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Ladies I am just curious on the MAIN things that you refuse to skimp on or go cheap on. For example, I am willing to pick a less 'extravagant' venue if I get to have more people come. Or...I am willing to have less decor if the food is really awesome. My number thing that I am trying to justify...is PHOTOS. Don't you think this is ONE of the most important things that you will need for this special day?? There is a photog included with one of the venue's packages, but I'm just really not at all impressed. I can pay to get a professional or use the photog that's included. What would yall do?? :) I'd love to hear your thoughts and things that you spent a little more money on because it was that important to yoU!
PHOTOS!! I would never skimp on photography! Almost everything else will only last for the day but photos last you a lifetime!
I also didn't want to skimp on my dress and food. Well, I tried not to skimp on anything other than what I could make myself so we'll see how it turns out!
Just reading the title, I said photography. Videography is also important to us, but photos are nice and quick for everyone to look at and the videos will only get whipped out for special occasions. I think I would rather have fewer people come and get a nicer venue. In your case I would get someone whose work you find impressive. You'll regret it otherwise if photos are that important to you.
Photography and rings are the only things that make it past the day and I refuse to compromise on either front.
Dress. Suit. Photographer (luckily we have a gifted pbotojournalist pro in the family, so it's half price). Good food & open bar.
All the things that will last and that will affect our family & friends' experiences.
I said PHOTOS too :) Luckily my FI agreed immediately and we had chosen a good "mid range" photographer even before we were 100% on the venue.
The second thing we wont skimp on is providing good food and drinks. So we have limited our numbers to 50-55(max) so we can afford to give them all a great night rather than scrimp just to fit more people in.
I personally think it is VERY important. I'm not going to spend thousands on pictures, but I will spend enough to get a Photographer that I like.
Look at it this way - you put tons of money, time, and effort into your big day. The only thing, besides your own memory, that's going to document it and let it "live on" will be the pictures that are taken. For this reason alone I'm going to be really careful and picky in choosing my photographer.
@Aure: Oh yes and rings... thou we did bargain hunt for them and found FIs ring online for $1500 less than in the stores here (I will add Australia is expensive for rings esp if they are "different" (ie more than just a plain band)).
Wow thank u for the quick responses! When you get down to it, and if you're on a budget, you have decide where to disperse your money first and what's important. Right now all I'm thinking is photos! Venue! Dress! Really that's all that matters hahaha. The venue has food and drinks included so we are good there. I just want to have a good time BUT I want those images to be amazing and to live forever :-) I agree with all of you ladies on that one. I don't think we'll have a professional videographer but I do have some quite tech savvy friends that wouldn't mind to shoot for a minimal fee, I'm betting. Pictures are sooooo important to me! I just needed confirmation lol
Photos and FOOD!! FI is an fantastic cook(for over 10 yrs now) and wants everyone to enjoy it all,music and attire!
Rings and my dress. Everyone always waits for, admires and has the most comments on the dress... and the rings are forever so why not get amazing rings you love? We definitely didn't skimp on either item.
@MissTX: Definitely photos and video for me since these are the only 2 souvenirs you'll really have. Also, a friend of mine recently pointed out to not skimp on hair and make-up because after it's all over and see your pictures, you should love how you look in the pictures.
@ShellVee: Yeah, rings are a big thing for me. My FI isn't thrilled with my wanting to drop bank on them but I won't back down on that one!
Photos were absolutely my #1 priority. I would have skimped on everything else to afford our amazing photographers. And from what we've seen (just teasers at this point), they were worth every single penny. The pictures are amazing.
Toilets.
I know that sounds odd, but I had a forest wedding with a marquee and so no power or water and I just did not want one of those big plastic porta loos were you can see all the crap in it, they are gross and in my big dress, no way.
I got bargains and DIY'd a lot with other stuff, but I was not just going to let my dad just dig a hole!
So I paid alot for a fancy toilet trailor to be brought in. I was a hassle and expensive, but no one was scared to go to the loo or complained, so for me this was the big splurge.
Defintely photography and food. Everything else as far as I'm concerned can be compromised on. Those two cannot. I don't want to regret my pictures and I don't want my guest talking bad about my food ;).
Photos and food. I agree with the comments on the rings too. There is no way we're getting crappy rings.
