1.0 Execut ive Summary
The Wedding Project
One of the most signif icant days in a person's lif e is her wedding day! To ensure that such a momentous event goes of f 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). "T he absence of a clearly def ined project plan consistently shows up as the major reason f or project f ailures,"
(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 lif e turning into a complete disaster. "T he success of your whole day depends on your ability to organize, plan, and budget," (Hammond, 2007, para. 1).
T he 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 f amily, members of the wedding party (maid of honor, bridesmaid, best man, and groomsmen), wedding guests, wedding vendors (f lorist, musicians, caterer, cake maker, clothiers, venue directors), and the of f iciate. Further, a successf ul wedding requires the orchestration of many moving parts and the availability of many resources including people, skills, equipment, materials, and working capital.
Research shows that the average couple in Beirut, Lebanon will spend $20,940 on a typical wedding. T his budget does not include cost f or a honeymoon, engagement ring, bridal consultant, or wedding planner. A wedding budget is absolutely essential to planning a wedding and in f act should be one of the very f irst things that a marrying couple should do, (Callaway, 2007). Further, a typical wedding takes months to plan.
T here are arrangements to make, reservations to secure, items to order, and logistics to work out. Our happy couple may expect to pay slightly more f or their particular wedding since this couple would like to tie the knot as soon as possible; doing so will come at a price. Of ten, 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 f or 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. T his will serve to drive the time and perf ormance 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.
Budgeting about $100 per wedding guest should provide a good start as to how many people the couple can af f ord to invite and stay within their budget, (Callaway, 2007). T his should be split approximately $50 a head f or catering, and the remaining $50 towards everything else ? f lowers, attire, venues, wedding f avors, decorations, etc. T his may not leave enough money to pay f or everything that is needed but it should serve as a reasonable baseline. T he general rule of thumb is that the more guests that are present, the more f ormal and lavish the wedding will become, (Callaway, 2007).
Bef ore getting too f ar into the wedding plan, one will want to determine a date f or the
