Hi Again Everyone! Little Payton is such a cutie, and while Kelsey is back to work, she didn’t want me to stop writing just yet. She says I still have a lot to discuss, and I don’t think she is wrong.

This blog I wanted to discuss potential pitfalls from cutting corners and sacrifices you could be making in a broader sense. I shared a story with you all last week, but wanted dive more specifically into particular categories of where not to cut corners for your wedding.

Floral and Rentals:

I grouped these together, because If you choose to scale back floral or rentals the biggest thing that will impacted is likely the quality of the photographs. The space you will have will look a little bit more bare in most cases. The odds of having a major focal point at the wedding decreases, and everyone enjoys having something to take photos with or in front of. In the case of rentals you can accidentally short yourself tables and chairs, so again, be sure to double check your headcount. In the way of florals, make sure at a minimum you have a small table arrangement, boutonnieres, corsages, and bouquets, and just scale back your flowers(peonies and roses are more expensive than carnations and baby’s breath).

Photographer/Videographer:

An area I continue to say don’t skimp on, you’ll want to share these photos quickly and sometimes you pay for the faster turn around photographers, as well as the kind of editing that is popular. The whitening/lightening effect in photos is very popular right now, and if its all about the Instagram and not so much about the memories, your photos may miss some of the umph you would have wanted. Ultimately, hire a photographer that is going to capture moments for you, and not for the Instagram, and I think you will be happier looking back on those photos 50 years from now.

Musical Entertainment

There aren’t a lot of shortcuts here, but I cant begin to describe how a professional DJ can make a night go so much more smoothly. They often share schedules with the planners, and can help keep a night rolling seamlessly. They are your MC of the night, they are a great ally in creating the type of environment you want your guests to experience.

Wardrobe

Some people are again, all about the fashion and doing some of the things I mentioned such as suit separates may not be as flashy as having a beautiful custom tux from Suit Supply. Wardrobe belongs in a category tangent to florals and rentals because you will see it in all the photos, so keep that in mind when you are making decisions on where not to skimp.

Food and Beverage

As the story last week mentioned, never skimp on portion sizes, and don’t skimp on drinks, oftentimes you will need more of both. Instead, skimp on the type of meat. As far as drinks, a cash bar is not something anyone wants, opt instead to do an open bar with just beer and wine, and maybe a signature cocktail.  In regards to cake, sometimes a cake from Kroger is a great backup for after the bridal cake. While it certainly will look and taste different, it can help keep the main cakes cost down dropping the total serving size of the main cake. If you opt to skimp on cake this way, you can even have the serving staff cut it in the back and serve it directly to guests.

Venue

If you have a significant number of people coming in from out of town, don’t put your wedding on a Sunday. Yes you are going to save several thousand dollars, but you wont be able to rehearse at the venue the night before, and you are forcing someone to take all of Monday off. Pick Friday weddings before you pick a Sunday wedding, and just know that you are causing stress for some of your guests, but at least they have the option to leave work early one day as opposed to taking off the entirety of the next day because they had to sleep off your wedding on Monday.

Rehearsal

Sometimes skipping the rehearsal means people don’t understand what they are doing during the ceremony, including the bride and groom. Some mistakes make for fun memories, but make sure your planner walks you through details so that you can understand them all.

Misc.

I can’t stress this enough, if you are going to do a send off in an Uber, at least fork out for the UberXL, schedule it in advance, and ideally make sure they know you are the bride and groom before they come to get you(so they know they aren’t going to be in the way for anyone else’s Uber pickup after you leave).

This wraps up the sacrifices of cutting costs. In the next installment of this series I am going to discuss the things that you can do to make your partner feel special on your special day. Sometimes its grand public gestures, sometimes it’s the sweet moments before, but I will share some tips and ideas to make the day memorable before you both walk down the aisle.