Is it me or is this ridiculous part 2!!!!!!!

I must say it is absolutely gorgeous. Decor blew me away too on how much it all costs. Even though we are not doing a tent (totally would if it looked like your beautiful pics!), we are doing twinkle lights, linens, etc. and I totally understand.. it is expensive. Not sure what state or city you are in which could be a factor on pricing, but yes, I too, had sticker shock. Not all hope is lost, if you chose just a few of the options, it would be stunning.

The pictures are a little wonky, but Starting price of $3250 just to drop some fabric at the top of the tent, and then if I want lights it’s going to be another $2800. That doesn’t even include things like candles or table decor. Fabric draped for a double entrance is $900? To tie fabric around the outer polesIs $110 each per pole And my tent has 32, not even counting the floor on the inside lol.

View Quoted Comment I know, they do great work. But even something as simple as renting a patio couch I almost fell on the floor LOL. We’ve actually cut down people on our guest list because the decor is so out of control expensive haha. It came down to the decision of cutting down the guest list, or having all of the guests sit in the dark in the tent LOL

That is insane pricing but unfortunately how wedding vendors in general work. They expect people to pay through the nose without question because it's a wedding when all of that same stuff for a family gathering or simple party would be 1/10 of the cost. Many are not willing to negotiate saying it's not a valid wedding unless they toss in extras you don't need or want.


How committed are you to the venue? Can you negotiate with them or find a venue you like that has more reasonable prices to allow for the extra guests you had to cut?

Yes unfortunately that is normal and about what I paid for that stuff.

Honestly i don’t think it’s you being cheap - it’s just the sticker shock of things !

View Quoted Comment Well to be honest with you I’m kind of glad we cut down on guests... but as far as the venue goes, the place is very important to me and my fiancé. It’s a place that we visit multiple times throughout the week in the summer and it just has a lot of meaning for us. We’re already locked in with the date and everything, but I am a bit disappointed that they were upfront with all the other costs except for the decor before we initially signed the contract. I guess it’s my fault for not doing enough research and looking into it further, but at the same time When we told him our budget they never once mentioned anything about the decor being through the roof. No pun intended.

View Quoted Comment Sticker shock is right! I had this whole vision in my head of tent drapes and twinkle lights and candles all over the tables, outdoor patio furniture, ceremony decor and now I’m like just happy that I’ll be able to afford the twinkle lights LOL

View Quoted Comment Yeah things like wedding cake was so expensive that it shocked me!

Unfortunately, lighting and draping is super pricey.


In regards to your lounge furniture— are you sure that’s their own in-house inventory? They might be contracting it out which means they’re adding an additional markup to it. I live and had my wedding in a HCOL area and my lounge furniture was around $1500 with delivery (sofa, two small side tables, two side chairs, a coffee table, and pillows). Are you able to get your own outside vendors for some of this stuff? Or do you have to go through the vendor and their preferred list?
Decor can get pricey real fast, but if your venue doesn’t really need it and you don’t care too much about it, I would cut it. (Obviously not the lights part. Lol.) For us, including lighting, signs, candles, florals, rented tableware and tables (our venue came with all the dinnerware/utensils/glasses and tables, but I had a very specific vision in my head) and other crap— we spent over $20k ($11k of it for florals).

Yeah, I have found the same prices. We rented a few things from a vintage furniture company and it is kind of surprising how much it costs, but I figure that they have to rent at those prices to several events in the year to stay afloat. We looked into renting a tent + lights + pub tables for an outdoor cocktail hour (our venue can bring a bar outside) and it was over $2500 to do that. We couldn't really justify it for an hour especially when there is an awesome bar in the venue with plenty of room to mingle.

I don't think you're being cheap, but I also don't think these are out of normal ranges. It's just SO expensive. We picked a venue specifically to limit the amount of decor we'd need for this reason.

That’s some super fancy decor. But I also think it’s outrageously expensive. No way I could afford something that grand and yes you’d just about be better off buying it outright yourself. This wedding planning has just blown my mind in what people charge for things and that others are willing to pay for it.

View Quoted Comment I know THANK YOU! It was also frustrating that we asked for their sample prices upfront And they never gave us anything or mentioned anything about the decor costs. We’re going to try to DIY as much as they’ll let us and I got uplighting through my DJ which was so much cheaper.It’s even the little things too like I found the same exact plain candles on the dollar tree website, and they’re trying to charge $13 for each candle! I feel like these vendors think that people getting married automatically know what the prices are. I think they forget that this is our first time doing this(for most of us). We’re making it work. we cut down on guest list which I am personally glad certain people have been cut off but I just would have never guessed these prices ever