What's your one "over the top" thing?

futuremrsgates

As I'm planning my wedding, I'm realizing how expensive they are, and some frivolous ideas I had when younger (staying the night at the Ritz? Nope.) are going by the wayside. That being said, I mentioned to my FI tonight that I wanted just one over the top thing or detail. Just curious as to whether or not you all had something that was your wedding day guilty pleasure!

mrsmtothek

I don't know if this is considered "over the top", but my big splurge was definitely my venue. My fiance and I wanted something cozy and unique for our winter wedding, and definitely couldn't stand the look of the usual hotel ballrooms. It ultimately is costing us more for pretty much everything, but in our eyes its definitely worth it!

http://nancygould.com/ngpnow/pics/20090905_blog/20090905_180.jpg

Lisa50

Letterpress invitations and custom-designed shoes were as "over the top" as I got.  So, not very ...

ElisabethJoanne

Like Lisa, our one planned splurge was letterpress invitations.

I'm unusual in that I didn't care about my dress or the food or lots of things people set as "priorities." I did care about the invitations, and I care about the invitations to other weddings I receive.

We went over-budget on the venue and did not budget correctly for the cake, but those weren't splurges. That was just spend-more-or-do-without constraints. We're under-budget on other things: photographer, catering, dress.

annamhisle

Mine will be the decor.

I'm having a winter wedding. It's going to be sort of a "winter wonderland" theme.

Everything is reusable though, so in a way it's a splurge or waste of money!

kitty02kat

my one thing is the uplighting- we don't need it but I love the way it looks.  That being said- if I had to splurge all over again- I'd go with pricier/better food selections for my guests rather than just the "Average/Generic" chicken, beef, or veggie (maybe fancier chicken or beef?)  That being said, I'm ok with how we've spent our money.  We're actually coming up about 25% under budget- so I'm ok with it.  I just know my mom always comes home from weddings and tells me 2 things: about the bride and wedding party's attire and the food.  

rsaleh84

Besides our HM, our next biggest splurge so far has been the venue as well.  However, it includes just about everything, and we have it for 8 hours, not including set up and clean up.  It is so worth it!!

WildMagelet

Photography is more than I had anticipated, but it will be worth it in the end. I've been able to be frugal by careful planning and research with a splash of DIY for the rest.

melb2013

Obviously the venue, which includes all food and alcohol is our most expensive bill, but I would say we are probably going to go over board a bit on the floral decorations (lol and my shoes!)

Soon2BeMrsTing

Our two big ticket items were photography and the venue.

The photographer we were both set on even before getting engaged, as she's a good friend of SIL.  The venue itself wasn't expensive per se, but using it required us to bring in outside catering, which quickly got pricey. We didn't mind, because we were happy with where our money was going (to the city's parks and rec department for the venue, since it sits in a city park, and to a local restaurant which is commited to serving only seasonal foods for the catering).  For us, we were as concerned with what our money was going to support as we were with the bottom line.

[Deleted User]

Catering and photography/videography. We want to have amazing food and didn't give ourselves a budget for pictures and video. 

Osterizer

I think everything we did for the wedding was on track with the average bride.  To us, our HM (a week at Sandals Grande St. Lucian) was a splurge.  We're very much a "staycation" kind of couple, so to travel to St. Lucia was huge for us.

GinaV0822

Our venue is the most expensive thing, but it includes a lot and we knew going in it wasn't going to be cheap so it's not really a splurge.  

But the one thing that I'm surprised to be spending a good amount of money on is the linens.  I never ever thought I wanted anything other than what the venue provides, but then I saw a wedding with the spandex chair covers and I had to have them!  So then that led to table overlays, napkins, a backdrop for behind the bridal party table, a nicer aisle runner, and uplighting.  It was a one stop shop and when we left the linen place we were like, holy crap, that was expensive, but worth it.  We're very excited!

fallbride1109

To me, a splurge is something you just want, not really need.  I splurged on rhinestone buckles to put on all my centerpieces and candy buffet jars.  I had buckles on my invitations and loved them so much I decided to carry the theme through.

Looking back, I wish I had gotten gold chargers for all the tables like I wanted.  We had them on just on the head table and they were gorgeous.

orangehills

I'm not really splurging on anything. More like just getting a few things I don't need, but want. Like dying my shoes orange, and getting some cute little decorative stuff to make the room more fun. Nothing too crazy, but I just want them, and I can then use them in my house (except the shoes) so that works!

Cackle6

We splurged on a FABULOUS cover band. I don't regret it one bit. They were AMAZING, and we are still getting comments on them 2 months later. And TBH, while it was a lot of money, we actually got an amazing deal because we negotiated with them to let them record the performance for their website, so it all worked out.

I'd say the other thing that I wasn't expecing to splurge on was my jewelry. I had picked out a set online that was a costume jewelry set, and was fine with it. But I went shopping with my mom and she was showing me her jewelry, and I passed by this necklace and stopped in my tracks. I NEVER do that over jewelry, it's just never been a big deal for me. I had to have it. It would have been a HUGE splurge, but when I was going to leave to get it the next day, my dad had already gone back and gotten it for me. So incredibly sweet of him, I cried big time.

helleb

I think these tablecloths will be MY one splurge lol and my FI wants to splurge on the food.  We are only having 80 guests though so even though its a lot per item it won't be too terrible after its all said and done.  I haven't found out exact pricing for the tablecloths but I am already in love with them soooo I think I have to have them lol everything else in the decor will be DIY or reasonably priced though.  Even though I want a splurge I still want to stay on budget

AurorasEnvy

I didn't spare any expense on the photography, DJ, food, and venue.  I'd say the biggest "splurge" was 6.5 hours of our top shelf open bar.  These are the things that made the party & wowed all the guests.  I have no regrets, I think the open bar was totally worth the money (and it did not come cheap!)  It's been over 2 months now and everytime I see a wedding guest they still rave about how great the food was & that the open bar was amazing.

  If you are going to splurge on anything, I'd spend the money on stuff like this - your guests aren't going to care if you went nuts decorating or are wearing a $400 pair of pumps, but they'll remember if a) the food was good, b) the drinks were good, and c) if the entertainment was good.

pretzelgrrl

It's not over the top but I would say our splurges (things you want but don't need) would be the ice cream buffet and our favors.  Our favors were 2 sugar cookies in the shape of Red Sox Jerseys with our last name and the players numbers were our wedding dates which just happen to be our two favorite players.
    Once I saw our venue had an ice cream buffet, I had to have it And the favors were more money than I had planned to spend but I couldn't think of any other favors I liked as much.

kgrawedding

1947 Rolls Royce

http://www.atlanticlimo-ga.com/rolls_royce.html

shayna25

our splurge went to photography. after the big day is over, pictures (and video if you hire a videographer) are all you have left to remember your day.  so we wanted to make sure we got a great photographer.  a lot of things went over budget simply because we didn't realize how much every little detail adds up on cost.  my dress, which I was hoping to get for $500 or under, has come up over $1300 with all the extras and alterations; so that was kind of a splurge too.