What was your best splurge? Best money saver?

justengaged777

Working on my budget right now - trying to decide where to splurge and where to save? I love the gorgeous floral decorations ($$$$) and the photographers I've seen can be expensive as well. What was your biggest or best splurge? For those of you who have already had your big day, did you regret the splurge after it was all over?

On the other hand, where did you cut back? Did you have some DIY elements in your wedding? What was your best money saver?

dori851

We splurged on our food, photographer, & videographer. For me, these were the most important parts of our big day, so that's what we decided to spend the most money on.

We decided to skip on favors as a money saver. We also DIY-ed all of our invitations, STDs, table numbers, escort cards, & ceremony programs which saved us a good chunk of change. I got a great deal on my dress when DB was having one of their annual sales, so that was another money saver.

HTH!

clearheavens

The majority will say that photography, videography, and caterer are two places where you should splurge. I agree with that.  But it's kind of obvious. With photos and video, it's all you have left after the day is done. And good food makes happy guests who are also more likely to drink and dance.

But you probably want to hear something unique.

I splurged on a day of coordinator.  She was the best thing ever.  This is coming from me with a large family of women and many friends who were running around trying to support me.  But there was nothing like a good DOC.  She covered things I would never in my dreams have thought may come up. She is the reason my mom was able to enjoy and eat her meal! We used Sue from Best Friend Errands. We had her for $30/hr, which is extremely affordable.

http://www.bestfrienderrand.com/

In terms of where we saved and it was worth it, it was flowers. We had as many arrangements as we wanted but used cheaper blooms. There's so many alternatives you could use. For example, English rose for peonies. For my desire for height, I used gladioluses, which are inexpensive. A good florist would be able to rattle these alternatives on the top of their head. Watch the quote slash in half! I think most guests just see cohesive colors, they wouldn't care about what you use.  We used Susan Foy the Wedding Designer.

http://www.theweddingdesigner1.com/

We got a limo to take us from the church to the reception. This was a request from my parents who felt it was important that we have due to family tradition. It was an area we didn't care for much. But it made one of our GMs drive our car so we wouldn't get stranded at the reception. If using a limo, I suggest either all day or none because the transportation logistics get so complicated, especially with a wedding party.

For the DIY question in the post, I faked some DIY using Etsy, but resold them here for what I think was very worth it for my savings in time (and frustration!).  Time is money for many brides who are so busy.

gabriel0915

I would say our phtographer. She's amazing and we are loving her and everything about her. Our other one was our invitations. We went with Bridal Divas Ink to make our invites and I'm SOOOO happy with them. We wanted something unique and fun and that's exactly what we got. We are recommending them to everyone.

We are saving money by making our STDs, table numbers, tents for name place cards, and flowers. Flowers were the big thing. We didn't mind using fake flowers. I ordered my bouquet off Etsy, it was a little pricey but I plan on keeping it, and I bought flowers when they were 50% off at hobby lobby, got the pins, ribbons, and floral tape with coupons.

lynchaa

I think that dinner, drinks & music are actually the most important. Just because thats what the guests remember most. We splurged on dinner & drinks and got a good DJ! I think it's whatever is important to you!

justengaged777

These are all great viewpoints! I'll have to watch for the annual dress sales!

I am a fan of Bridal Diva's Ink as well!

Clearheavens - Thanks for the unique answer - I've never heard of Best Friend Errands, that is very affordable!! And I agree with your comment about the arrangements - people care about the overall look not the specific flowers in them.

utegoggles

I wish I would have splurged more on the photographer!

kafie

Splurge: Photographer and food.

Biggest savings/DIY: 

• Bringing/brewing our own alcohol (so much cheaper!), 
• Buying my dress at a sample sale (half price!), 
• DIYing our own centerpieces (with old books), 
• Borrowing (instead of renting) a nice car to get from the ceremony to the reception
• Having the reception at St. E's in Norwood (let's us DIY our own bar, and is beautiful and cheap)
• Having a friend who DJs professionally DJ for us
• Making a Save the Date video instead of mailing Save the Date cards/magnets (the video was free to make and send)
• Having friends RSVP using our wedding website
• Designing our own invitations