We had our wedding 4.5 years ago, and over those years I have been asked multiple times about where we decided to spend vs save, and what I would do again.
Not to brag, but our wedding was awesome. It was a reunion of sorts for the friends that harbored our relationship and had since moved all over the world.
Every couple has a mission statement of sorts for what their wedding is about. If you don’t, that’s my tip #1. Who is this wedding for? Is it for you? Your friends? Your family? Tradition? Fun? Sit down and talk about the goal for the day/weekend and let that be your north star.
Ours was to celebrate our friends and thank them for the times they genuinely built our relationship. These were the people that were there when he asked for my number, when we had our first kiss, when we traveled, and fought. The people that helped us moved in together, and then move to another country. They helped us pick out rings and dried tears and cheered us on.
Yours might be different. That’s awesome. But figure out what yours is. Together.
When talking weddings the most common conversation is MONEY! Oh how the money noise cranks up the volume when you and your S.O. are starting that merge.
And now for the goods…
| The Best Money Spent |
Wedding Planner.
Our Wedding Planner is no longer a wedding planner, she’s now an incredible photographer; a transition she was starting when our wedding took place, and I was actually her first boudoir shoot (That can be a whole post on it’s own.) Regardless, she was the angel of the wedding planning process. I could not have had the wedding we had, or the fun we had, without her.
When you are budgeting a wedding, a wedding planner seems like an extra expense. Don’t do it. DO NOT edit out the planner. You need them. To this day we talk about her with admiration and love, even though we ran her through the wringer during the planning process.
She took me to multiple florist, handled the negotiations and the payment schedule, and made our day absolutely seamless.
Day of I realized the one task she had assigned to me, booking the car for leaving the venue to the hotel, I forgot. Guys, I told her at the reception that I forgot about the car. She handled it. She handled the overwhelming heat, and the details, and nerves, and the timeline.
The Bishop that married us said he had never seen a bride walk through the door at the exact time they were supposed to – that was all Miranda.
If you can’t budget for a full on planner get one for the 2 weeks before to handle all of the final payments and basically choreograph the event. If that’s out of range get a day of person.
This is an event. Events have planners. You are a Bride (I imagine). Not a planner.
Hire a planner.
Open Bar.
The bride and groom will each have their thing that there is no room for negotiations on. Jeff’s was open bar. Full on whiskey to vodka to tequila to beer to wine to champagne.
This ate our budget, but he knew all of his friend’s signature drinks and he wanted to make sure they were available.
If you and your friends can do a wine and beer bar, go for it. That’s a great money saver.
As for us, the only thing unavailable was Fireball. I didn’t even want it on site because ain’t nobody got time for that.
What I will say is you need a flat rate and not pay per drink. I can not tell you how many times I was handed a glass of champagne and then took a picture or started dancing and put it down and never saw it again.
The bar was a hit and I’m pretty sure we drank well over the fee.
Photographer.
This is where I refused to budge. I saw Katie Lopez Photography and that was that.
Your wedding photos are no redo’s, no take backs.
I am chronically insecure and I didn’t want to be on my wedding day. I knew Katie was going to get great angles, and catch amazing moments.
When we got these photos back, I was beyond.
You can not go back in time and take different pictures, and you walk away with only memories and images.
DJ.
Our DJ, Mike Cruz, was incredible.
First of all he almost died of a heat stroke at our outdoor August Miami wedding. But he didn’t complain one time and everyone was on the dance floor the ENTIRE time.
I didn’t care about cake cutting, or anything of the sort. I wanted the party to start.
So we started the dance floor with my husband and our best man doing their signature floor routine to Shout. And it was just pure fun from there.
We saw him play at The Cove at Atlantis a few times too.
Your music choice is so personal, but fun was a main goal and Mike killed it.
There will be places in your budget you can move and others you won’t want to. In 5 years, flowers won’t matter.
Think of your tribe. Define your vibe.
And then have the best weekend ever.
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