If money were no object...

OliveOilsMom

I would not change my reception venue at all.  I would have added fresh floral arrangements instead of their provided centerpieces.  We had a TON of awesome food, but I would have added a mashed potato bar for me and a chocolate fountain for H.  We would have invited more people and I would have flown in my friends who were OOT and couldn't attend.

I probably would have also splurged on a Presidential Suite at one of the fancy hotels in Philly for our wedding night, with a chauffeured drive from the reception venue to the hotel.  We just went home after the wedding and my pregnant MOH was our DD!

I would have kept my dress the same, the photographer the same, our limo bus the same, and my bouquet the same. I would have wanted H to purchase his own 3 piece suit, instead of the rental tux we got. 

Kahlyla

I would make some changes, but I'm also cheating a bit and using the eight years that have elapsed since to inform my choices.

-would have had an evening wedding
-with a DJ (we did music from a laptop - good speakers though, and live musicians for the ceremony)
-and a full bar (we did beer, wine and a vodka-lemonade punch as well as non-alcoholic drinks)
-and incorporated some of the newer food trends, like maybe food trucks (although probably not at our venue) or late-night snacks, like the mac 'n cheese posted above, s'mores, popcorn, milkshakes, pizza - just some fun stuff late in the night
-and we would have stayed at a much swankier hotel
-oh, and actually taken a honeymoon

peachy13

I really wanted a live band when I got engaged but then found out how insanely expensive they are. So if I had the money, I would have a live band. We have a DJ now who is awesome, but live music is just so amazing. 

I would have also loved to treat our guests to a morning after brunch, unfortunately that's just not in the cards at this point. 

pinupbride6189

We'd probably be getting married at a different venue. I like our venue, but if I'm being honest, it was jut the only place that was cheap enough for FI not to throw a fit over. It's nice, but in pretty desparate need of renovation. That being said, I'm pretty happy with just about everything else so far. I guess we'll just have to see how everything else comes together.

sarahufl

I would have done less of it myself and hired more people to do more things. I felt like I was trying to micro-manage too much and a lot of the day got away from me.

Aside from that, I really loved my wedding. Loved my $500 David's Bridal dress. But yeah, setting up and tearing down, I could have skipped.

anjemon

This is interesting. I definitely would hire a videographer, that's one thing I'm sad I was too cheap to do. It would have been nice to have a video since the day went by in such a blur. I would definitely keep my photographer, dress, flowers. I would pay my friend who is a seamstress and did our flowers a ton more money. She gave us a big discount and is awesome so I would like to treat her as such. I would also do a limo, we got married in prom season so limos were super expensive and wanted like 6 hours of service when we only needed a ride to the hotel. But it would have been fun to have.

I might have upgraded our venue. There was this other old mansion venue that H and I looked at first. It was gorgeous and slightly expensive to rent. But the catering was with only one company and they were super expensive, almost three times what we actually paid. Which was about double our entire budget. So we said no and kept looking. I loved our venue and it's hard for me to imagine our wedding at a different place. But I loved that fancy house.

Cookie Pusher

The only thing I would have done was invite a few more people. Everything we wanted to do fell comfortably within our budget. We left about a dozen people off our guest list because we wanted to know we could accommodate a 100% acceptance rate but wish those people could have been there with us. Otherwise, I wouldn't change a damn thing.

[Deleted User]

I haven't had my wedding yet (25 days!), but there's not much I'd change.  Considering I'll only wear my dress once, I'm glad I will be spending under $1K for everything, including alterations.

I would have liked to offer more food, even though I've received some nice compliments on my buffet menu- I'd theoretically also offer more booze, but it's a Sunday brunch wedding with LOTS of out of town people so I don't know if anyone will really drink all that much.  I wold have gone w/ my original date, 10/10, a Saturday.  We went for a Sunday b/c it was WAY cheaper.  Our venue went from being $3K with a booze minimum that was half my budget alone, to $1K for the venue and we'll end up spending about $1,500 on the alcohol.

