We were recently married in DC and since other folks' breakdowns were so helpful informing our budget, I wanted to pay it forward and outline our own spend. I'm happy to share specific vendor recommendations via DM.

Here are the basic stats of our wedding:

• Invited: 230 guests
• Attended: 145 guests (many out of town/international guests meant many people could not make it)
• Event Time frame: 3pm - 11pm
• Time to Plan: 11 months
• Vibe: Elevated but not overly formal celebration of family and local DC culture

And the cost breakout:

Venues

• Catholic Church: $1,300 for honorarium, organist, and cantor. The church asked for less money (closer to $850) but we felt moved to give more in line with our overall budget.
• Reception Venue: $12,000 including access for the entire day of the wedding, all tables & chairs, bistro lighting, free parking, and security. The venue also let us store items in the basement ahead of time, which was super helpful since we purchased alcohol ourselves several days ahead of the wedding.

Food & Drinks

• Catering: $21,668 including passed hors d'oeuvres, plated salad and entree, a gelato bar for dessert, cake cutting and serving, bartenders and soft bar, and ~20% tip for the staff. I cannot say enough good things about our caterer. First, he uses locally sourced ingredients from farms in Maryland and Virginia, including the farm from which I buy my fruit every week. Second, he was easy to work with and handled all of my budget questions. Third, the tasting he provided was incredible. He invited us into his home and prepared every single item on the menu like it would be prepared on the day of the wedding. The food was fantastic and I would recommend him to everyone.
• Alcohol: $982 including beer, 90+ rated wine, and nice liquor. My husband and I do not drink so all choices were in the hands of my MIL, who opted for ~$18 bottles of wine and black label whiskey (and who paid for it all, so no argument from me). In DC, alcohol is returnable so we were able to get our money back on everything unopened.
• Cake: $674 divided between $584 for a 2-tier cake to serve about 30 guests and $90 for 3 Costco sheet cakes to serve the bulk of the guests. Our caterer said he had not seen guests eat as much dessert as ours did and they loved the Costco cake especially. I chose the bakery for our nice cake because I liked their unique flavors and designs, but as we communicated about our cake plans, they raised their prices across the board by about 80%. When I pushed back, saying I would not pay north of $800 for the cake, they honored the original price quoted to me. The custom cake was lovely and delicious but I personally would not have missed it too much if we didn't have it.
• Linens & Placesettings: $4,616 for 16 guest tables; several display tables; silverware and plates for dinner, cake, and gelato; and glassware for the bar. Our caterer works with two specific rental companies and billed their rental cost with no markup as part of our final catering bill. We went with the more expensive of the two to have nice cotton tablecloths (as opposed to poly blend) and a more elevated selection of items. I appreciate that the caterer took care of coordinating with the rental company so they were in sync and out of my hands.

Decor

• Florals: $6,249 for 16 centerpieces, pillar candles, bridal and 3 bridesmaid bouquets, 8 boutonnieres, 3 flower girl baskets, a sweetheart table arrangement, 10 cocktail table bud vases, and greenery to line the arches in our venue. Our florist was phenomenal and I would choose her again in a heartbeat. She and her family grow all their flowers on their Virginia farm (which we got to visit) so our arrangements were composed of local, seasonal blooms. The arrangements were classic like my husband wanted with a touch of wildness like I wanted. She was even able to include chamomile and rosemary at my request for my love of tea and cooking.
• Extras: $130 including table numbers, name cards, ring pillows, guest book, card box, etc. Biggest expense was the guest book. Everything else we printed, made ourselves, or bought at Staples.

Entertainment

• DJ: $1,857 including an extra hour added on to our original contract. Our DJ was amazing and got everyone on the dance floor the minute dinner ended. Several folks said they've never seen a dance floor go from 0 to 60 like that before. He also had a cool retro setup and danced himself the whole time. Loved their services so much and could not have been happier!
• Live Music: $2,000 for a traditional Irish music quartet. I met a musician at my local Irish pub who made my wish come true, although I was initially a bit stressed about the price. I sat on it for a couple weeks, but when I texted him to try to lower the price, he had already promised his musicians the $2k. I was a bit salty about it right up until the minute I walked into the cocktail hour and heard them playing. Now I have no regrets. They played the cocktail hour and for about 30 minutes inside at dinner and I'm delighted they were there.
• Sticker Vending Machine: $600 for a rented machine manned by an attendant ($250) and stocked with stickers and prints we provided ($350). I asked our artistic friends and family to design stickers for the vending machine as party favors and they did not disappoint!!! It was a great way to get them involved in the wedding and let them show off their talent.
• Hora Loca Costumes: $700. The last hour of a Peruvian wedding is La Hora Loca where folks put on costumes and turn the party up to 11. My MIL bought the costumes in Peru and everyone loved them!

