My wedding was nearly 7 years ago now. I saved money by buying a used dress (of course) and wouldn't change that. I bought card stock for my invitations from a wholesaler and took them to a printing press on my own and wouldn't change that.
We spent thousands on renting the top floor ballroom of a tall building in Des Moines, IA and had a full dinner served. It was delicious and I loved it.
But...we hired a photographer from the area that we hadn't met, but had been referred to through someone else. She was inexpensive, $500 - and she was terrible. She had another wedding booked right after mine and gave us less than an hour of time. And she didn't even take decent pictures! I would tell every bride to spend whatever amount it takes to have beautiful photos to remember your wedding. Everything else will fade, but the pictures you have will be what help your special day live on. Meet with multiple photographers, get to know them and their style, and decide if they can fulfill your desires. Do what it takes to get a great photographer!
The one other thing I would have budgeted money differently for was a deejay. It was so important to me to have dancing at my wedding. I talked to my deejay on the phone and thought things would work out. I should have gone to other events to see how he actually he did. It turned out that every few m inutes of my reception he'd do some self-promoting and just did not play music like we'd discussed. I really hadn't thought one deejay could be that different from the other. I was wrong.
Dress Picks of the Day
Size 4
Orlando, FL
$250
Size 8
Seattle/Tacoma
$100
http://www.thedresslist.com/