I'd also shell out for professional hair and make-up.  I think my Godmother and her daughter will do a great job, and I'm glad they asked if they could help because I know I would have been stressed trying to find someone to do that stuff because I'm not not a hair and makeup person in general.  But to know that my friends wouldn't have to do ANYTHING (even though they offered) the morning of my wedding would also be nice.

ETA: clarifying words

southernbelle0915

I wouldn't have changed much.  But if money was seriously no object, I would have:

- paid for everyone's airfare and hotel

- had a fireworks show at the end of the night

- hosted everyone for a sunset dinner cruise with a live band the night before the wedding

- hosted everyone for brunch the day after

- had a ton more flowers...like flowers everywhere for days

lnixon8

novella1186 said:

lnixon8 said:

1.Hire a wedding planner/DOC and security

2.Increase my dress budget from $800 to like.. $2000?

3. Hired security

I guess pay for wedding party attire and hotels? I was pretty happy with everything I bought/rented, I just wish I hadn't stressed so much over everything for so long. 

My sister in laws boyfriend is an ass so even though he was asked to leave once it would have been nice to have kept him out (and kept him from stealing and breaking 2 $50 bottles of grey goose, scream "no one in the family loves me" "Lnixon8 is a bittttttch", punch my husband in the face and break his glasses and try and tackle my brother in law which ripped his pants). Good times! At least it was after midnight and most guests had left... 

Holy shit! And she's still with him?! And I thought my sister was nuts... 

UGH yes. he's a jackass.The next day he shows up and is like "GUYS GUYS! I have your wedding present!" Never apologized, pretended nothing happened (which I know he was blacked out but people reminded him) I wasn't walking over to him but H did. SIL and Jackass start going crazy saying that this bottle of scotch he bought that morning cost $300, spent a lot of money on it, it's really nice scotch....

a. that's so tacky b. it was in the brown paper bag from the liquor store WITH the 79.99 receipt c. my dad owns a liquor store! Ive worked there for years, I know how much the cheapest johnnie walker is d. that you didn't get us a present is not the problem!

Lulawife

My wedding hasn't happened yet but there are only a few things I would change if money was unlimited. I would definitely pay for all my bridesmaids dresses and hair and makeup (and also the groomsmen's tux rentals). I offered the bridesmaids the option to have their hair and/or makeup done the day of the wedding by the company I hired to do mine (at their own cost but certainly not required) and since most are choosing to do both, I wish it was in our budget to treat them to it. 

I would be buying/renting these beautiful plum chargers I found for the table settings. But with 300+ guests at $5-$10 a piece, I won't be doing it. 

Definitely would have fireworks at the end of the night, I love fireworks. 

We'd be going to Bora Bora and staying in one of those overwater huts for our honeymoon. 

thisismynickname2

emoc625 said:

We'd be going to Bora Bora and staying in one of those overwater huts for our honeymoon. 

Although I loved my honeymoon, I'd kill for an overwater hut. 

Someone we know did 8 days in a hut and it rained, like, 6 out of their 8 days there, so they were pretty bored. 

futurecptkirk

I would also change our honeymoon. Since money is no object, we would take the rest of our lives off on a honeymoon around the world Is that cheating? 

But honestly, I would do a late night snack, get better wine for my bar, Dom for everyone, pay off the neighbors so they don't close my venue. 

Lulawife

thisismynickname said:

emoc625 said:

We'd be going to Bora Bora and staying in one of those overwater huts for our honeymoon. 

Although I loved my honeymoon, I'd kill for an overwater hut. 

Someone we know did 8 days in a hut and it rained, like, 6 out of their 8 days there, so they were pretty bored. 

I'd be pretty bummed if I paid all that money and it rained the majority of the trip. Although, if money was no object, rain in Bora Bora is better than sun at home! My friend's sister did Tahiti and Bora Bora last year and their pictures were amazing. Maybe one day!!

spockforprez

Double post

spockforprez

I haven't had my wedding yet, but here's what I've got:

• More expensive photographer, though I wouldn't add any hours to my package, which is 6 hours currently. 
  