@sconzzy: nice toilets are ALWAYS a winner :)
Photography and food/drink. I wanted excellent photos to look back on, and food that wasn't your usual rubber chicken dinner. I wanted to feed people something like they would get at a delicious restaurant. And booze. I wanted to have scotch (Hubs loves it) and good wine.
Definitely photography...that was our most expensive purchase and we are so happy we chose our photographers!
This is tricky because even not skimping, if I had an unlimited budget, oh boy would I spend more on my top favorites! For example, it was important to have an open bar and we "splurged" by having it open all five hours (actually we negotiated so the extra hour is only $2 per person), but if I had more moula I would have used tier II or tier III alcohol instead of tier I. I guess our biggest spend priority has been getting the venue that we wanted, but it's not that outlandish. I know, our guest list. We've ignored sugggestions to trim it so we're looking at 125.
That said, once we settle on our rings that might be it...
Photos are important to me because it's something I'll have to look after after the wedding and also since we're getting married in Ireland, I want great photos to show to peole that didn't come. That said, our photogs aren't very expensvie, on par with others, so I picked them based on the style and quality.
Food is also important, our venue does great food so that's covered. The venue itself, my only concern was that it was pretty, didn't look dated and was decorated nicely.
Photos, reception venue, music, food (and cocktails)! Basically everything about the reception is the msot important thing to us...we want our wedding to be a huge celebration and party atmosphere with our nearest and dearest.
I am one of those brides that is oddly not too concerned with the BM dresses (they can choose their own cut/style, just in a specific color) or shoes or accessories, my own shoes, invitations, etc. I'm definitely trying to go pretty cheap on the invitations!
Food, dress, photography.
I can cut back on decor with alot of DIY projects. The venue just has to be big enough. BUt alas usually the venue provides its own food so i guess venue/food go together.
I hate crappy food at weddings!
Definitely photographer and then videographer. The rest, no one but you will care about/give a second thought to.
As soon as I saw the title I said "PHOTOS!" You spend a lot of time and money setting everything up to make your wedding beautiful - it would be a shame to not have quality photographs to capture the day and remember it all for years to come!
A wedding with alcohol - I'd rather pay for beer and wine in an open bar than go for a dry wedding. But I'm not going full out or top shelf either.
Photographer - I searched for 5 months to find a great photographer in my budget. I wasn't going to get the cheapest, but I wasn't going to get the most expensive because there are plenty of young photographers that are just as good.
Dress - I wanted a very well made dress, but I also wanted to get a deal.
So in the end, there is nothing that I went all out on as far as expenses. I made sure I got deals on good stuff.
photographer, although we got a really good deal. Venue - really wanted something different (pioneer village), dress (although I had a budget and got my dream dress within budget), alcohol provided (beer and wine only), horse and wagon - our splurge, yet it was necessary - dont want any guests to trip and fall on the ice!
Good food and open bar. If we had to forgo flowers in order to provide an open bar for our guests, we would (luckily, we won't have to!). The most important things for us are to get married then party with our families and friends.
All-inclusive venue. I didn't not want to seek out multiple vendors to "create a space" since I am 1200 miles from where the wedding will be held.
Photographer and my dress. My budget for the entire wedding is $5000 since we will just be finishing graduate school and are broke, and 25% went to each of those 2. At first I was so worried about everything else not being up to everyone else's standards, but the truth is, I don't feel comfortable spending more than $5000 on this day anyway. If that means I'm having an hors d'oeuvres reception with no alcohol or a DJ or chiavari chairs, I'm totally cool with that.
As long as the food is yummy (not necessarily expensive) then it's a tie between venue and photography for me. For me, the mood of the wedding is really important and the venue/atmosphere plays a big part. I don't want to remember it as a half-ass'd choice years down the road.
Wedding rings - they are blessed on our wedding day and we will wear them everyday forever Wedding dress - feel a bit selfish about making that a priority but I feel so beautiful in it!
Open Bar & good food - I want our guests to have a great time.
I think I am one of the few who doesn't place priority on photos! We have a nice photographer lined up but I couldn't justify spending the thousands of dollars many people in my area spend on them. I feel like our photographer will do a good job even if its not cutting edge or anything - I figure as long as we have some nice photos for framing etc. that is good enough for me!
Photography!! We spent over 1/3 of our budget on our photographer... and it was worth every penny. I skimped on my dress, and negotiated like a crazy woman for everything else. I think the only thing I didn't negotiate down was the price of the marriage license.
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