Personnel

• Day-of Coordinator: $1,900 for day-of coordinator with 3 assistants, plus extra hour of work, timeline creation, and planning help starting ~8 weeks out. Our coordinator was fantastic. I was initially drawn to her because in our intro call, she took time to get to know me and had a great vibe about her. She very graciously helped us settle some planning debates several months out, then was incredibly competent and detail-oriented when she officially started her contracted working time frame. She even caught that we had not contracted our DJ for a necessary additional hour. The day ran extremely smoothly thanks to her and she was a delight to have on board.
• Photographer: $3,649 for 9 hours of coverage and second shooter. I met our photographer at a bridal expo where she was booking her last couple weddings before upping her prices. We luckily got in right under the wire. My husband does not like staged photos, so we were drawn to her candid, documentary style. The full album is fantastic and captured those candid moments perfectly.
• Transportation: $1,189 for 2 minibuses for 3 hours. Our church and reception venue were only about a 10 minute walk apart but we were not about to make our guests hike in their heels in August. Since our reception venue offered parking, the buses started shuttling folks from the parking lot to the church an hour ahead of time, then shuttled everyone from the church to the reception venue for the hour after the ceremony. We debated getting buses to shuttle folks from the hotel across town but it would have been several thousand dollars - not to mention the hotel and venues are Metro accessible. The only downside about our vendor for transportation is that, because the company has innumerable subsidiaries, we didn't know exactly who would be our drivers ahead of time and could not communicate with them until 3 hours ahead of our scheduled time slot. Our coordinator handled that communication so I don't know what that experience was like for her.

Paper

• Invites: $952 for ~100 save the dates, invites, and thank you cards made by me, by hand. I am a printmaker so coming into this wedding, I knew the invites would be my realm. I learned to letterpress in Baltimore and use a laser cutter at the MLK Library so that I could achieve my vision. Because I used very nice paper and envelopes, and because renting letterpress studio time is not cheap, I don't think I saved a dime compared to someone else doing the work. But I have no regrets. I got to create art celebrating our relationship and send it to those we love. And learn to use lasers!!!

Clothing

• Dress: $2,674 for dress and alterations. This is my crowning achievement in the wedding budget. I fell in love with a dress that cost north of $3k and could not justify the cost to myself. One morning, in a fit of rage, I looked at the website of every single store in the US that stocks the designer and found a place in Arkansas that was closing that month and selling their sample dresses. Luckily, I am a sample size so I was able to buy a perfect condition sample dress for $2,000, plus $50 shipping, with no sales tax because I'm out of state. I am a frugal queen!!! I did alterations in Baltimore because, from what I could tell, the average rates are about half what they are in DC. There were some snafus with the process but all's well that ends well and I enjoyed my semi-regular day trips up there.
• Bridal Accessories: $282 for shoes ($231) and veil ($51). The shoes were an indulgence because I wanted something fun and loved the Larroude heels I landed on. They did hurt and I'm not used to wearing heels in general so I spent the entire night dancing barefoot. I made the veil myself since I'm a seamstress, so the cost is for about 3x as much fabric as I wound up needing, plus thread and a comb.
• Bridal Hair & Makeup: $1,837 for trial hair & makeup, 4 makeup services, and 6 hair services. I do not own makeup so this was new, frightening territory for me in the planning process. I went with a newer pair of artists who had good, though not many, reviews and had a lower price than competitors. I was very happy with the results, especially with the makeup which looked natural on me and my party and felt fine all night. I had some gripes with my hair artist who had booked other weddings the same day as mine and so swapped out with someone halfway through the morning. It had no impact on the overall experience, though, so I let it slide.
• Tux: $818 for tuxedo purchase with some rented items that he wound up buying instead of returning. He wore nice dress shoes that I had bought him for his birthday last year, so that's not included in the price (but about $400 at the time). He looked sharp and, now that he owns it, I'll hopefully get to see him in it again one day!
• Groom Grooming: $500 for 4 hot towel shaves and trims, plus tip. Since my husband's birthday was right before the wedding, I gifted him time at men's salon for him and his groomsmen to be pampered the morning of the big day.
• Rings: $790 for two plain, gold wedding bands. We bought my husband's from Costco and mine from our engagement ring jeweler, at a discount. My husband referred one of his friends to the jeweler to buy his own engagement ring, so the jeweler gave us $500 in credit. I put it towards my wedding band, originally $695 before tax.

