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Wedding Recap and Withdrawal
To those who are married...
What do you wish you had spent the money/more money on? What do you wish you had that you didn't or forgot? What do you think was a waste of money and ultimately could have been forgotten? I'm trying to make my wedding amazing, since this is the only wedding I ever want to have. I'm trying to figure out if certain things are worth it. Like bubbles or favors. Any help would be great. Thanks.
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Re: To those who are married...
The day after my first wedding, I found numerous programs that had been left in the pews or dropped in the parking lot when we went to clean up the church. Also, there were several favors left around the reception venue. This time, I'm not investing the time or money in either.
I am, however, bumping up the photography budget. I got married in a small town before and my options were limited. Hence, my photos were crap. Pictures are very important to me, so this time I got my dream photographer!
Wish I had spent more on the reception videographer. The one we hired was AWFUL!
Nothing, well except if the GM's hadn't forgot the TY sign that I made.
I only made programs for half the RSVP's so as not to have waste and didn't do favors, no one missed them.
Right after we got engaged I got so caught up in the excitement that I ordered a bunch of that personalized ribbon (for the favor boxes), a bunch of disposable cameras and a few other things that ended up being a complete waste. I'm very glad we did the favors (truffles) but I skipped pretty much all other "fluff" stuff (bubbles, sparklers, programs).
Very glad we upgraded the food options and had a full open bar (we were able to bring in the alcohol so we were lucky that way). Your guests will remember the food, bar & cake; few will remember flowers, bubbles or favors (unless they're yummy).
I would have spent more money on photography but that's about it.
[QUOTE] there were several favors left around the reception venue. Posted by pearls687[/QUOTE]
We had this as well fortunately there were people who just took more (photo coasters and bells) but we could have done without.
We also had a video kiosk in lieu of a photo booth that was a waste of money because not a lot of people used it.
Glad we had a videographer and everything else
-Spending "more" money was not an issue for us.
What do you wish you had that you didn't or forgot?
-The something blue, new, & used. i completely forgot this tradition and I think it would have been really cool for memento keepsakes.
What do you think was a waste of money and ultimately could have been forgotten?
-We got way too much beer. I know my guests. There were probably 15 glasses of beer taken from the keg. I freaked out about "running out" of beer and I should have just trusted my instincts.
We hired a photo booth company which gave each guest a picture copy as a favor. It was the best money spent on the entire wedding.
The best $25.00 I spent was on bridal (wedge) flip flops at David's Bridal. I had very comfortable shoes so I didn't really think I needed flip flops, but at the end of the night before we continued to a surprise after party, I was soooooo glad I had those flip flops!
This sounds kind of silly, but the girl that did my hair offered to do a second hair style for the reception since I was so worried my hair would fall after our hot outdoor ceremony. It did and I wish I would of kept her around to put my hair in an up do for a little extra money.
What do you wish you had that you didn't or forgot?
I wish we had a better videographer. I had a coworker do it, which was very nice and I'm glad I have the video, but it didn't turn out very nice with him talking in the background and getting into an argument with my photographer.
What do you think was a waste of money and ultimately could have been forgotten?
I guess the favors since we had so many left, but I still liked them.
September 2011 Siggy Challenge- Favorite Ceremony Photo
Should have spent more on a DJ. We just wanted somebody cheap, but he didn't play what we wanted.
Glad I didn't spend more on programs. The ones I made were fine, and we had too many.
We're still eating cake and drinking leftover beer.
]What do you wish you had spent the money/more money on? A better videographer. I should have gone with my gut. 6+ months later and we still don't have the DVD, plus he is not returning emails or phone calls. Along with some other shady stuff he has done, I am wishing I went with a more expensive videographer.
What do you wish you had that you didn't or forgot? Nothing, really. If I could have afforded to, I would have liked to have paid for the balcony at our venue (a country club), but it wasn't worth the $600.
What do you think was a waste of money and ultimately could have been forgotten? Photoshare cards, bubbles, personalized napkins. FWIW, I DID like them and found them all cute. But if I HAD to cut somewhere, I would have cut those.
I wish we would have hired a videographer. Still so upset I didn't. I also wish I had the musicians at our rehearsal, but it wasn't a huge deal. They had a prior commitment and wanted me to pay out the wazoo for them to be at the rehearsal.
What do you wish you had that you didn't or forgot?