• I'd actually like to invite fewer people, not more (damn huge family). We wanted 40-60 but ended up with 90 because my family alone is 40 people. Not that that has anything to do with money, sorry.
  
• I would probably buy wholesale flowers online for the bouquets and flower crown rather than grocery store flowers. I still probably wouldn't go the florist route and we'd probably still grow wildflowers for the decor/centerpieces because I like the look.
  
• Book a plan B venue so that I could move my wedding there in the event of temps greater than 75 or rain, rather than having a tent, which I despise. No offense meant to any fellow brides-with-tents; they're an ugly but necessary evil :P 

missa011

thisismynickname said:

Since the topic of the thread is if money is no object, I actually would have increased my dress budget too. If money is no object, then theoretically I wouldn't think the money is wasted, wearing the dress just once, right? I would have gone for a Hayley Paige gown. 

I would have gotten married at a winery in Napa rather than in our hometown.

But that's it... I loved the smaller size of the wedding, we had great food and booze, and danced our butts off. Nothing else to change. 

This. I actually have a Hayley Paige but it's very simple and not one of her more expensive intricate designs. And I LOVE my dress but there's one I didn't even try on cause I knew it would be double what my mom wanted to spend. And YES on the vineyard wedding, that's what FI wanted but it was ultimately up to my parents and that was not in their plan.

Sigh.

Still can't wait for our wedding day though!

hope it's okay I answered even though I'm not married yet...:)

kvruns

Gosh this is hard for me, mostly because I always think of things in term of budget/saving money and not what could have been. And I'm honestly very happy with the wedding, I got the location I wanted and can't think of anything that we went without at the moment. Just maybe some upgrades:

- Saturday instead of Friday although Friday worked out fine and no one complained (at least to my face!)

- Maybe would have invited some more people but H didn't want anything too big so maybe 10 more couples but that's about it.

- Full bar instead of beer/wine and more beer and wine choices (could have afforded it anyway but just went with simple).

- Better bouquets. They didn't get much airtime anyway and I still felt like they cost too much but I would have liked bigger ones especially for BMs

- Cupcakes from a different bakery with the pretty piped roses for icing. Ours turned out great but I did love the ones from this other bakery. and some cool take home boxes for them.

- Better photographer and go the photobooth package with the DJ (not a huge photobooth fan but I did like this DJ's version and would have been a fun little extra)

Not sure I would have changed my dress, it worked fine for me and spending way more I'm not sure I would have found anything I liked better but I don't know since I didn't look at anything expensive. Food would have been the same I think but maybe better dinnerware.

lyndausvi

The biggest thing I would have changed is the weather ,so I could have gotten married on the beach.   Since at this time no amount of money can change the weather, I guess I will go with flying everyone down to Necker Island, BVI and having my wedding there.      We already had top shelf bar and 5-star food, not much would have changed there.    I guess I might have had a fun band, but I like the DJ, so maybe not.

We went on safari in South Africa, along with hitting Paris and Amsterdam for our HM.  I would have only only upgraded hotels in Paris and Amsterdam, as the safari was already high end.

erinlin25

Maggie0829 said:

Would have gotten married at the same location (Raven's Stadium) but the ceremony would have been on the field and the reception space would have been decorated A LOT more.  I would have had fancier linens and chairs.  Flowers and candles would be everywhere.  I would have hired Poe the Raven's mascot to come and take pictures with guests.  I would have done a late night snack of stadium food.  I would have bought invites instead of making them.  I would have had fireworks go off when we had our first kiss and then even more fireworks later in the night.  And I would have hired Justin Timberlake to perform

LOL, this is what I was going to say.  Other than that our wedding was absolutely perfect for us. 

If money were no object, we would have just already be living in our dream home and would have had a longer, more luxurious honeymoon.  

lovesclimbing

We would have gotten married in the same location. However, we would have had a separate reception venue so we could dance (our reception was in the church hall, they didn't allow dancing). Also, we would have served a full meal. Our photos were great, but we would have paid more and gotten someone different. We would have had a honeymoon somewhere a lot more exotic than Seattle.

