This is what I get for not asking

tammym1001 · October 2013

So I finally found a rental place in my area that rents the linens I've been looking for forever and they had them there for me to look at. So I went and met with the girl and I was so excited with what I saw that I never asked any prices. She said she would type everything up and e-mail it to me. When I got the e-mail I almost had a heart attack! I couldn't believe the price they were charging for tablecloths. Of course, I still got them because it's what I wanted and I couldn't find them anywhere else.

Have you girls had anything that gave you complete sticker shock?

alm&mdm · October 2013

The cigar roller my fiancé has no clue about ended up being about 4 times what I thought it would be because there aren't any local vendors. I was shocked but I know he's going to love it.

thisismynickname2 · October 2013

Head pieces. I'm not wearing a veil so I wanted something jeweled and fabulous. I had to order from a company in England because I couldn't find something here for less than $300-$500. It's the "bridal" name curse I tells ya. Come on, it's just rhinestones and faux pearls for goodness sake.

offthemarket915 · October 2013

Lodging. We're hosting a small out of state wedding, with all guests staying at the venue. This is mandatory in order to meet the requirements of renting the property for the weekend. But it's kind of pricey, and we thought it'd be obnoxious to arrange it this way, and then be like, oh and btw, that'll be a few hundred dollars per night. For some of our guests, it wouldn't be a problem but for others, including FI's family, they could never afford it. So our solution is to have the guests pay a small amount for each night, and we are subsidizing the balance. But once we really sat down and ran the numbers, it startled us a little, especially FI. But it will totally be worth it to us, once we're at our amazing venue and celebrating all weekend with our friends and family. So excited!

Oh, one more thing- the custom cake topper for the Groom's cake is surprisingly expensive. I'm still going to do it b/c I love the idea, but will begrudgingly make that payment.

KatWAG · October 2013

Alterations. My jaw hit the floor when I was told it would be about $500 for basic alterations.

CrazyCatLady3 · October 2013

I agree re: headpieces. I'm looking a crystal hair combs and all the nice ones are over $400. I *could* spend that much but I just feel like a sucker doing so, so I'm trying to find something on etsy that is cheaper but still looks like good quality. Also, veils. $300 for a *plain* tulle veil with no embellishments whatsoever. I found a designer veil on ebay from a bridal outlet for $60 so I am going with that. I originally got a super cheap one from an ebay china shop for like $18 (I just want a plain 1 layer veil) but IMHO you could tell a quality difference with that one, so I'm just going to wear it out for my bachelorette party. I was willing to pay a decent amount for my jewelry because I can re-wear that for formal occasions, but I'm never going to wear a veil or embellished hair comb again.

I also had sticker shock on the rental fee for my venue, but the catering prices were reasonable for the quality, location and reputation, so I figured it evened out and just sucked it up.

CrazyCatLady3 · October 2013

thisismynickname said:

Head pieces. I'm not wearing a veil so I wanted something jeweled and fabulous. I had to order from a company in England because I couldn't find something here for less than $300-$500. It's the "bridal" name curse I tells ya. Come on, it's just rhinestones and faux pearls for goodness sake.

Which company did you order from? I've seen some really nice stuff from Halo & Co. which is in the UK but it is $$$$.

pbi9994 · October 2013

Not really the same thing because I set a budget, but the dress! When it came time to swipe my credit card, and know that I wouldn't even see the dress until January, let's just say I'm still reeling from the shock of spending the top end of my budget.

My one saving grace has been that so far all of my vendors are letting me use Paypal or a credit card. Huge, because they are in Italy, and I would have to pay obscene bank transfer fees otherwise. Also, I can't tell you what getting the miles has meant to me. I feel like even when things are so ridiculously overpriced, I get a sense of relief knowing that we will one day be able to upgrade to first class to Paris.

Maggie0829 · October 2013

thisismynickname said:

Head pieces. I'm not wearing a veil so I wanted something jeweled and fabulous. I had to order from a company in England because I couldn't find something here for less than $300-$500. It's the "bridal" name curse I tells ya. Come on, it's just rhinestones and faux pearls for goodness sake.

