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For us, it's lighting.
We went to friends' wedding with beautiful uplighting, flood lighting, etc. The lighting made the room very warm and welcoming. We knew then we just had to have lighting. We ended up redoing our whole budget and cutting cost elsewhere to be able to afford lighting.
Our GUESTS!! Lol. We wanted to have about 80 people but the guest list just keeps growing. We have 110 on the guest list right now so I'm expecting we'll have at least 90 attend.
We've managed to stay within budget on everything else though, even saving money on some categories like flowers. We're not going to have the huge, impressive florals I dreamed about but I realized I would way rather have $500 extra dollars for our honeymoon than spend it on bigger bouquets that will die in a week.
For me, it was my dress. It was hella expensive (to me; I know there are prob'ly girls out there who spent more), so much so that I didn't even include it in the wedding budget; it was something that was on my personal budget. I mean, thousands for a dress (well, and undies, accessories and shoes) you'll wear once....geeaaakkk....
!
I rationalized it by saying that 1) our pictures are forever, so if I didn't love my dress, I'd always be sad when I saw the pictures; 2) it was custom, handmade from kimono fabric and therefore absolutely one-of-a-kind; 3) when I looked at other dresses, they were running "only" (ha ha) $500-700 less, and after having them shipped, altered, etc., they would be nearly as much, and not one of a kind; 4) my MOH (who works for a bridal shop) pointed out I was getting super quality material, and any dress that cost less would likely be made of inferior stuff; 5) the designer and dressmaker are local, so I'm supporting the local industry and not a sweat shop in Asia; 6) it's a work of art (see rationale #2) and you can't put a price on art! 
Boy, can I rationalize or what?! I also have claimed that I will throw an anniversary party and wear this dress every year. My hubs thinks this is dumb, but he was very supportive and even helped me rationalize by saying I'd wanted this dress for a decade, I deserved to have it and that all my reasons made sense.
STATIONARY! I spent so much on this (50 invites only!)-I cannot utter the price out loud. Custom letterpress... All the pieces are so beautiful though... (once in a lifetime- that's the rationalization)...
Thank you LM. I will re-read your post as I cut the check!
Thank you LM. I will re-read your post as I cut the check!
Yup. That will happen. But I won't throw mine out. In fact, I definitely will have a copy of all the stationary in a shadow box somewhere in the apartment.
It really just depends on your limits. For example, I opted to have 1 color letterpress programs and menus (simple rectangle cards) in addition to the STDs and invites. I really wanted to have fan programs (2 color letterpress), but the cost was going to be double for 50 fans! So I didn't do them. But this isn't a budget constraint, it's a personal constraint. So that's what I mean about limits.
For me, the stationary is a part of the presentation of my wedding. But that's not the case for everyone.
rationalization..."ONCE IN A LIFETIME."
the number of guests! we wanted very small...like 50... the list now sits at 102.. yes, thats double... I just can't cut anyone else out..
Rationalization: the reason we are not eloping is because we wanted to have a kick-ass party with our friends and family... so, if i can't invite them all, then why am i doing this again? and it was crazy to begin with to think we could limit our number and exclude some good friends.. i should have known i couldn't do that..
I think I am one of the number of guest people.
Photography is by far our biggest expense. We haven't finished our budget but I'm guessing our photographer is going to end up being about 65%. I bought my dress on e-bay, going DIY with the flowers and I'm using a gocco for the invites but I refuse to have crappy pictures! I was able to justify the higher end photographer by the fact that is going to be the last time my family will be together- my Mom has terminal cancer and my sister is flying in from Australia.
PrincessK- I love your idea of wearing the dress once a year. I read a story about a group of friends that get together once a year and hang out in their wedding dresses.
Our biggest expense has been the honeymoon. Since we are already married, (we eloped the 1st time!), we wanted to have the awesome pictures and family together, but our biggest is the honeymoon. We wanted a killer vacation, without having to hold anything back. We are going to Puerto Rico for two full weeks, staying at some of the nicest resorts, and plan to do everything (and anything) we want.
For example, I plan to go to one of the world's renowned spas and splurge.
Don't get me wrong, the actual ceremony-reception part is going to be nice, but the honeymoon is going to blow it away!!!
i'll second what someone else said -- guests! the invite list was much larger than we had initially planned... then we got the nice buffet & paid for extra open bar. Woulda skimped a bit more on the food/drinks (or the invite list) if I knew so many of my parents friends would give cheap gifts... yes I'm being selfish, but we paid for the wedding ourselves.
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| User | Posts Today |
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| MissBoPeep | 94 |
| ndreighton | 64 |
| hisgoosiegirl | 56 |
| beargoose | 55 |
| Mrs.KMM | 46 |
| akp0702 | 42 |
| BetterSherm | 42 |
| MrsPom | 37 |
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| User | Posts Today |
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| MissBoPeep | 8 |
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| Mrs.KMM | 7 |
So girls, what has blown your budget? (Or at least made you, ahem, redistribute things?)