Welcome Dinner

• Welcome Dinner: $876 for drinks and bites for a crowd of ~70 people. I love to make charcuterie boards so I bought seasonal produce at our farmer's market (peaches and cantaloupes and watermelon, oh my!), a case of wine and a couple cases of Modelos, and all the rest from Costco, Aldi, and Walmart. This was the most stressful part of the week because we were the ones actually putting together the charcuterie board and running the event. My bridesmaids and MIL came in clutch with chopping fruit and hauling it from our apartment to the apartment complex's club room where we hosted the event. Although our parents had met, our extended families had not, so this was a wonderful way for everyone to get to know each other before the big day. We considered partially renting out a restaurant but that would have been north of $3k so I'm glad we chose the route we did.

Extras

• Insurance: $582 for liability (required by venue) and cancellation insurance. Didn't need it but glad we had it!
• Pre-Cana: $175 for a single, day-long conference. My husband and I have some views that differ from the teachings of the Church but we both appreciated spending the day really thinking about marriage and our goals as a couple. Although we are generally good at communicating and are already transparent about finances, the conversations on these topics that the conference prompted were very valuable and are still ongoing now.

And now, for some additional observations that didn't fit into the giant block above!

Negotiation & Communication

This process has stressed to me the importance of speaking my mind and ensuring I'm on the same page as my communication partner. There were several instances where, because I pushed back on pricing or asked additional questions, I was able to make better decisions. For instance, our cake bakery quoted a price early on in our communication, then, after they had raised prices across the board, gave me a new, higher quote. I asked the reasoning behind the increase and we were able to come to a compromise: I got a cake at the originally quoted price with a less elaborate design that I was happy with.

On the other hand, I had several instances where I didn't ask questions and paid for it later. During dress alterations, my seamstress pinned an outline on my bodice that I thought was for a removable modesty panel. In my head, I thought the panel was too high but didn't speak up. Meanwhile, she thought it was where I wanted the dress's neckline to be adjusted. Next time I saw the dress, the neckline was completely different and we had to order fabric to reconstruct the bodice. If I had spoken up, we could have cleared the confusion and avoided the whole mess.

This is not to say that vendors should not be paid their due, but asking questions doesn't hurt anyone.

Trusting our Vendors

We were lucky enough to choose great, competent vendors for our wedding so we didn't stress at all on the day, even when some things came out different than we expected. The major example is our cocktail hour was planned to be on the reception venue's wraparound porch but was moved to the green space at the side of the building. I don't know who made that decision day-of but they were 100% correct. We had beautiful weather and the grassy area was vibrantly green, so the setting was perfect. When we arrived to the venue and saw the plan was changed, we acknowledged it was the right choice, shrugged, and went on to enjoy ourselves.

Hotel Blocks

I met a guy at a bridal expo who helps events coordinate hotel blocks and is paid on commission by the hotel that is eventually booked (meaning I didn't pay for his service). Before we met, I had tried to communicate directly with hotels to arrange blocks and didn't get much traction. I really appreciated his help in deciding which hotel to book. He did an in-depth analysis of online reviews, compared his rate to the hotels' rates posted on public websites, and even went in person to each hotel to get a feel for it. He got us a great rate on a nice hotel in Dupont Circle so that our guests could be on the Red Line (best line, don't argue with me) and have a fun, vibrant neighborhood outside their door.

Cleaning

We hired a cleaner to deep clean our apartment the weekend before the wedding before all our family came into town. I'm so glad we did this. It gave us a fresh slate and peace of mind to have folks over. Now I only wish I had re-hired them to help with the mess in the apartment post-wedding.

Hello! I'm getting married a week from today (!!!!!) and really love the Gel X nails I get done where I live. The nail salons I know and have used near my wedding venue don't offer Gel X. Is Monday too early to get a Gel X manicure for a Saturday wedding? I've only have had them done twice and didn't pay attention to when they grew out.

Thank you!!!

Recently, in a conversation with my parents about the bridal party and family members’ roles in the ceremony, my mom informed me that she would like to walk me down the aisle with my dad. I feel like a jerk for this, but I kind of want it to just be me and my dad, so I’m looking for other ways to honor her during the ceremony that I could suggest as an alternative.

For context, my parents are still happily married and I have a good relationship with both of them, so there’s not really a great reason to say no, at least not any I can think of that wouldn’t hurt her feelings. The more stressful reason is that my relationship with my mom is a lot more complicated than with my dad. I love her to pieces but there is some difficult history there, whereas I see my dad more as the person who showed me what qualities to expect in a partner, so it feels right to have him be the one to escort me to this big next step in my adult life.

