A cost plan for your whole event

Ásta and Birkir are planning a 90-guest wedding. It's going to be a touch expensive — it's a wedding, after all. But isn't it kind of likely the cost will run away from them if they lose sight of the small stuff?

They have a rough sense of the big numbers. The venue, the catering, the live music. But then small things start piling on. Patio heaters for the balcony, kransakaka, late-night snacks for the after-party, cab rides to pick up the food, the pianist for the ceremony, flowers to be ordered in the new year, and so on.

Some of it goes through Melda. Some of it is a phone call and a bank transfer, and the spreadsheet that started so tidy is now a mix of week-old totals, yellow highlights, comments and question marks. It's also only on Birkir's laptop, so Ásta can't get to it.

Then the caterer sends a quote. The next day a different caterer sends one too, a bit pricier but with wine included. Where do those go? Did anyone pay the venue deposit?

Will the plan hold? It's almost impossible to know.

Disorder breeds anxiety, and a cost plan shouldn't be yet another spreadsheet you're afraid to open. It should be an encouraging view of what's done, what's committed, and what's still to be decided.

Melda now has a proper cost-plan tool

You set up a plan on your event, create categories (Venue, ceremony music, MC, catering, kitchen help, décor — whatever fits) and add line items inside them. Every item carries an estimate (your target), an actual cost, a vendor, a due date and a status that moves from Estimating to Quoted, then Booked, and finally Paid once the invoice clears.

The important bit: it covers EVERYTHING the event costs, not just the things booked through a Melda vendor. The patio heaters from the hardware store, the flowers from a friend who happens to do flowers — it all lands on the same view, in the same tool.

Try it — open one of the items with quotes and pick the one you'd choose. Fiddle as much as you like.

Want to plan your own event this way? Create an event in 2 minutes →

How it works

• Categories with targets. Set a ceiling per category and get a warning the moment you go over. A progress bar on the page shows where you sit against the plan.
• Multiple quotes per item. Add every quote you receive for the caterer, attach the PDF or photo that came with each, and pick the one you want.
• Bulk add by paste. Drop in a list one item per line, with optional quantity and an estimated price. A whole spreadsheet lands in seconds.
• Reports and exports. See variance between plan and actual for each category, export a PDF or CSV to share with a partner, an accountant, or a project lead.

How to get started

1. Open your event in Melda and click Cost plan in the side menu.
2. Create the categories that fit your event. Start from a template or roll your own.
3. Add line items inside the categories and fill in vendor, estimate and due date as you learn more.
4. Add quotes to an item as they arrive, compare them, make a call, and move the real cost into the plan.

This earns its keep on every kind of event: annual galas, work events, weddings, milestone birthdays, confirmations, conferences, and open meetings where the invoices come in from every direction. You don't need to be an accountant to stay on top of this. You just need a place that follows you through.

So create an event in Melda or open the one you're already planning and add a cost plan in a few minutes.

If you have any questions or suggestions, we'd love to hear from you. Drop us a line at melda@melda.is.