When I first started planning I got this book on how to have a wedding for $5k (our budget is $10k so I figured I would save double lol, not so much...). One of the first things the book had me do was list the 5 things that are most important to me for my wedding. This helped me put certain things in perspective and not concentrate so much on how much things cost, but how much it was worth to me. I threw in the bottom 5 just for fun :-)
Here's my top 5
1- Food & Alcohol!!
2- DJ
3- Pictures
4- Location(s) with character (no hotel ballrooms)
5- Decor
Bottom 5
1- Flowers
2- Cake
3- Invitations (they're just gonna throw them away anyway)
4- Favors (MOH and I are still going back and forth over this)
5- Videography (if we can afford it, great. If not, I really don't care that much)
What about you ladies? You'll be surprised how much perspective this simple list gives