Well, I could add a ton of things I suppose. Fly everyone to an exotic location! Professional hair and makeup! $5k dress! Fireworks! Planner! Limo! First class flight down to the wedding location instead of driving!

Wegl13

Wedding planner, DOC, and a DJ. Hiring people to do shit for me would be GREAT. I would also probably pay someone to do my hair but my SIL did my make-up and I loved it and wouldn't trade that time with her for the world.
I'd probably also serve a full meal instead of just heavy apps but.... I'd probably keep our wedding at 2pm. A lot of our guests were older and I'm sure appreciated being able to drive home while it was still light out.
Flowers for DAYS. Having real flowers was important but getting a few was PRICEY. Most of the people I talked to had a $2000 minimum! So I'd probably hire one of those people and have them deliver instead of having my parents pick up the flowers on the drive to the wedding.
Penthouse wedding night and take a second day off and just get room service all day long. And then take an actual honeymoon!

WinstonsGirl

I'm really happy with ours.  Our budget was there more cos we didn't see the point in spending so much on 1 day (even though we did) versus being on a strict budget, so we splurged where we wanted to.  

I would have flown everyone down.  We had a high level of declines cos a lot of my friends were newer parents and had budget concerns cos of paying for kids too.  DH's family all lives in Chile, so only 2 cousins came up.  Having all of these people there would have been awesome.  

themuffinman16

I would have paid for my my second cousin and her family to travel to my wedding, other than that my wedding was everything I had ever imagined. But I wish I could afford a professional photo album right now. We have so many lovely pictures. I just wish I had a flush mount wedding album to enjoy forever, and to have a large wedding picture set to canvas for our dining room.

OliveOilsMom

themuffinman16 said:

I would have paid for my my second cousin and her family to travel to my wedding, other than that my wedding was everything I had ever imagined. But I wish I could afford a professional photo album right now. We have so many lovely pictures. I just wish I had a flush mount wedding album to enjoy forever, and to have a large wedding picture set to canvas for our dining room.

If you got all your photos on DVD, you can make flush mount albums yourself.  I think shutterfly or one of the other online photo places offer flush mount albums now!

themuffinman16

@OliveOilsMom Is it the same thickness as those durable cardboard pages that are in professional photo albums?  If so, you just saved me a ton of money!  Thank you!

OliveOilsMom

@themuffinman16 I honestly don't know the quality of the books, I just know they are now offered as an option.  You could probably read some of the reviews of the books to find out.

princessleia22

Shutterfly does do thicker lay flat pages.  I did one for my wedding album.  I also had a high quality professional album done by my photographer.  The Shutterfly wasn't the same quality as my pro album, but I was satisfied with the quality, especially for the price. They are stiff cardboard pages, but not as thick as my pro album. But, my pro album was super expensive and I later regretted it because it had her pro photos, but I had some great pre-wedding activity photos & honeymoon photos that I wish had been included to show the whole wedding experience. So, we did the Shutterfly album and that's the one we use to show everyone... while my $1,000 albums sit in the closet. 

I would definitely recommend getting a Shutterfly one first... if you don't like it, you can still get the pro album made later. I did mine when they had a 50% off sale, so it wasn't that expensive.

[Deleted User]

If money wasn't an issue, we would have two weddings. The first should be a big one for all of our family, friends, relatives and people whom we know. The second one's a destination wedding in Mexico or Thailand, with our families and people closest to us. But we're not sure of the other non-monetary issues that may arise so I'm already good and happy with the way our simple garden wedding was pulled off!

JoanE2012

ttcstacey said:

If money wasn't an issue, we would have two weddings. The first should be a big one for all of our family, friends, relatives and people whom we know. The second one's a destination wedding in Mexico or Thailand, with our families and people closest to us. But we're not sure of the other non-monetary issues that may arise so I'm already good and happy with the way our simple garden wedding was pulled off!

Of course you would!  Would you video the destination wedding and send it to those not invited with a "wish you were here" note - then say "just joking!"?