I wish I got dressed at home and not the church, I also wish we were more on time. My mom was having a meltdown which caused us to be late..
What do you think was a waste of money and ultimately could have been forgotten?
Nothing. I didn't waste money on anything.
What do you wish you had that you didn't or forgot?-
Uplighting. Our venue really didn't need it due to their chandeliers, but looking back, I would have splurged just to go a bit over the top.
What do you think was a waste of money and ultimately could have been forgotten? -
Honestly, nothing. I was a stickler for details and had to have everything custom (cardbox, cocktail napkins, menus, programs, aislerunner, etc, etc). It all put a really nice touch to the wedding that people still talk about. HOWEVER...now I have a house full of custom items that I have no clue what to do with.
ETA...In regard to favors, there wasn't one left. I don't think they're a waste of money as long as they aren't 'cheesey' and something that guests will actually use.
We did a wedding for 250 guests for about 15K. We did good quality food, but not fancy and I am really glad we stuck to our guns in the face of everyone saying we should go all out, becuase it didn't matter that it wasn't salmon and steak. We had Italian and it was yummy. So don't spend tons of money there, just enough to make it nice.
We didn't do favors or anything for our exit, but we stayed and partied til the end. So do those if it is part of the day- like bubbles if you are doing a day wedding and are having a big EXIT moment, but doing it just to do it... you don't need to.
I wouldn't spend tons on your dress. I spent $1500 with everything, alterations and all accessories and I still think that was way too much. My hubbie spent $100 and looked great.
I thought it was worth it to do all the decorating of everything, but I am really into that. I helped a friend with her wedding and we just did candles on the tables and I never even noticed during the event. Way more important to have free beer and music.
Good luck!
I'm glad I went cheaper/DIY on the guestbook, programs, favors, "best wishes" mad libs, etc. They were nice little details, but not necessary to spend a ton of money on.
I skipped bubbles and I'm glad I did. Besides centerpieces I didn't do much on decorations either. My venue was nicely decorated already and I decided it wouldn't matter if I put fake leaves on all the "extra" tables (guestbook, etc). And yeah it really did not matter.
For favors, we did cups and koozies - things that people will use. We have a lot left but we are using them and everytime I use one I smile.
I would've added a little more time to my ceremony because we were having a blast. It still went an hour and a half over and I had to shut it down or the next day would've been rough. With that being said, if I was doing it over we wouldn't even think about a honeymoon until 2 days after the wedding and I would've gotten together with my friends again the day after. Probably with lots of Krystal burgers, fries and sodas. I would recommend making every effort you can to soak up every single second. It will go by so fast and you don't realize exactly what that means until it happens to you!
What I wish I didn't spend money on: I had crosswords made for each table and people could fill them out when they sat down. I found out the next day that more then half of them were not even done. That was kind of a waste. Also, we purchased these wedding wishes books and placed them on tables.
What I am glad I didn't spend my money on: I'm glad I didn't go crazy with things like buying a just married outfit to wear the morning of. I found they were so expensive and I really wanted one but now i'm glad I saved my money. I'm also glad I didn't spend $200 on a headpiece and got mine for $40 at a little jewelry store.
I'm glad we didn't bother with favors.
I'm also glad I didn't worry too much about the something old/new/borrowed/blue tradition. The day of, I was so stressed and busy that I didn't even think about it.
If you have any outdoor parts, make sure you plan ahead for how you're going to keep yourself dry in case it rains. It poured on my wedding day. Luckily it dried up just in time, but I was glad I had shelled out for a fancy, clear umbrella, since the only other umbrellas we own are rather gaudy-looking and would have looked silly in photos.
Don't bother with footwear that's going to kill your feet. You're going to be standing most of the day, so might as well be comfortable. I wore simple white flats. The only time anyone saw my feet was when my photographer took a photo of just H's and my feet.
I would say that we shelled out to have some pitchers of soda at the reception, in addition to the standard water/coffee/tea. Most people didn't know the soda was even there. They were $15/pitcher and we had 3 of them. I was worried people would be offended if there was only water to drink...you should just know that if you don't offer something, people won't really complain you don't have it.
We did not do programs, which was fine since the ceremony was 5 minutes long.
Glad I spent the money: Photographer, venue, classical guitarist (played during ceremony and part of reception), dress, shoes, cakes
you will always know what are the top priorities for you, and if you put most of your budget towards them, it will turn out awesome.