget time. A surprise with a budget line is just a bill.
3. Contingency is load-bearing, not skimmable: ~9–10% held for the unquoted and the changed-mind; the rule is written down: contingency pays for surprises, not upgrades — upgrades come from explicit trades between categories.
4. Priorities buy by trading, not creeping: "photography matters most" is implemented as photo +5 points / flowers −3 / favors −2 — a visible reallocation, so the budget still sums. The alternative (every category quietly "just a bit more") is how 30k becomes 38k without one decision being made.
5. Track quoted-vs-budget the day each quote arrives: category busts announce themselves early if anyone is looking — the tracking table (budget / quoted / actual per category) turns "we're probably fine" into a number, and the bust rule is pre-agreed: re-trade between categories, cut scope, or consciously raise the total — silence is not on the list.

Output Format

Wedding Budget: [total] · [guests] guests — [date]

The Allocation

[Script output table · priorities noted with their funding trades]

The Guest Lever

[Per-guest cost · the cut/add-10 number · the current list vs. the budget's assumption]

Forgotten Items — Now Budgeted

Tracking

Shares are conventions, not rules — real quotes override defaults. Educational model, not financial advice.

Quality Checks

• The total is all-in with honeymoon/rings in-or-out stated
• The per-guest lever and cut-10 number appear
• Every forgotten item has a category and an estimate
• Priorities show their funding trades — no category grew without another shrinking
• The bust rule is written before any category busts

Anti-Patterns

• Do not budget the aspirational guest list — the realistic list, or the venue line is fiction
• Do not skim the contingency for upgrades — it's for the surprises the audit couldn't name
• Do not let service charges and gratuities live outside the table — 20% of the biggest category is not a footnote
• Do not average competing quotes into the budget — pick the likely vendor's number and track it
• Do not moralize the spending level — the skill's job is that the chosen number survives, whatever it is