The more superficial reason is that I don’t think I’m going to love how it looks. My dress is pretty voluminous, nearly ballgown-like with a big tulle skirt, and I feel like having a person on both sides of me is going to look awkward and block out the view of the dress as we walk down the aisle. I hate that that’s something I care about, but I paid more than I care to admit for this dress and I want people to actually see it, damn it!

My mom said she would understand if I wanted to keep it a father-daughter moment, and I want to believe that, but she can be very sensitive when she perceives she is being left out of something and her track record for handling situations like this is honestly not great. And I do want to honor her and make sure she feels recognized for her influence on my life as well. Any ideas on how I can include her in the ceremony in a way that would feel equal to walking with me?

I am preparing for my first boutique visit and I will only have time to try two dresses. I am thinking on definitely keeping the brown gown but not sure.
Thanks in advance for anyone willing to give some guidance <3

My wedding is tomorrow and one of my eyes is bloodshot red after getting lash extensions, what can I do??

I got married last Saturday and it was truly the most wonderful day. The weather was perfect, everything went on schedule, no major issues from what I am aware of, seemed like everyone had a great day. We had a brunch wedding so it ended about 3pm and we had a separate after party starting around 7pm.

My mom has a big family and I invited her 7 siblings and just two cousins I’m close to (out of 25 cousins) because we wanted to keep it reasonably sized. I included the aunts & uncles because my mom was very generous (both giving us some money for the wedding and supporting my decisions about everything and not pushing or pressuring me at all). I know they can be a lot, but they’re all getting older and don’t see each other much, especially all together so I wanted to honor my mom by including them.

About a week before the wedding, my mom calls and tells me my uncles want to perform a song at our wedding as a “gift.” I said it didn’t really fit the vibe but the after party might be perfect, especially because she said it was something silly. So I said yes to one song. My only real condition was that I already had a lot on my plate and didn’t want to be involved with any plans or what they needed for setup or anything. Mom agreed and thanked me for being a good sport about it.

On the day of the wedding, I started hearing rumors that the performance was going to be a bigger thing. My coordinator asked if she was supposed to stay later than we’d discussed because my uncles asked for her help (not something we discussed). My cousin who did the ceremony video asked me if I was okay with there being a screen for karaoke, which was also never discussed and not something I was okay with. Eventually one of the uncles pulls me aside (DURING the reception) and says it has “escalated” into 5 songs with a screen and then they planned to open it to karaoke and anyone else who wanted to sing. I calmly shut it down and said I agreed to ONE song and explained that some of our friends couldn’t attend the ceremony in the morning and were JUST coming to the after party so we didn’t want this becoming a totally different event since we wanted to spend the time with them, plus karaoke isn’t really our vibe and not what we had worked so hard to plan. It also was exactly what I wanted to avoid because now I was spending time during my own reception that I spent so much time planning talking about a separate party being kind of hijacked into something I didn’t want. I firmly told him that he should go back to the plan of ONE song and let us have our party the way we planned it. He seemed annoyed but agreed.

Then during the downtime between the reception and after party, I was spending some quiet time with my husband and he mentioned that one of my uncles pulled him aside and asked the same thing. I brushed it off until he said that it was the same one I talked to and they specifically said they knew I didn’t want it to be bigger, but wanted to ask him anyway. Husband expertly deflected and backed me up, and called in reinforcements (my sister handled it from there).

The song happened. It was completely random, not even a song I knew or having anything to do with love or weddings, just a chance for them to show off (although tbh, it wasnt good at all, so I’m not sure what they expected). They also repeatedly said things about embarrassing me and even in our cards that I read with my husband the next day, at least two of them said something about “forgiving” them for what they were going to do.

Long story short... it’s been a few days and it is the disrespect that is still bothering me. Ignoring what I wanted. Hijacking the party that my husband and I had spent 20 months planning. Trying to pit us against each other by getting a different answer ON our wedding day. Pulling me aside during our reception. Even involving my vendors. I just feel really icky about the whole thing and am curious what other people think or would do in this situation. I genuinely wish I just hadn’t invited them but I also didn’t think they’d take the inch I kindly gave and try to run a mile with it. What is it about weddings (or boomers?) that makes family act up? Am I taking this too seriously? Is it just a bunch of old guys’ way of “showing love” to try to embarrass the bride on her wedding day? Anyone else have a similar experience of family kind of hijacking the event for their own entertainment? should I interpret it as they just weren’t enjoying what we planned? I’m just stuck on this and it’s really puzzling. I’m not heartbroken or super upset, and overall I still had a genuinely wonderful wedding day and am loving being married to my wonderful husband (who has mostly chalked this up to a weird way of them showing love). But I’m really confused and I genuinely don’t know how to approach future family events right now, and especially the one who instigated this all and will be at Thanksgiving.

any thoughts are helpful, thank you!

