If you had a set wedding budget would you...

[Mummy May]

spend the minimum amount on all the 'other' things, if it meant you could have the venue of your dreams?

I'm not even getting married, I was just wondering how others felt about this. I know where I want to get married and it would take probably most of our budget to get married there... just wondering if anyone has done this? Is it worth it?

xx

 

[dani_tinks]

Yeah. I guess we did. We were trying to keep things as low as possible but our venue was very expensive.
I can't say we really shopped around for prices with florist, photographer etc. We just got lucky that they were within our budget anyway.
But yes, if the venue was very expensive and we did have a very strict budget then I would have made sure everything else was cheaper so we could afford the venue of our dreams.

 

[lau86]

I don't think we did, the venue cost about 1/3 of the total budget. We wanted to do everything 'nicely' not spending most of it on a venue then having cheap flowers, cake, dress etc. luckily we didn't really have anywhere that either of us had set our hearts on so it was ok. I think our venue was great value for money tbh its a beautiful but informal country house.

 

[lozzy21]

No i wouldnt, i considered it but i would rather pick some where else than sacrifice every thing else i want.

 

[Sarahwoo]

Yes, I would, if there was no venue at a reasonable price that was equally gorgeous.

I worked for a 5* hotel as the wedding coordinator, quite a lot if our couples blew the budget on us and then made cutbacks - but when your venue is beautiful you don't need much else. Our rooms were so beautiful that you didn't need to go crazy on centrepieces etched, just simple candelabras (which we could include for free) looked lovely.

 

[2have4kids]

I paid $100 for my dress & $20 for the veil slightly changing a designer gown to my details and sending photos & measurements to a manufacturer in china (likely the same one that makes the real designer gowns). We watched flight prices carefully, got great deals and then flew off to the Scottish Highlands with 20 friends & family (to meet 20 more over there) for the party. We scrimped and saved on most other things ( no hair stuff/make up etc ) but had the best food, free flowing wine & castle venue.

We'll never forget it! In the end my dress sold on kijiji for $200. No tags in it, just the style was simple & elegant.

 

[lindseymw]

Yes I would. We didn't have a budget as such, we spent £3,500 altogether on our wedding. £2000 on the venue. We did everything else cheaply. Theres ways of doing things cheaply without compromising style. I found with shops as soon as you add 'wedding' the price doubles.

I got my dress off Ebay for £100. It was brand new, sent my measurements off & it arrived 3 weeks later. Couldn't fault it at all.

Centre pieces, I made my own. Bought vases, silk flowers & diamontes off ebay. They worked out at about £3 each. Everyone commented & asked where I had got them from.

I had fresh flowers for my bouquet but a friend used silk flowers properly made up from a seller off ebay. They looked stunning & at a fraction of the price I paid for mine (£95), I was slightly jealous!

 

[Lauren25]

I think it depends actually how much you'd be leaving for other things!
I would if it meant cutting back on certain things like we have, cheaper cake, cheaper stationary, DIY centrepieces but I wouldn't if it meant for not having my dream dress, having a cheap photographer etc as those things were just as important!

 

[Baby France]

I suppose it depends on how important the venue is to you. We've not even looked or had a nosey round our venue and we get married in two weeks.

When we spent some time last year looking, I realised that as long as the right people were there, then I wasn't bothered about what it looked like or the setting out.

It has cost us money, BUT a lot is included with that and we've been given rooms included that people have paid us for...but I would have only told the hotel that we didn't want them anyways and got the money back from the package (its only cos it saved our guests £40 from booking direct that we did it though).

Ours is but isn't budget. Its been done last minute and I've been lucky to have more or less what we've wanted. The wedding day is about us though and I'm not too fussed what others think/say

Some should be grateful they've been given an invite...if I had my own way, they would have been more than half of our guests who would have found out tomorrow if that

 

[Mummy2B21]

To me the Venue, Dress, Rings and Photography would be my main expenditure, everything else i would happily scrimp on if needed.

 

[Mummy May]

Thanks ladies, its nice to see how other people think of it xx

 

[Pandora11]

Yes - you can get discount on most other things and still have a beautiful dress, good food and nice flowers etc but the venue is half of what makes the photos that you'll and it's the venue that others will remember. I thought, if i blew the money elsewhere, and i was sitting in your expensive gown and looking around, would i be happy if my surrounding, environment was something that i'd settled for.

it was the venue that i remembered most and i can't wait for my photos. we planned our wedding around getting the venue we wanted and it was beautiful. but we saved a hell of a lot it being just the two of us in America, then having a reception later in England.

i found my perfect dress and got 50% off(700) but the venue was the first thing booked and the second most important to me was the photographer. i know a lot of people skimp on a photographer but to me, having a good photographer was invaluable, a good photographer can give you amazing photographs, even if everything doesn't look as perfect as you want, but a bad/average photographer can't.

i've seen hundreds of bland wedding pictures, (even if the bride looks stunning). you know the ones, they album looks the same as ten others you've seen , the poses are the same, some of the pictures look too posed or wooden. i wanted something stunning that didn't look like every other wedding (because it wasn't, it was MINE. iykwim?) and it's important since you're going to be looking at them for the rest of your life.

 

[oliviarose]

For me no I wouldn't.... What is the point of having a beautiful venue if you have had to scrimp with everything else......

Having got married now, the people who are there and the atmosphere is more important than the venue......

We did our wedding on a budget of £5000 and I can honestly say that we had everything we wanted and more and it was my dream day..... The venue wasn't a stately home or a beautiful hotel.... But it was a lot nicer that a few posh weddings I have been to..... We still get comments on how lovely our wedding was.....

 

[2have4kids]

Yes - you can get discount on most other things and still have a beautiful dress, good food and nice flowers etc but the venue is half of what makes the photos that you'll and it's the venue that others will remember. I thought, if i blew the money elsewhere, and i was sitting in your expensive gown and looking around, would i be happy if my surrounding, environment was something that i'd settled for.

it was the venue that i remembered most and i can't wait for my photos. we planned our wedding around getting the venue we wanted and it was beautiful. but we saved a hell of a lot it being just the two of us in America, then having a reception later in England.

i found my perfect dress and got 50% off(700) but the venue was the first thing booked and the second most important to me was the photographer. i know a lot of people skimp on a photographer but to me, having a good photographer was invaluable, a good photographer can give you amazing photographs, even if everything doesn't look as perfect as you want, but a bad/average photographer can't.

i've seen hundreds of bland wedding pictures, (even if the bride looks stunning). you know the ones, they album looks the same as ten others you've seen , the poses are the same, some of the pictures look too posed or wooden. i wanted something stunning that didn't look like every other wedding (because it wasn't, it was MINE. iykwim?) and it's important since you're going to be looking at them for the rest of your life.

I couldn't agree more, the husband foot the $2500 bill for the photographer at our wedding. He was truly professional and made the difference between blah album & spectacular. So...venue + photographer in my opinion.