Wedding Budgets: Where to Save

Now that I've talked about where to splurge in your wedding budget, it's only fair to discuss where we saved to make up for it. Here goes:

1. Favors. We scrapped 'em altogether, and as far as I know, no one noticed. Frankly, I've never received a wedding favor that made me go YES I MUST HAVE THIS. Instead, we spent a little more on food and cake, and that was the right choice for us. 

All photos by Melissa Manzione Photography.

Crab balls > favors, in my book. ALWAYS. 

2. Wedding bands. This is probably controversial and many people don't even include it in their wedding budget, but if you're looking to cut costs, it's a great place to trim the budget without anyone noticing. Here's my take: you only have xx months of an engagement to plan and pay for a wedding. But, you have your whole life to upgrade a wedding band, IF you so choose! We spent very, very little on our wedding bands and it has never bothered me. If anything, I feel better knowing that they can be easily replaced if lost. And honestly, we shopped around a TON for the perfect wedding band for me, and nothing looked as great next to my vintage engagement ring as a thin, inexpensive band does. 

Love this shot of our rings together.

3. Decor. Think back to the last wedding you attended and name five details that you can remember. It's hard, right? Now imagine you aren't planning your own wedding, knee-deep in Pinspiration and taking copious mental notes at every wedding you attend. That's how your average guest will feel - they might remember the general vibe of your wedding (formal, relaxed, etc.), but mostly, they'll remember whether they had fun and ate great food or not. By all means create your vision, but get creative and find ways to do it without breaking the bank. And who knows - you may even uncover a passion that you never knew you had!

We had this bushel in our shed - perfect for a nautical wedding. Banner personally made.

4. Flowers. Flowers were tied for dead last (along with favors) on my wedding priority list, but I wasn't willing to scrap them entirely. I considered a few different routes for affordable wholesale flowers, but I ultimately went local. One of the perks of rural life is living near an Amish flower farm! I wish I could link you to them, but of course, they don't even have a phone number, let alone a website. For anyone within driving distance of southern Maryland, I highly recommend checking out Weaver's Cut Flowers in Mechanicsville, MD. Our flowers turned out beautifully, and we paid a fraction of what it would've cost at a florist. Of course we had to arrange the centerpieces ourselves, but it's really not difficult!

Speaking of floral savings - my bouquet was artificial! I think it held its own next to the real deals.

There you have it! Again, these are just my suggestions for where to cut costs. Every wedding has different priorities. Happy planning!

Wedding Budgets: Where to Splurge

Everyone has a budget, and weddings are not immune to that. With skyrocketing costs in the wedding industry combined with a weak economy, today's brides (and grooms) want the best value for their money. To that end, I'm going to detail what's worth splurging on and what you can scale back on or eliminate altogether.

 

DISCLAIMER: These opinions are my own and are subjective to my own preferences and budget. Your priorities may be different, and that's okay! 

 

1. Photography. I cannot say this enough: do not skimp on photography. I could (and probably will) write an entire post on the importance of wedding photography, but like everyone says, your photos are your memories of one of the most important days of your life, preserved for the rest of time. This is no time to take a chance on someone who's never shot a wedding. If your pictures are terrible -or worse, LOST- there is no do-over. Do it right the first time and hire a proven professional. 

Speaking of photography: all photos by Melissa Manzione.

The color, the sharpness, the posing - ugh, I just love it. Melissa did a wonderful job!

2. The DJ. This guy (or girl) probably doesn't comprise much of your wedding budget, but the DJ alone can make or break a reception. Mispronounced names, mic feedback during toasts, inappropriate commentary, and poor song selections can instantly kill the otherwise good vibe of a wedding reception. Hire a great one who will keep the party going without putting the spotlight on himself.

A great DJ (and liquid courage) keeps the dance floor packed!

 

3. Alterations. I know what you're thinking - don't I mean the dress? Nope, and here's why: no one looks good in ill-fitting clothing. NO ONE. So if you blow your whole attire budget on the dress alone, you may be in for a shock when you try it on for the first time. Before committing to a dress, ask to speak to a seamstress about typical alterations associated with that style. As a good rule of thumb: lace, v-necks, and keyhole backs will need LOTS of tweaking (not that I know from experience...!). You'll feel like a million bucks if you're wearing something that fits properly. 

A lot of work went into that keyhole back. 

1. Anything that adds to the comfort of your guests. I know that's broad, but it's intentional. At the end of the day, your wedding ceremony is all about you and your fiance, but your reception is all about your guests. An open bar (in some form), great food, popular music, delicious cake, a photobooth, etc. all add to your guests enjoying themselves at your wedding. Of course, we're all limited by our budgets. So when making choices about where to spend the wedding budget, ask yourself: will my guests enjoy this? As long as you're doing the best that you can to take your guests' comfort into consideration, a great wedding can be thrown on any budget.

Next up, where to save money in the budget! 