I agree with this 100%. The wrap around headband I wore was $400. I would say it was the one think I really splurged on because everything else seemed to match the price that I was spending. But when the sales girl put it on me when I was trying on dresses that damn little rhinestone headband made my dress come alive and brought tears to my eyes so there was no way another headpiece was just going to cut it. I still have it and am just waiting for a day that I can wear it again.

thisismynickname2 · October 2013

CrazyCatLady3 said:

thisismynickname said:

Head pieces. I'm not wearing a veil so I wanted something jeweled and fabulous. I had to order from a company in England because I couldn't find something here for less than $300-$500. It's the "bridal" name curse I tells ya. Come on, it's just rhinestones and faux pearls for goodness sake.

Which company did you order from? I've seen some really nice stuff from Halo & Co. which is in the UK but it is $$$$.

I think it's vintage bridal accessories dot co dot UK. Something like that? I'm typing from my phone. I just ordered so have not yet received it and can't yet comment on quality. Plus shipping came to about $150. Same thing on Etsy would have been $400!

thisismynickname2 · October 2013

icecreamcono said:
Not really the same thing because I set a budget, but the dress! When it came time to swipe my credit card, and know that I wouldn't even see the dress until January, let's just say I'm still reeling from the shock of spending the top end of my budget.

My one saving grace has been that so far all of my vendors are letting me use Paypal or a credit card. Huge, because they are in Italy, and I would have to pay obscene bank transfer fees otherwise. Also, I can't tell you what getting the miles has meant to me. I feel like even when things are so ridiculously overpriced, I get a sense of relief knowing that we will one day be able to upgrade to first class to Paris.

We are using points for first class upgrades too! Not sure to where yet

pbi9994 · October 2013

thisismynickname said:

Not really the same thing because I set a budget, but the dress! When it came time to swipe my credit card, and know that I wouldn't even see the dress until January, let's just say I'm still reeling from the shock of spending the top end of my budget.

My one saving grace has been that so far all of my vendors are letting me use Paypal or a credit card. Huge, because they are in Italy, and I would have to pay obscene bank transfer fees otherwise. Also, I can't tell you what getting the miles has meant to me. I feel like even when things are so ridiculously overpriced, I get a sense of relief knowing that we will one day be able to upgrade to first class to Paris.
We are using points for first class upgrades too! Not sure to where yet

Oh, it will take at least two years to do it, but boy am I determined! Long story short - he proposed in Paris, and then I got sick. So sick that we had to cut our trip short and come home a week early. I am determined to make our first or second anniversary a make-up trip for the one my body ruined.

16maybeless · November 2013

Oh, boy. Almost everything has given us a wee sticker shock! Haha.

We wanted to rent an antique car from the 1920s as our getaway car. It's $1600 plus fuel costs. Nopenopenope.

Also, the sash that I tried on at the bridal shop where I got my dress? $700. Another nopenopenope. While I only spent half my dress budget in the end, I can't justify a $700 belt.

delujm0 · November 2013

16maybeless said:

Oh, boy. Almost everything has given us a wee sticker shock! Haha.

We wanted to rent an antique car from the 1920s as our getaway car. It's $1600 plus fuel costs. Nopenopenope.

Also, the sash that I tried on at the bridal shop where I got my dress? $700. Another nopenopenope. While I only spent half my dress budget in the end, I can't justify a $700 belt.

I hear you...i totally justified (and bought) and $800 crystal belt because my dress budget was $3,500 but the dress i liked wound up only costing $1,300 (i wound up with a discounted floor sample - long story). My mom was paying for it, and she said i "needed" the belt. i was like "isn't $800 a lot for a belt i will only wear once?" and the sales lady was like "you an also wear it as a headband!" Yeah lady, i'm going to have lots of occassions in my life where it would be appropriate to wear an $800 crystal headband out in public. Good point. Sigh. :-)

CrazyCatLady3 · November 2013

If it makes you feel any better, after the wedding it will probably be easier to re-sell the belt and recoup some of what you paid than the dress if you decide to go that route. Designer wedding accessories seem to turn over pretty fast on the resale sites.

16maybeless · November 2013

So I just got an email from the designer, who is sending the dress out today ... and they're including a sash for free! My dress was custom-dyed, and the sash that usually comes with my dress was not an option. But they made a different one just to match the blush and ivory of my gown.

