Things you should never skimp on for a wedding

The officiant, food and alcohol, and photography. Aside from catering, to me the officiant is the absolute most important vendor hands down. Food and alcohol is self explanatory, it's important to properly host your guests. And photography because you'll have those pictures forever! ETA: This by no means refers to being careful with budget, I'm not advocating spending the highest number just because, merely referring to quality within budget.

Food, alcohol, and your photographer.

And keep the standards high for who you marry too

I feel like I'm constantly being told that everything is something I have to spend a bunch of money on or the wedding will suck:

Photographer, because photos are the only thing you'll have left after the day. Photography is very important to me, but I'm surprised at this false statement.

Officiant, because this person runs the ceremony, which is the only reason the wedding is taking place

Food, because this is the only thing your guests will remember and judge you by

DJ/Music, because this is also the only thing your guests will remember for years and judge you by

Venue, because it sets the tone for everything and if you go cheap you probably got a place that doesn't have tables and chairs, so you'll spend money on rentals

Day-Of coordinator, because you will never have fun if you have to organize things the day of

If any member of your bridal party can't afford a dress/suit...you buy it for them because having them next to you is more important than money

The list goes on.

I didn't skimp on the venue, food and liquor. Thats all we care about

Skimp on guests before you skimp on anything else.

Skimp on the number of guests before you skimp on anything else.

Other than the typical liquor, food, photography...A/C in July in the south...use your brain, don't get married in the middle of summer or don't get married outside. I have left weddings before the bride and groom even got to the reception because I was sweating like a you know what in church...

Definitely food. It doesn't have to be fancy but must be good and plentiful

Definitely food. It doesn't have to be fancy but must be good and plentiful

@K&D17, so true, I am beyond lucky to be marrying my FH.

We're going for a more casual vibe, so decor and flowers are at the bottom of the list. And we'll likely have plastic utensils. Sorry, but I can't justify spending twice as much on those things (and yes I've priced things out and will continue to do so)

We spent the most money on food, photography, and chair/table rentals. Having enough to drink (alcohol and non) is also important.

For me, it was food, photographer (although I ended up having problems with him), cake, and beer (as in, we wanted the good stuff, not cheap beer). I also didn't skimp on my jewelry - I bought an expensive gold and diamond necklace (not crazy expensive, but it cost more than my dress before the sale price) because I wanted to have something from my wedding I could wear all the time.

I skimped on invites and paper stuff (no menus, no escort cards, no brochures), centerpieces (I made my own non-flower ones with candle, shells, etc.) and bouquets (again, made me own - with a BM's help). Also, I kinda skimped on my dress. It was $500 - which is a lot, I suppose, but at the same time still lower than the average dress cost.

The DJ sets the tone for the reception so I think he/she is very important.

I skimped on invites, STDs, and decor. My venue comes with

centerpieces so I'm using those instead of making new ones. I'm having s beach wedding and my aisle decor cost a total of $20. I'm doing shepherds hooks with hanging jars of beach glass and sand.

My florist is amazing. But I'm sticking to just bouts and bouquets to save money.

Everyone here has different priorities so I would figure out which means the most to you and go from there.

Officiant-they are marrying you and will make your ceremony

Food/Drinks-always host your guest properly

DJ-they can make or break your reception

Photographer-it will be the only thing to look back on from your wedding (unless you have a videographer)

I would cut my guest list before I skimped on these things.

Alcohol, food, and officiant are highest priorities. I really don't want guests to open their wallets at all.

We are planning on skimping a little on photographer, DJ, etc. I'm already skimping on my dress (budget is $500 including alterations), invitations, most decor etc.

It helps we have a small guest list (35 to 50), a non traditional venue (brewery), and a non Saturday wedding.

Guest hosting; food, entertainment, beverages, and venue. I've been to a few weddings where we had to stop on the way home, to get something to eat; we were determined that wouldn't happen, to our guests.

I think this thread to some extent will vary based on opinion.

My greatest expense is food and non-alcoholic beverage combined, then alcohol is the second expense. Just because alcohol is expensive by nature.

Next is officiant. That is the entire point. In early stages of engagement we thought of having a friend or family member officiate but then decided we would be making a terrible mistake.

Next is dress. I tried to go as cheap as possible and found it on eBay for only $300, but then with alterations, it's about $600. That is normal cost for wedding dress alterations though so I'll take it.

Invitations I didn't skimp on, but I got an excellent discount on commercial printing because I have a working relationship with a local printshop. They gave me 65% off as a present! It still ended up be a little over $300 but that includes postage. I designed them myself.

Unpopular opinion but I am skimping on photography. Good photographers are so expensive and rightfully so. My cousin is actually a wedding photographer and starts at $3500. We are not interested or able to spend anywhere near that. We are just skipping a photographer completely. We will have a marriage to keep when the wedding is over so I don't even care.

Definitely skipping decorations for the most part too.

I don't think you should skimp on the overall experience and I think there's a lot that goes into that. Lol

1. Food & alcohol

2. Guests convenience  ( day of the week, transportation, hotel block)

3. Stationary. UO opinion on here, but I think invites set the tone for your event and I keep the ones I receive.

4. Venue

5. DJ

6. Photography and videography

7. Little things that will set your wedding apart and make it memorable for your guests. We're doing a champagne (apple cider for those who don't drink) arrival, flipbook booth, live event painter and liquid nitrogen ice cream

Food alcohol and photographer. Those are top 3 for me.

Food/Photography/Videographer

My priorities were mostly things that we felt had the most influence on the actual experience. Food, alcohol, and DJ.

Judging from the post, it's a bit of a UO, but I'm not spending much on a photographer. I definitely want pictures, but having very high quality photography is just not a priority for us. We're going with a photographer that's just starting out so she's cheap, but she shot one of my BM's weddings and I thought her photos turned out pretty good. Were they award-winning caliber photographs? Probably not, but for us, we don't need that. We just want a few photos to hang in the living room and an album to show the kids.