Wose Wedding Recap: Speeches and Dinner

After our first dance, it was time for the father/daughter and mother/son dances. Dad and I danced to "Little Miss Magic". Adam and his mom danced to "My Wish". 

All photos by Melissa Manzione Photography.

If I'm being honest, dances and speeches are my least favorite part of pretty much every wedding reception. Being on display, emotions potentially running high, and 130 guests watching and waiting to eat and party makes a Type-A bride verrrry antsy. We almost nixed these, but in the end, I'm glad we didn't because I think our parents loved it. 

However, we did roll right into speeches after the parent dances to try and get to the party as soon as possible. First up was my MOH Hillary, which I was pretty excited about. She's from Chic-ahhhgo, and her accent comes out whenever she's speaking in front of a group. 

She's a champ.

She did a great job. I am so thankful to have a friend that would travel halfway across the country - twice in less than a month - to celebrate with us. Hopefully Adam and I make it out to Chicago for a visit soon!

Next up was the Best Man, Tommy.  He did great too! The dads gave impromptu speeches as well.

Finally, Adam's grandmother led us in Grace before dinner and it was time to eat!

I thought we would scarf our meals down and attempt to go greet each table, but we changed our minds. By this point we were mentally exhausted and just needed to enjoy a meal. We served a choice of chicken marsala or steak, and it was fantastic! I was too excited to eat more than a few bites though, and unashamedly ate my leftovers around 2AM. 

I'm so glad we took a bit of time to relax. The sweetheart table was perfect - a few guests still came up to chat (which was great!), but mostly we got a chance to talk and soak it in. 

Just as we were finishing our dinner, our photographer came up and snagged us for a sec. She said there was an absolutely gorgeous sunset, and could we sneak out and take a few pictures? Umm, YES! And I'm so glad we did. These photos had the stunning light I so badly wanted, and we just look so relaxed and happy. 

It's okay folks, they're married. 

 By the time we joined everyone back at the tent, the sun was almost completely gone and it was FINALLY time to party! CJ the DJ got the party started with one of my favorites - Shout! Before we knew it, the dance floor was packed!

Next up, the party continues and Adam almost leaves me to cut our wedding cake by myself!

Wose Wedding Recap: Intros and Awkward Dancing

For those of you who don't know my husband, I say this lovingly: I married a redneck. This made our wedding party introduction song choice a no-brainer. Obviously we'd be making our first public appearance as husband and wife to ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man", giving a not-so-subtle nod to Duck Dynasty. When the first few notes came on and our guests went nuts, I knew we'd made the right choice.

All photos by Melissa Manzione Photography.

The bridal party waiting to be introduced

Look at that smug fist pump of satisfaction. Sigh. 

From there, we went straight into our first dance. For this, we threw a bit of a curveball. We chose "That's All I Need to Know" by Kenny Chesney for our first dance. It's not particularly well-known, but it's special to us. Adam and I were in a pretty horrible car accident together a few years ago, and this song happened to be on when it happened. 

Adam's car post-accident. (Personal photo)

Ever since then, I've always hated that song and associated it with the accident. About a month before the wedding, Adam made one of very few wedding requests: that we use this song for our first dance and associate a happy memory with it. How could I say no to that logic? Sure enough, it was the perfect song for our almost-rainout wedding: 

"The weatherman says it's a wet weekend, well he just might be right. But rain or shine, you'll be mine tonight. And that's all I need to know." 

We swayed awkwardly, tried to ignore everyone staring at us, and gushed about how perfect everything was. It was awesome. Adam even surprised me with a lift at the end!

Next up, we dance with our parents, listen to speeches during dinner, and get the party started with a wedding reception classic. 

Wose Wedding Recap: Picture Time

After the ceremony, we got right into taking formal family photos. Our amazing photographers had the list I had given them, which helped us breeze through these pictures in a quick and orderly fashion. 

All photos by Melissa Manzione Photography.

Hint, hint: start with the biggest group first, then any photos involving children, and end with your most easygoing family members. They'll be waiting (read: possibility passing up on on cocktail hour) the longest. 

Love this candid of me and my mom.

After family portraits came the wedding party photos. We had so much fun taking these! I was pretty anti-cliche wedding party photos during planning, but our friends had other ideas in mind:

Groomsman-on-groom violence is a serious problem in this country.

The classic jumping shot. What's not to love?!

Calling it now: the "Bridesmaids" pose will be to 2010's weddings what puffy sleeves were to 1980's weddings. 

I *LOVE* these pictures. I love that we have fun friends who had fun on our wedding day. We took some relatively serious/normal ones too...

But overall, the wedding party photo shoot was relaxed and laid back. The caterer constantly bringing over drinks and hors d'oeuvres didn't hurt either!

We wrapped up wedding party pictures and Adam and I took a few more couples shots.

 

Before we knew it, an hour had passed. All during pictures, I kept peeking over at the boat bar where cocktail hour was being held. Great music was playing, the food and drinks looked fantastic, and our guests were laughing and mingling. I was so ready to join that party!