So I guess I take back the part about the sash ... but the antique car price remains patently ridiculous. And also the cheese plate charge per person ($22 ... get real ...)

casey8784 · November 2013

For my FI: EVERYTHING is making him reel from sticker shock. Especially the cake. He doesn't like cake, so he didn't care about going to the cake tasting (my mom and I went) so we were talking about it beforehand, and he said I had free reign as long as I didn't spend more than $50. Sure honey, right on it - we'll get a 4-5 tier cake for 200 people plus a grooms cake for 50 in one of the biggest cities in the Northeast for...$50.

For me, the transportation for the guests, I think? Even if we're paying for diesel costs and stuff, the cheapest shuttle buses I found start at about $1200. All of our guests will be coming from out of town - even my FI and I will be driving an 1 1/2 hours to the city, and while everyone will have cars, we don't want them drinking at the reception and then the after party without offering them a safe way home.

tammym1001 · November 2013

casey8784 said:

For my FI: EVERYTHING is making him reel from sticker shock. Especially the cake. He doesn't like cake, so he didn't care about going to the cake tasting (my mom and I went) so we were talking about it beforehand, and he said I had free reign as long as I didn't spend more than $50. Sure honey, right on it - we'll get a 4-5 tier cake for 200 people plus a grooms cake for 50 in one of the biggest cities in the Northeast for...$50.

For me, the transportation for the guests, I think? Even if we're paying for diesel costs and stuff, the cheapest shuttle buses I found start at about $1200. All of our guests will be coming from out of town - even my FI and I will be driving an 1 1/2 hours to the city, and while everyone will have cars, we don't want them drinking at the reception and then the after party without offering them a safe way home.

Haha! Same for my FI. We keep separate accounts so he doesn't even know the price of a lot of stuff, but anytime he hears any of them he has sticker shock. LOL

mommapizano · November 2013

Antique Car was a sticker shock for us. It was about $750 for the 1 hour we needed it! We decided against it.

justcallmesamson · November 2013

I'm having my ceremony and reception in the same room with a cocktail hour in between. I wanted white garden chairs for the ceremony and dark brown chivari chairs for the reception. They already have the chairs at the venue, and they are going to be resetting the room anyway, so NBD right? Wrong. $500 fee to change out chairs that they are literally bringing up from the basement on a freight elevator. I'm going to talk to them again about waiving it. All the other fees have been waived because we met a catering minimum. I'm not sure what the hangup is with these chairs.

delujm0 · November 2013

CrazyCatLady3 said:

If it makes you feel any better, after the wedding it will probably be easier to re-sell the belt and recoup some of what you paid than the dress if you decide to go that route. Designer wedding accessories seem to turn over pretty fast on the resale sites.

I know, but i'm going to be attached to it, i already am. I brought it home so that i could use it to match to other accessories, and i completely put it on over my sweatpants while i vacuumed the house a few weekends ago while FI was out of town :-)

I'll keep it and see if my sister wants to use it as her Something Borrowed when she gets married in the future. Or maybe i'll have a daughter that needs Something Old and Borrowed someday.

kgd7357 · November 2013

I had the sash on my dress changed out. I loved the dress and the built-in sash that came with it, but it came only in black or white. I wanted pink. So $250 later I have a pink built-in sash.

The other one was a shuttle from the hotel to the reception. It's just 2 miles, and we need the shuttle for less than two total hours. $1200! What? Unfortunately this is out of budget. We are just pre calling a cab company to make sure plenty are available at the hotel and venue at the end of the night.

annathy03 · November 2013

Our photographer was sticker shock for me. We'd been meeting with a few very well rated but mid-range photographers, and then we met with a boutique one who has been doing weddings for two decades and does full retouching instead of standard and loved her and the albums. So now we're paying double my original mental budget for photography, but my understanding is if there is one thing to splurge on for yourselves that's it.

When we first started looking at venues I had continuous sticker shock. We eventually picked a country club whose food and beverage will run us around 150/head with taxes and tips. Way more than I would have thought initially, but heck, some places wanted 400/head and I just shook my head and went nopenopenopenope, NEXT!

mmm4763 · November 2013

delujm0 said:

I know, but i'm going to be attached to it, i already am. I brought it home so that i could use it to match to other accessories, and i completely put it on over my sweatpants while i vacuumed the house a few weekends ago while FI was out of town :-)

Can I just tell you how much I love this? This reminds me of an episode of Friends or Sex and the City and truly made me smile!!

