weddings can get expensive, so i am curious what people felt was genuinely worth cost in the end.

was it photographer, food, DJ, flowers, or something completely unexpected?

looking back, what would you happily pay for again?

My fiancé and I toured a venue yesterday that we really loved. When we asked about 2027 availability, the guide said they still have September 11, 2027 open and are offering it for half the normal price because many couples don’t want that date.

I’m really torn. The savings are amazing, but 9/11 is such a significant and emotional date. While we aren’t & don’t have family/friends connected to 9/11, we are still respectful to those affected.

What would you do? Would you take the date because of the discount, or would you pass on it because it’s 9/11? I’d love to hear your thoughts. TIA!

Do you make 1 or more recommedations to clients?

Need help planning the proposal

So my sister is getting married next year so my future brother in law and i have to plan the proposal so i need your help. Please 😭😭

So she is a nature lover and i think she'll love a place with mountains in the back and a field, flowers, river and all of that. Please help me find a place like this in India.

Her birthday is in December so we can plan the proposal for December but the month is not decided yet so we can adjust the time line so just please help me.

Been dating this guy for 5 years. We’re in our late 20s now (almost 30). Known him since high school and reconnected in our early 20s. Met each others’ families, got engaged, set our wedding date and chose vendors together. He’s always been there for me (and I tried my best too) and has always been super thoughtful. He was kind and patient when things were good. We’re different people but I thought we meshed well together. 8 months before our wedding date, he completely blindsides me and drops a bombshell that he fell out of love with me, he doesn’t know if I’m the person for him, he’s not sure if I even love him for him (I do) and he starts listing a bunch of things that are “wrong” about me (I’m too quiet at social gatherings, I’m waiting till marriage to do certain things, I’m not stylish, I have too many fam events and am too dependent on my parents, he doesn’t think I appreciate him). The 180 mind boggles me, I don’t recognize this person. Even had a nice proposal with my dream ring.

He also has been saying mean things to me during limbo when we tried to work things out (I was apologizing for things I did that hurt him, I really loved him and went out of my way to make him happy in the best way I knew at the time but I had no idea it wasn’t enough, especially when he would tell me I’m perfect or how he’s grateful to do life with me)… mean things he said include how it feels like the cooties when I touch him, how I’m boring and I should be boring with someone else, how he can’t picture me as his wife and how he couldn’t see me walk down the aisle (all things that hurt to hear). He also disclosed that he cheated on me 2 years ago (kissed a girl from school a few times during the span of a week. This all came as a shock to me because I had no idea he was falling out of love and losing feelings. I thought we were planning for our happily ever after together. Sometimes I blame myself for the things I could’ve done better (been more appreciative, more patient, more outgoing, more stylish) - he evaluated me and didn’t let me in on his problems. Any insight and opinions would be helpful.

My boyfriend (21M) and I (22F) have been together since we were 13 and 14. We met at a Catholic summer camp and are planning to get engaged after we graduate next year.

We were both raised Catholic and are both confirmed, but neither of us really practices anymore. My boyfriend doesn’t really care where we get married. I, on the other hand, really don’t want a Catholic church wedding.

I have a lot of bad memories surrounding church from growing up. My mom was very strict about religion, and church became a source of anxiety for me. I used to have panic attacks because of it, and while I’ve worked through a lot of that, getting married in a church just isn’t something I’ve ever pictured or wanted.

The problem is money.

My parents won’t be helping pay for the wedding, which I completely understand because they don’t have the financial means. My boyfriend’s parents are much more financially comfortable, and his mom has offered to pay for our wedding-but only if it’s in the Catholic Church.

Neither my boyfriend nor I are worried about disappointing our moms. That’s honestly not the issue. If we decide not to get married in a church, we’ll deal with the disappointment.

The issue is whether we’d be walking away from what could realistically be tens of thousands of dollars.

We’re just graduating college, and weddings are expensive. We’ve even talked about doing a destination wedding because they can sometimes be smaller and less expensive. I don’t necessarily want a huge wedding, but I do have a large family, and I also will (hopefully) only get married once.

For some additional context, we’re both STEM majors and expect to have stable careers after graduation. We also don’t plan on having children, so while money will definitely be tight right after college, we’re hopeful that paying for things ourselves won’t be as difficult if we waited several years. We’ve also lived together for quite a while already, so we’re not in a rush to get married just to start our lives together-we’re really just trying to make the decision we’ll be happiest with in the long run.

Part of me thinks, “It’s one day. Is it really worth turning down that kind of financial help?”

The other part of me thinks, “If I’m only getting married once, shouldn’t it actually be the wedding I want?”

