Dividing Budget

elizabeth121985

I'm working on my budget and am deciding how much money to allocate to various aspects of the wedding (flowers, dress, music, etc).

My issue is that I keep notice of too many aspects of weddings.  People always say "oh no one ever notices the linens at a wedding" for instance, but I DO notice all of the little things.  I'm trying to decide what is most important and will thus get more money put towards it.

What are some things you wish you had spent LESS money on (too much money on flowers when no one noticed), and also some things you wish you had spent MORE money on (more money towards food)?

opalsky007

There is a budget tool here that gives you a good rough breakdown of how things should work out.

I wish I had spent more on photography. The guy not only took bad photos, but really stressed me out on the big day.

[Deleted User]

I wish we had spent more on photography and less on flowers. I am just glad I didn't give in an do 2 centerpieces per table like the florist suggested and compensated by using other cheaper items.

jemmini6

My wedding is still about 6 months away, but our priority was photography and the absolute bottom of the barrel priority is flowers.  Pictures last forever...flowers die in one day....kind of a no brainer to me. (not saying I want ugly flowers, but I'm pretty much going with whatever is in season and cheapest, I don't need orchids or any other crazy expensive flower).

You really need to think about your own priorities and work from there.  There are some people who are total foodies and want their food to be top notch, where as others are mucisians and want the best band that money can buy, etc.  It really depends on the type of event you want to have as to where you want to spend your money.  The one thing I will say is don't skimp on things for your guests in order to have some inconsequential item that only you care about (ie, don't buy a $5,000 dress, $3,000 flowers, $1,800 invitations...and then have a cash bar)

mica178

We spent more on food and photography/videography than TK budget tool recommended.  I am happy about that decision.  I like sending guests away happy, and I love looking through our wedding pictures.

redheadfsu

You do have to decide what is more important to you and allocate accordingly.

Is having great photos important? the best food? The tons of guest? etc. You do have to decide on a few things that you care about, otherwise you will blow your budget if EVERYTHING is important.

Edit: Our big things:  Location & Photos (but we are eloping so, take it with a grain of salt)

AbbeyS2011

Photography is my first priority also, then food for my guests.  Flowers next.  I am not too worried about decorations at the reception or the church, and so I am keeping those minimal. 

The Knot's budget tool helped me alot.  I put in my numbers, then fine-tuned it to suit my personal tastes, such as allotting more for photograpy, less for venue rental, etc. 

I had a set price point in mind when I went shoppin for my dress, and stuck to it.  I decided I would either find something in my range, or have someone make it if necessary.  Ebay is great for veils and other wedding accessories, as is Etsy.

There are alot of things the wedding industry will tell you are "must haves":  aisle runner, unity candle/sand ceremony stuff, limo service, etc.  It really is all "fluff" and only you can decide if you really need it. 

jmkaiser

Since I'm almost done with my DIY invites I would say that I regret spending extra money to have unique ones. As much as I want to tell my FI he was wrong, I really don't ever notice the invites and I've spent more time and money on them than I should have.

For me I definately wrote down my priority list and FI did as well. Mine were dress, photos, and food. His were food:)

elizabeth121985

I've used the budgeting tool on the knot and that has helped a lot with setting a budget.  But of course there are things I want to focus on more.

I was just interested to get everyone's thoughts on what they noticed/ didn't notice and what they might regret or want to re-do.

Thanks ladies

lyndausvi

Food, bar, entertainment and photography were our priorities. The rest was gravy to us.

morrisonFTW

Food is my #1 priority.  This is my second wedding and trust me - when the food is bad, you remember it just as well as if the food were good. 

Photography is coming in a close second - as others have mentioned, photos are forever.

The only other suggestion I have is to keep your guests in mind - yes, it's your day, but if a guest feels welcomed and has good emenities, they will enjoy the day as much as you do - and their faces will reflect that in the photos you have.

Karen's MOH

Photography and food/drinks/location were my tops. Close to half of what we spend was on the venue/food/bar.

Things I could have cut back on-- I didn't need a floral arrangement in the church at all. It was only $100, so it didn't make a hugh difference overall, but it was barely noticable. I had it in my head that we HAD to have something or it would be terrible. Other than that, I had kept the flower budget pretty small anyway-- I wanted nice and pretty but didn't care much beyond that. I loved DIYing my invitations and love how they came out, but I knew all along that a lot ofpeople would barely notice, so if paper isn't a big deal for you, you can definitely get inexpensive, simple, classy invitations.

I slightly wish I had gotten a videographer, but I didn't and I don't cry about it.

tpender13

The only thing I wish I hadn't spent money on was disposable cameras at the tables. Yeah, I got a great deal (10 cameras at $2 apiece) but it cost $6 or $8/camera just to have the pics developed onto a CD. $100 got us maybe three good pictures.

tenofcups4me

I don't remember the details now, but I found the Knot budgeting tool useless. I know I spent a lot more on certain elements (flowers, for example) than it recommended and nothing at all on other elements like favors or an officiant (friends did it for us). I couldn't even use it as a starting point.

I know my approach was backwards by most standards but I approached budgeting differently -- I figured out how much it would cost to do what I reasonably wanted, plugged those numbers in, and came to a total I was comfortable with.

At any rate, the only thing I wished I'd spent less money on after the fact was photography for my first wedding. I think it came to close to $8,000 by the time we were done with pics and albums and while I was happy with the end result, I wasn't thrilled and didn't feel that he had done anything particularly special to warrant such an outrageous cost.

emmmbeee

To me, the venue is the most important.  A great, unique venue is going to need little decoration.  Ours is so elaborate that we're cutting out flowers altogether (except for the boquets) and going for something a little more understated for the centerpieces.  We're saving a lot by not needing flowers, lighting, hanging decorations, etc, etc. 

The bottom of my list was food and favors for the guests.  From my personal experience I've never been to a wedding where I walked away where the food was memorable (even when it was $40 a plate) and I've never gotten a favor/gift that has been useful to me.  Luckily our venue is DIY so we're able to bring in our own catering and one of the great Italian restaurants in our town offers a reasonably priced buffet menu.

Loopyseven

I think 75% - 80% of our budget was on the venue/food/bar costs.  I do not regret making that our priority.  

*disclaimer - I won a free wedding photography package in a contest that included digital rights to the photographs and liked her style in the e-pics session so we spent virtually no money on photographers' fees save a generous tip the day of the wedding since we had no intention of buying prints from her at outgrageous photographer prices.  We printed pictures and made a book on Shutterfly after the wedding.

leia1979

We're spending a lot more on food/location and photography than the TK budget tool and a lot less on everything else (except stationery is just about right).

It's a matter of priority. Having a good location, good food, and a decent photographer is more important to us than fancy chairs or table linens. Chairs and linens are nice, but we're not going to make room in the budget for them.  Flowers (other than the DIY bouquets and centerpieces) and linens are a bonus. We've budgeted small amounts for them, and if we have extra to spend, awesome. If we don't, they can be cut or downsized.