AshleyNicole1218 · November 2013

@kgd7357 - i know it sounds a little different, but did you try charter companies? I wanted a shuttle for the same reason, and was totally blown away by prices ($900!!! For a 7 minute drive, literally. Whaaat!!??). I called a charter bus co. and they quoted me 2 trips each way, 44 person school bus for $400 (northern NJ wedding). I'm not thrilled it's not a nice looking shuttle, but at the end of the day, it's still serving its purpose of getting ppl from point A to B confortably and safely!

randerson123 · November 2013

Chairs! I asked about upgrading our chairs from standard to chivari - $900. I wanted those chairs but then I thought about how many more drinks we could buy for guests with that cash. Rentals eat up so much money.

kmdassow said:
I'm having my ceremony and reception in the same room with a cocktail hour in between. I wanted white garden chairs for the ceremony and dark brown chivari chairs for the reception. They already have the chairs at the venue, and they are going to be resetting the room anyway, so NBD right? Wrong. $500 fee to change out chairs that they are literally bringing up from the basement on a freight elevator. I'm going to talk to them again about waiving it. All the other fees have been waived because we met a catering minimum. I'm not sure what the hangup is with these chairs.

msuprincess04 · November 2013

annathy03 said:

Our photographer was sticker shock for me. We'd been meeting with a few very well rated but mid-range photographers, and then we met with a boutique one who has been doing weddings for two decades and does full retouching instead of standard and loved her and the albums. So now we're paying double my original mental budget for photography, but my understanding is if there is one thing to splurge on for yourselves that's it.

My FI had the same reaction to the photographer I picked. "But, why can't we just ask Bob to take some photos?" Umm. No, Bob is a GM and an economist. Just because he has a fancy camera doesn't mean he could/should/would photograph our wedding! So, I sent him some more "budget" options and he wasn't impressed. Especially considering there are only 2 photographers on the island and the rest would have to come in from the mainland and in addition to having to pay their travel costs, they had never shot a wedding on the island. In the end, we went with my top pick.

I think sashes have been the biggest surprize for me. I want one for my dress, but I can't bring myself to pay $150 for it. So, I'm looking at just getting a yard of the embellished trim and making a sash and matching headband. We'll see. The rest has gone pretty much as planned.

(why is there no spellcheck button!?)

Giaspo · November 2013

I have to agree on the photographer and headpieces. My veil and headpiece were almost $600 which is ridiculous because they were so simple (no embellishments). And then I put my heel through it before even walking down the aisle. If I could do it again I'd go with a lesser expensive veil.

I'd probably also shop around for a less expensive photographer. I am embarrassed when I think about how much it was. Painful.

thisismynickname2 · November 2013

Giaspo said:

I have to agree on the photographer and headpieces. My veil and headpiece were almost $600 which is ridiculous because they were so simple (no embellishments). And then I put my heel through it before even walking down the aisle. If I could do it again I'd go with a lesser expensive veil.

Ugh, I cringed reading how you put your heel through your veil. I'm sorry to hear that. To commiserate, my mom made my sister's veil and the family cat got her claws in it before the big day. The veil ended up being a few inches shorter than intended....!

Giaspo · November 2013

@thisismynickname - Yes... I heard the fabric tear but turned around and couldn't see anything so I figured I was OK. I didn't find it until the night was over. Your poor sister! Maybe her cat didn't like her fiance - lol.

CaliMel11 · November 2013

I would say the photographer [$3900, which is actually on the "normal" end of prices in this area], and then my dress accessories.

Laughably we actually thought we could find a good photographer around here for 1000. After researching it we realized just how completely unrealistic that was and just went with the one that we loved.

My dress was "only" $800. But then I ended up getting a gorgeous headpiece for $200, a blusher veil, a cathedral veil and another one. They layered all 3 on my head and I just really loved how it looked. Plus undergarments, necklace and bracelet.
I ended up spending $1600 for everything. Which really isn't bad, I know, but it felt extravagant and crazy to me.

This is what I get for not asking

Re: This is what I get for not asking

Choose Another Board

Search Boards