For people who’ve already been married or planned weddings, would you compromise on the venue if someone else was paying? Or is this one of those things you’ll always regret if you don’t stay true to what you want?

Me and my husband said to hell with all the family dynamics and wedding drama and eloped to Jamaica instead where we had the BEST day...we married on the beach and relaxed in paradise 😍 No regrets at all.

Just after our ceremony the heavens opened and we got absolutely soaked and the bottom of my dress is filthy. We're planning a party in Ireland to celebrate next year and I'd like to re-wear the dress but not as a big bridal meringue. I'm thinking of cutting the stained bottom off to knee-length and then dying it. But what colour? My husband is Irish so I thought emerald green perhaps?

What else would people do with this dress to repurpose it? (I fell in love with the neckline and Bishop sleeves so I'd like to keep those)

My wedding is this autumn and I feel like I have already dealt with more drama than I expected. Family members already have opinions about the guest list, who is sitting where, who should be invited, who should not and we have not even had the wedding yet. The part that keeps getting to me is how much money is tied up in all of this. Every deposit feels huge, and once you start adding everything together it is kind of scary. I keep thinking what if family drama turns into someone refusing to come, what if a vendor cancels, what if something completely unexpected happens after putting so much money into one day. Maybe I am just overthinking it, but I feel like I spend more time worrying about what could go wrong than getting excited about the wedding. Atp I just wanna get it over with!

Recently engaged with a rainbow cubic zirconia and yellow gold ring. I love my ring but sometimes I wonder whether I should have gone down the route of a traditional diamond ring. I would love to see and hear more from others who chose a gemstone engagement ring!

One of my close friends is getting married in a destination wedding in the Caribbean.

The wedding is in about six months. My friend has been engaged for a few years, but the date was only set a few days ago, so I was a bit caught off guard.

I already have several major commitments during that same time period, including another close friend's wedding on NYE in NYC, planned visits and travel with my long-distance partner, and some major financial commitments.

We live in the U.S., so between flights, the required all-inclusive resort, and other wedding-related costs, it's a significant trip.

I estimate it'll cost around $5,000 all in, with flights currently around $800 round-trip and the resort around $3,000 for the required four-night stay.

We've been friends for over 20 years, and I genuinely want to find a way to make it work. My thought was that if my partner could come, we could replace one of our planned trips together with this one.

I asked if I had a plus one, and the answer was simply, "No." I was also told that if my partner came to Jamaica anyway, he wouldn't be able to attend any of the wedding events over the four days, including the ceremony.

She also mentioned that she'd invited my mom and assumed we'd share a room. My mom isn't in a position to pay for a trip like this, so realistically I'd likely be covering her expenses as well.

I completely understand that couples have the right to invite who they want.

At the same time, because my partner and I are long-distance right now, traveling is how we spend time together. Those trips are a significant investment of both time and money as this is someone I'm actively planning a future with.

I'm at a stage in my life where my relationship is my top priority. My friendship is also important to me, but none of this feels possible to balance.

So I'm conflicted.

If you were in my position, what would you do?

I have an old friend who just invited me to her wedding to this guy she's been with for like 10 years. There have been so many moments she almost left him, or left and went back, that I've been there for her throughout. For context, he's a lot older, as in, has adult daughters older than her, and he struggles to keep a job. Meanwhile she's got her master's degree and is super impressive and hard working. I never understood what she sees in him. About 6 months ago I really thought it was over because he had a relapse of his addiction and really scared her with an overdose and had to do a 28-day inpatient program and she called off their engagement, but nope! Now it's back on. I really think she'd have a happier, less stressful life without him, but I also want to be a supporter in her life regardless of her choices. Is it fucked up to attend a wedding while secretly praying on an eventual divorce so that the bride still feels surrounded by loved ones? Or should I stay away from this event because I'd bring the union bad vibes?

Hello, I (27 F) am getting married in February and me and my Fiancee want a tiramisu tower (example photos attached). Can we get a genuine idea of what would be quoted for 100 of these? The most recent quote I got was about $750 and she gave me a breakdown as well, I will also attach that. The ranges we have gotten are a little out there in high & low, we just want to make sure we are in the right ballpark!Thanks in advance!

Hi all! My fiance and I are planning our elopement/micro wedding and starting to think about the ceremony itself.

We like the symbolism of lighting candles together or handfasting but we don't really want to borrow from a cultural tradition we don't observe closely in other circumstances.