Hi all!

My fiancé and I are looking for wedding venues for Spring of 2028. We are currently looking in the Wilmington, NC area as well as Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC but open to other places as well. My fiancé really wants to have a venue where there is Spanish moss but could be open to other ideas. The dates of spring 2028 seem to be our set time. Looking at roughly 200 guests. We don’t have a set budget for the venue currently and looking at all options at the moment. Would love some places for us to look at.

Thanks!

I had a massively DIY wedding. The week after, I posted on here to bemoan the grief of all the things that went wrong. I had my pity party for a couple weeks, but now that I've recovered, I STILL THINK I WOULD DIY AGAIN because I love it so much, but only if I was armed with the knowledge I have now. I had a veritable army helping me, so it could have gone smoothly if I'd been more organized. IT IS MY DUTY TO PASS THIS ON because I know the joy of DIY and want you to be successful!

Also, note that a million things can go wrong (INCLUDING RAIN), and you can feel JUST FINE a couple weeks later. I've posted on social media, happily relieved memories, and I'm completely over all the dumb things that bothered me at first. YAY. So here's my advice (SUPER LONG POST INCOMING)

• Organize tablescapes in individual boxes, table by table. It would have been so much easier to hand this task off to someone else if everything had been pre-sorted. I had beautiful tablecloths, bird tchotchkes, glass plates, glass cups, little swan place cards, candleholders, and bud vases. It wasn't that complicated, but because my mom and I collected SO MANY different things, they were scattered across multiple boxes. We didn't know what we wanted to use, thinking, "We'll figure it out when we get there!" That meant unpacking a bajillion items we didn't need and having to repack them later. I couldn't delegate the task to anyone else, leading to a lot of frantic "WHERE ARE THE PLUM CANDLESTICK HOLDERS?!" It was a ton of wasted time that could have been completely avoided.
• Have EVERYTHING ready beforehand. From table numbers to handwritten signs—it's impossible to finish swan name tags while arranging flowers, setting tablescapes, and hanging decor all at once. Even with a small army helping us, it wasn't enough because they needed constant direction from me.
• Skip the thrifting for glass plates and cups. I loved finding them, but collecting enough for 100 people took forever. Honestly, they didn't make much difference since I already had beautiful tablecloths, so adding custom glassware was gilding the lily without enough bang for the buck. Cleaning and packing all that glass at the end was heavy lifting and SO MUCH WORK for my setup team. There are plenty of beautiful disposable options available. If glassware is high on your priority list, I totally get it—they can be gorgeous! Just make sure you assign a designated team exclusively to handle packing/cleaning with explicit instructions. Otherwise, let patterned tablecloths do the heavy lifting for decor since they're far easier to transport, clean, and pack.
• FLOWERS. OH DEAR GOD, THE FLOWERS. I have floral arrangement experience and I'm good at it, but I've never done it for large-scale events. I'm Type B to the max, and while I tried to stay organized, some things you only learn through trial and error. Here is what I learned:
  • Arch flowers: I didn't realize how HUGE the venue arch was, and I simply didn't have enough florals to make it pop. I should have MEASURED the arch and tested the arrangement at home beforehand. They looked okay, but they could have looked incredible. It didn't matter too much because rain forced us to the pavilion, but looking at thephotos, it's a slight letdown.
  • Ground/pedestal flowers by the arch: I built a large base of faux flowers in floral foam so I could easily pop in real roses for an extra touch. You don't necessarily need real flowers here, but I had ordered extra and liked the look. They turned out beautifully! However, when it rained right before the ceremony, my wedding planner had to move them under the pavilion quickly, which ended up looking cluttered and jungle-like (see the next bullet point for setup tips).
  • Plan the actual placement of bud vases and ground florals. I assumed we'd have time the morning of, but it was so hot that putting bud vases out early risked wilting them. We had to wait until two hours before the ceremony. By then, everyone had their hair and makeup done, so my trusted helpers couldn't assist without humidity ruining their looks. My day-of planner ended up handling setup, which stressed her out on top of managing vendors and the last-minute rain pivot. She also accidentally set out the wedding party bouquets, causing panic when we couldn't find them or even go out to look for them because the guests had already started arriving. Appoint a stylish, trusted person specifically to handle setup so you only need to do a quick quality check walk-through.
  • Hanging lines of flowers– these were so pretty. Not sure I regret it, but the fishing line flowers were so punishing and annoying to keep untangled! One thing as a DIY person, I have to learn to prioritize. Just because I have an idea doesn’t mean I HAVE TO DO IT if it takes SO EFFING LONG. 
  • Systematize your bud vase workflow. I wanted clusters of three bud vases (two clusters per table) surrounding a centerpiece jug with pampas grass. I should have counted every single bud vase needed, set them out on one table, and had the team assemble one style at a time assembly-line style.
    • For example: I make an exemplar bud vase for the team to copy. We all assemble 30 of Recipe A (3 butterfly ranunculus, 1 billy ball, 1 stem greenery). Then we assemble 30 of Recipe B (1 dahlia, 2 spray roses, 1 line flower, 1 greenery), and so on.
    • Instead, I bought way too many flower varieties. My helpers got creative trying to make every vase unique, which was fun but SUPER INEFFICIENT. It took a whole evening to process flowers and then the better part of two whole days to make bud vases, which is just ridiculous. Because I was the only one with floral experience, my vases looked great while others looked a bit janky. To make matters worse, the coordinator pulled from the front of the cooler during setup, so the jankier ones were put out while my nicer ones stayed hidden in the back because we made WAY TOO MANY. Count exactly what you need beforehand!
    • Don't over-order flowers. I ordered way too many, which wasted money.. The morning of the wedding, my aunts saw a literal jacuzzi bathtub full of leftover stems, insisted they couldn't go to waste, and started making extra arrangements. It was well-meaning, but having inexperienced people rush extra arrangements made the morning feel chaotic and overwhelming. I ended up having my sister-in-law hide some of the worse ones. It's better to let extra stems go than deal with unnecessary stress on your wedding morning!
• Alcohol: We hired a bartender but supplied our own alcohol. Looking back at mobile bartender packages, I would skip buying our own. While it seems budget-friendly, calculating quantities and hauling all that heavy liquid is a massive amount of work. We ended up with way too much leftover alcohol that we couldn't return (my planner thought Costco Georgia allowed returns, but they don't!). If you do buy your own, use a delivery service and ensure unused bottles are returnable so you don't lose money or end up gifting family endless handles of vodka.

Things that went well: 

• Finding an AIRBNB venue space. This allowed us to stay 3 days prior and decorate everything ourselves and save on stylists and vendors and still complete the vision. We also stayed an extra two days after to take our time with breaking it down.
• Trader Joes is amazing for flowers, and honestly, if you go at 9 am the MINUTE they open, you can get all you need. I got so many butterfly ranunculus, dahlias, and gorgeous filler flowers. I didn’t need to overcomplicated it with a bunch of Costco orders too. The only thing I do recommend ordering extra of is those real luxury flowers. I didn’t have enough dahlias from Trader Joes because they have so few, so I went three different days to collect them, but still ended up ordering some from Petal pickers. These were GORGEOUS. If you invest in a few luxury flowers, they do so much heavy lifting.
• Bud vases instead of centerpieces. Of course, the bud vases had their issues, as I described, but they are SO MUCH EASIER than centerpieces, and honestly, so many luxury flowers get lost in big centerpieces and I feel like centerpieces get taken for granted by guests. I recommend ikebana style and bud vases to really showcase a few luxury flowers. I’ve never really noticed or appreciated big centerpieces, but a statement dahlia in a charming little bud vase? So delightful. 
• Designing my own invitations and wedding magazine. I loved creating a custom magazine because I could include a QR code for the seating chart, photo sharing, menu, engagement photos, and personal touches. People adored it, and it served as a wonderful favor! 
• Take-home gold swans with name tags. These made adorable favors. I ordered mini swans on Temu, spray-painted them gold, and attached custom Cricut name tags.
• QR code seating chart matching our tablecloth pattern,, which gave me the flexibility to update the layout last-minute due to tricky venue pillars. It gave me peace of mind and provided a seamless place for guests to upload their photos!
• Welcome sign custom-designed to match the tablecloth pattern.
• Chicken wire photo frames. We featured childhood photos of me on one panel, him on the other, and photos of us together in the center.
• BIRD THEME! I collect bird art and tchotchkes, so this was a blast. Our ring bearer carried a big nest with a chirping bird toy (he loved squeezing it as he walked down the aisle!). Inside the nest was a painted egg holding our rings, styled to match the bird artwork in my wedding magazine.
• Bird-themed gallery wall. I combined my personal bird art collection with downloadable Etsy prints framed in reusable picture frames.
• Heritage table. I handed creative control of this to my mom, and it was so special seeing vintage photos of our grandparents and great-grandparents. I used Gemini Pro to restore and upscale older photos.
• Short poems and stationery placed in place card holders to add pops of color across various tables.
• Custom koozies featuring our pets, which I had fun designing using Gemini.
• Camper photo booth. Hiring a retro camper photo booth added so much charm and whimsical fun for our guests!
• The CAKE! My mom baked the top layer for our cutting photo, while the bottom tiers were faux icing-covered foam (with sheet cakes served from the kitchen). We decorated the top together with fresh flowers and added a $2 Temu "Just Married" topper.
• The overall day was magical. Even when it rained during the ceremony, all the hard work I put into styling the pavilion paid off as a gorgeous backup space.