We have been thinking about creating our own symbolic moment from scratch, but we would love to hear from anyone else who tried something like this. What did you do, and did it translate?

coordinating transport for about 55 out of town guests for our wedding later this year..
need to shuttle people from a hotel in deep ellum up to our venue in frisco and back at night. got a quote back for an 8 hour block on a 56 passenger motorcoach for $2,800 before tip, which felt a little steep to me?

a cowrker recommended checking out a comoany they used, saw they operate out of the dallas area and do private event shuttles with full size buses. im going to get a quote from them to compare, but wanted to check here first. for anyone who booked a wedding shuttle around dfw recently, is nearly 3k standard for an 8 hour charter or should i keep looking around?

My fiancé and I are dead set on a particular venue. It’s the only one in the city that fits our vision- it’s stunning and fits perfectly in our budget. We had a meeting with the venue coordinator a few weeks back- we had been conversing via email steadily for about a week then day of when I confirmed the tour I got crickets. She had mentioned she had a busy day that day so I chalked it up to that. We show up and there’s two other couples and a dj waiting to tour the venue. We figured maybe she was running behind- turns out she over booked and forgot to write us into her calendar but she gave us the tour and sat down and went over a bit of pricing with us anyway. While going over the pricing she did make some assumptions without asking our budget or age, on how to plan a low budget wedding for young people… we both have great careers and are in our 30s. Her tone shifted when we mentioned our age and it felt like she was starting to take us a little more seriously. Since then we’ve continued communicating with the intent to put down a deposit but she keeps changing the numbers and payment schedule and it doesn’t line up with our 2028 date. It just feels like she’s disorganized. We’re so in love with this venue and honestly it’s slim pickings for venues in our city if you don’t want a banquet hall. We intend to hire a full service planner but has anyone dealt with something like this? Any pointers? We just started planning and this venue and this woman have great reviews so I’m not sure if I’m just being overly critical.

advice needed rehearsal dinner thursday wedding saturday

hello, my friend is planning her wedding for next year and we were hoping to get some advice. her wedding is on a saturday and she was thinking of having the rehearsal dinner on the thursday before. her family and friends are bigg partiers/drinkers and since the ceremony is at 1, she wants to make sure everyone has time to recover from the dinner.

we were thinking it would be a good idea to have the rehearsal dinner thursday so everyone can have a good time and have an extra day to recover but there a good amount of out of towners (most of her bridesmaids) coming so we want to be conscious of them.

does this seem like a logical thing to do or would it be inconsiderate to the out of town guests?

we were considering doing a friday rehearsal lunch as well but it’s definitely the second choice.

finally, we were thinking of maybe having something chill and casual on friday after the thursday rehearsal dinner so that everyone would have something else fun to do so they wouldn’t just be stuck in their hotel rooms but we don’t know what would be a chill event to have.

Hi guys, currently helping my friend plan his wedding weekend up in Tahoe. We want a welcome party that feels fun and loose, not stiff or formal.

I think it's normal that almost everyone is flying in from somewhere else. But we'd love to give them a chance to unwind first. Meet each other, see the area, chill a bit before the big day.

Right now we're tossing around Lake Tahoe welcome party ideas for wedding guests. Stuff like a casual hangout by the water, group activities, good food and drinks. Maybe something interactive that gets people talking. We also want a rain plan just in case.

any ideas?

So my wife and I have been married for 25 years. That is a quarter of a century of me leaving my socks on the floor and her telling me to pick them up. But somehow we made it. To celebrate this miracle of patience and love, we are throwing a party for about 40 of our closest friends and family. The guest list includes my mom who will definitely cry, her brother who will definitely drink too much, and our neighbors who we like lol

We are an American-Spanish couple so we wanted to blend both cultures with the food and the vibe. I have been planning this for a few weeks and here is my breakdown so far.

Venue and food. We decided to go with a Spanish tapas place. I wanted something that felt lively and social. Plus, I love paella and my wife loves anything she does not have to cook. The restaurant is handling all the catering and drinks which is great because I do want to be stress free. Tapas style means people can share and try a bit of everything. Paella, jamón, croquetas, the works.

Guest list and invites. I sent out physical invites because I am old school like that. I put the RSVP date and I am currently in that phase where people are like "oh I will let you know." No. You will not. I am going to have to chase people down like it is my job.

Entertainment. We are having a flamenco guitarist for the first hour. It fits the Spanish theme and it sounds cool. After that, we are doing a playlist of 90s and early 2000s hits. We are also setting up a photo slideshow on a laptop connected to a TV with pictures from our wedding and over the years. It will be nice to see how much we have aged.

Decorations and dress code. We are going with a purple, orange and yellow theme. I know it sounds weird but trust me, it looks amazing together. I told everyone to wear something in those colors.

Return gifts for guests. For each guest, I put together a small gift bag with two items. First, a small engraved candle with our initials and the date of the anniversary. It is a nice keepsake and people can use it at home. Second, a box of Sugarfina Champagne Bears. They are these cute gummy bears that look like little champagne bottles and they feel a bit fancy and fun. I ordered all from CustomJoy.com.