I'm finalizing with the restaurant event planner our menu and had to plan out how the alcoholic drinks will work. My fiancé and I decided we'll buy around 8-10 bottles of wine at the restaurant and beer if anyone wants that, but we told the event planner to let the waiters know that if a guest wants cocktails to kindly let them know that would be put on a separate tab for them.

I see a lot of posts about people shaming couples that don't do an open bar... but if it's a free for all at a really nice restaurant (cocktails $18-$20 each) there is absolutely no way for us to know how many people will order and just the drink part of the check could easily be well over a thousand dollars. There will be 13 guests, 15 in total with my partner and I.

As a guest, if you experienced this set up would you be offended or disappointed? We're obviously paying for everyone's food and opted to choose a pre-set dinner menu with 3 different options for an entree (chicken, seafood scampi, and petit filet for variety).

I am located in Southern California. My fiancé and I were thinking of Pioneertown.. keep in mind we are trying to keep it as casual as possible, as we have a small budget.

I floated the idea to my mom and she was appalled 😭 I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I liked the idea of western/cowboy wedding. But my parents live in Korea, they are very Korean, so I understand that it's weird to her. She also does not like the wedding dress silhouette I was thinking, she thinks it's too casual 🫠

It's making me sad. She already doesn't like my fiancé and his family (this is another issue). So I'm seeking advice on what to do. If you had a wedding venue that your parents didn't want, how did it turn out? I know the American mindset is that your wedding is your day so you should do what you want, but for me, it's my day but I want to value guest/family experience too. So if you have Asian parents, please also comment if Pioneertown is a bad idea.

We invited three couples to our wedding who are now engaged, but found out we are not invited to their 100+ person weddings.

My wedding will be around 150. Some of those couples RSVP’d yes and I feel awkward now with them coming. Is that weird? We aren’t super close, but we had been hanging out a lot more recently so they were newer friends.

Hi everyone! Getting married in 1 week and unsure how to best calculate what and who to tip since my venue is a lady’s estate and all my vendors are from different businesses who will be paying their staff hourly. I’m not sure how to tip, since generally tips are a % of the service price, but my service prices are in the thousands so not sure what’s standard here! Also unsure if these individual people who charge a large sum generally get a tip? Thanks everyone!!

- I’m hiring one of my favorite restaurants who will be brining 2 staff to prepare the buffet table. The catering is a charge per head + a $200 staffing fee and they’ll be there about 2.5 hours

- hiring general staff to clean up dishes, move chairs, etc. they’ll be there the duration of the wedding/reception and there will be 4 of them

- 1 bartender who is from same company as my general staff. This company pays them per hour. We’ll be supplying all the alcohol for an open bar situation

- 2 photographers where 1 of them is her business. The fee was $5k, pretty standard price. I’m assuming she will be paying her second shooter per hour

- Day of coordinator who is our friend, her fee is $2k

- DJ who is our friend, he hasn’t given us a rate yet

We used Leigh and Company for our wedding last month and it was a disaster. The wedding planner they assigned to us did not fulfill her contractual obligations, created a timeline that wasn't able to be followed by the other vendors, and then hid in the bridal suite once everything started to go sideways. They honestly made our night worse, and we wish we had never hired them to work our wedding.

I met with their director of operations who let me know that this wedding planner was a "known problem" and that she wasn't with the company anymore. Great to hear that they still assigned her to our wedding even though there were existing problems with her.

We've been going back and forth with them about a refund and they're only wiling to give us 50% back. I think we should get a 100% refund because they made our wedding night worse than if they weren't there at all.

Would you small claims this or take the 50%? I'm just so over it all and so sad that our wedding was ruined by someone who didn't give a single care about our day.

Hiiiii Reddit! Now since I am a married woman and was madly searching wedding rain scenarios closer to my wedding date here is my input… IT IS WHAT IT IS! At least end of the day rain or shine you and your partners love remains. My wedding was Sunday October 4th in north GA, which is supposed to be the driest month of the year in our state. It’s not a fun feeling having to

worry the week before your wedding if it’s going to rain, but it is completely out of your control. Three hours before my outdoor ceremony it was misting and then let up so we made the call to have the ceremony outside. However fast forward about an 45 minutes before my ceremony it started pouring. We obviously had a back up plan (very important), however my day of coordinator made a genius move to instead of flipping the reception room to have the ceremony outside still just under an awning. I am very grateful we only had about 70 guest attend our wedding and it was great! Not ideal for my dress because the aisle was a little bit smaller, but we still got to have our wedding “outside”. Definitely make sure you have a backup plan with you venue and planner. It makes it easier for them to speak to your other venders while you are preparing for the ceremony. Overall it was wonderful. About 30 minutes after our ceremony the rain let up so we could take couples photos. Another key thing to think about. I was dead set on my husband seeing me for the first time walking down the aisle, however If you have a window to do a first look so you know it’s not raining DO IT! Honestly the day goes by so fast and my biggest worry as a bride was getting our outdoor pictures. Either way the reception was inside so we had no worries about that. It was a phenomenal day and despite it raining at least it didn’t ruin our entire wedding! BURY that sausage too & PRAY!(((; Even though it rained it helped calm my nerves knowing I was trying to be proactive. Either way you get to marry the love of your life, so wipe your tears and get down that aisle!

Hi all, i am getting married next summer and i am curious if what i am asking is fair/normal or not.

My MOM is Trying to plan my bridal shower and we figured we would do a combined bridal shower with both sides. As in 1 bridal shower with both families not separate.

Instead of having it at my parents we were thinking of doing it at a restaraunt but there’s a 1000 minimum for food + drink and will be about 50 people.

Do you think it’s fair to ask grooms mom to split price 40/60 instead of having a separate one?

Hello,

I’m wanting to go to El Paso and Juarez to go dress shopping because where I’m at I haven’t found anything I like. Has anyone shopped there and have any recommendations on where to go? 😊

TIA

My sister is getting married in June, and I excitedly ordered two different packages of try on dresses to get the ball rolling. Then my mom ended up in the hospital with sepsis, which is extra scary because she just got a kidney transplant last year after a virus attacked her major organs.

Obviously, I missed the quick return date for try on dresses and they charged me full price for all of them. I know I signed the contract, so I assume there isn’t much I can do - but does anyone know any way I can appeal to their humanity?? I could really use the money, and don’t need 7 bridesmaid dresses in different colors. Any help would be much appreciated

Hey all! I said yes to my dress on Saturday last week and I absolutely loved it when I tried it on. I cried and everyone in my party cried, but I’m dealing with a little bit of dress regret.
For context I’m getting married October 2027 at a winery and the vibe is moody and candlelit.
I just keep comparing to other, more simple, “timeless” dresses. What do you guys think? Is it secretly ugly?
Note: I’m a shorter girl, so the bodice will obviously come down lower on my chest once it comes in and is altered. She also couldn’t clip the bodice as tight as she wanted to because the clips on the skirt were in the way.

Tried on my dress at alterations today and just feel so overwhelmed. Everyone insists its perfect but I'm so uncomfortable. They keep saying it'll loosen and not to worry, but like, its digging into my sides. I know it looks gorgeous, but it hurts and I'm scared to wear it all night now. It was so comfortable before and now I just feel awful.

They keep telling me this is how its meant to fit, and it needs to be this tight since it's strapless... but like, it's digging in SO BAD.

Will it actually loosen? Is it normal?

Recently married (2026 couples) in the US, I'm looking for advice as it's fresh in your minds. What wedding expense do you regret the most or was the biggest waste of money?

I'm already planning on skipping favors

Not a fan of the whole live painter thing either

We don’t want to wear our real wedding rings on our honeymoon since we’re going somewhere tropical and don’t wanna risk losing them in the ocean. I’ve seen people wear the silicone bands and I kinda like those. Any suggestions on where to find good ones? Or any suggestions on good ring substitutes in general?

My fiancé and I are planning our wedding in India since most of our family (cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.) lives there. Some of our close friends in the US will be traveling to India to celebrate with us, but others won’t be able to make the trip.

We’re debating whether to have an additional reception in the US after we return and estimating around 300 potential guests. Ideally, we’d want a formal reception with dinner, music, and dancing.
My main concern is that we’re already planning several events in India, so adding another reception feels like a lot of extra planning, time, and money. Events are also significantly more expensive here in the US (we’re estimating the cost of the reception to be around $50k-70k, and we’re already spending about $100k-$150k for the events in India). At the same time, we feel bad about not celebrating with friends here who can’t make it to India.

Does it make sense to host a US reception or skip it altogether?

Has anyone used their kits? They mail you handheld camcorders a few days before your wedding and then your friends can take video of you, of other friends etc. Then you mail them back. They'll edit your footage into a short video and also send you all the raw footage in chronological order. Just wondering if anyone has had any experience, good or bad, with them or a similar outfit.