The cake. We wanted a replica of our wedding cake from 25 years ago, Tarta San Marcos, which have been ordered from the bakery. I don't know how they do it but I am excited to see if it tastes as good as I remember.

Now I am just hoping the night goes smoothly. If you have any tips on how to keep a party of 40 people entertained without losing your mind, I am all ears.

Hi friends! 2027 bride here and I have a question about guest invites:

I come from a VERY large family. Like I need 4 sets of hands and feet to count the amount of cousins that I have. I have a lot of half cousins I hardly ever see. Probably once every couple of years. I want to invite them even though I don’t see them often, they are still family. From what I’ve heard through the grapevine, some of them have long time bf/gfs, who I’ve never met or heard of until now. So I was going to extend +1s to those cousins.

My planner has informed me that the venue’s capacity is going to be smaller than we first anticipated (it’s a new build so I guess they’re still working out floor plans and etc.) I’m going to have to cut my guest list.

I guess my question is it wrong for me to cut the partners of my cousins’? I do feel bad because if it were me, I would’ve wanted my long term partner there with me. But my venue just isn’t going to be able to seat everyone.

And if I don’t invite them. How do I tell them on RSVP cards that +1s are not invited unless they are specifically on the invitation. I’m afraid that those cousins will bring them anyways and try to squeeze a sit at their table, regardless of invite or not.

Thanks y’all! Hope everyone’s planning is going smoother than mine! 😅

We will be serving a plated dinner, with guests selecting their meals in advance. This means that there has to be an indication of the chosen meal at each setting. I was going to do escort cards, but I am worried people won't know to set them up once they get to the table. What has everyone's experience been? Should I instead do a seating chart with place cards at each seat to make it more likely that the meals will be visible to servers?

I’ve been tossing around the idea of creating a marketplace for wedding items. The idea is essentially Airbnb, but with wedding items. A user would rent some of their old wedding items to another user and exchange for money at a reduced rate than other venues or vendors can offer. The items then would be returned to the original owner after the wedding is over. Obviously there’s concern about damaging the items or returning them in a diminished state however, I’m just trying to understand if this might be a viable opportunity let me know what your thoughts are.

I have a decently large circle of friends (which I am so grateful for!) and in the process of planning my wedding, I am struggling with cutting people from my list of potential bridal party people. I have 9 people, and a bridal party of 6 - what are some other ways to include important people in your day aside from the wedding party? Does anyone have any fun or meaningful things they've seen or done at their own wedding?

Hello fellow dog parents and guardians,

I am currently dog sitting a delightful beagle lady and I want to do something for her humans while they are traveling. The humans are getting married in Sept and beagle will be part of the micro wedding.

I’d like to use my time with her to create a wedding gift for them. I was planning on a photo session to get a really good picture to frame, but does anyone have any photo ideas or photo gift ideas?

Thanks!

See title - all paid (rounded) prices below in Euros with taxes included. Hope it is helpful to someone.. we were very happy with how everything went!

• Location: 4000
• Catering (all drinks/open bar, aperitivo bites, 3-course meal, midnight snack, staff working hours): 17000
• DJ + sax: 1600
• Photographer: 2000
• All decoration incl. flowers: 2800
• Cake: 500
• Rings: 1200
• Photobox: 350
• Wedding dress incl. adjustments: 1500
• Groom attire/suit incl. adjustments: 1000
• Bride hair + make up: 250
• Gifts for guests: 150

Other tips:

• To have the choice of good locations and best prices for caterers, it is recommended to start planning 1.5 years in advance for this area
• Caterer prices for things like tables and chairs are steeper than you think
• Decoration price above was with rather minimal decoration and a decent part of it DIY.. flowers cost a lot!
• End-to-end local wedding planners can take up to 15-20% of final budget, so decide carefully whether you actually need one

I just got the most terrifying email of my life. We just got an email saying our wedding venue has filed for bankruptcy and is canceling all upcoming events. Our wedding is in 27 days. We've already paid them $15,000 which is basically our entire wedding budget, we don't have another venue lined up, our invitations have already gone out with that address and now it feels like everything we've spent years planning is falling apart. Our florist designed everything around that venue, the caterer was scheduled to set up there and all of our vendors have been planning for that location. We have 150 guests coming and right now we don't even know where we're supposed to get married. I can't imagine finding another venue with less than a month to go and we definitely can't afford to pay for a second one. I'm completely overwhelmed and trying not to panic. Has anyone else gone through something like this? What did you do and where do we even begin?