What is/was worth it to splurge vs save on to you?

I splurged on food and the ceremony venue and saved on the photographer. I know I'm in the UO by FAR on the photographer, but I just don't like hanging photos in my home and I never look at old pictures now. I paid $700 for 4 hours and I'm hoping to get a handful of photos I love. 4 or 5 great photos are all I need to remember the day with.

We splurged on food, the premium open bar, invitations, photography, hair/makeup for everybody.

I saved on my dress (It was $795 and didn't need alterations with the exception of a bustle), and we didn't have a DJ...my brothers-in-law volunteered to emcee (and were AMAZING), and we had a packed dance floor for as long as we expected to have a packed dance floor (i.e., about 45 minutes before all the kids got tired and had to go home).

Splurge on food, bar, and photography! Immediately off the top of my head I can think of weddings I attended with bad food or a bad bar. On the flip side I can also think of the ones where the food and bar stood out! They say memories fade over time and your photos are so worth the money to have pictures of that special moment locked down forever! I'd try to save on the dj (you don't really need a big light show), invitations (they end up in the trash anyways), and skip the photo booth (they're cute and fun but not necessary)

I splurged on the venue/food and saved on not having a

videographer and buying a used dress.

Our extra/unnecessary splurges are guest shuttles and upgraded chairs.

We saved on invites, and picked somewhere cheaper for our honeymoon so that we can have a videographer. We're also skipping favors, and not doing any ceremony decor, since the ceremony is in a garden.

ETA: Jenny, FYI, its UO for Unpopular Opinion.

Splurged- upgraded beer, whisky bar, photobooth, dj

Saved- invites (vistaprint,) dress (preowned,) shoes (thrift shop,) favours (didn't have any,) accessories (didn't have any,) ceremony flowers (nada.)

Venue and photographer! Pictures are very important to me and I knew I didn't want to settle on a photographer.

I absolutely could not justify spending more than $1000 on a dress that I would wear once. Instead I took a risk and bought a Rosa Clara sample dress with tags for $300 off ebay. BHLDN was my next step if ebay hadn't panned out.

I truly splurged on my invitations. Not everyone throws them in the trash. I have every card I have ever received and all the invitations from my friends. All of my family members do this as well. Wedding invitations should not be merely ink printed. It was really important to me to have traditional raised printing. I cheated by using thermography and not true engraving, but even I could not splurge on how much that would have cost.

I feel like I splurged on the alcohol, but I really am saving a bundle because I am buying it myself and not through a bar by the drink. Having a bourbon tasting bar with super premium bourbons, top shelf fully stocked main bar, champagne toast, and all local craft beer. These choices would be 10-15k at a venue but I'm only spending $4,000 including the bartenders and glassware.

Splurged - our venue (bc they don't have anything we had to rent not only one, but TWO sets of chairs - one for outside for ceremony and one for inside), food/alcohol, and our honeymoons. We originally set up a trip for December and then we decided we also wanted to do something immediately after our wedding, so both of them are included in our wedding budget.

Saved - invitations, general décor (we really aren't doing anything for the ceremony since it's outside, and just pretty simple floral arrangements from our florist at a good price), and not having a videographer

In my opinion, food and drinks are more of a minimum for weddings (depending on time of day of course) so I don't see them as a splurge at all. But I did splurge on seat covers. $700. I just couldn't stand how the chairs looked without. I saved on my dress. $99 for the dress and we'll see how much alterations cost.

ETA- Clarity. Refreshments should be served no matter what. Full meals depend on time of day.

Splurge: Definitely photographers. Oh and my dress. I went more than double my budget there before alterations.

Saved: Ordered cheap Shutterfly invitations and DIY'd them into a nice suite. DIY or bought new/used all of the decor, DIY flowers, and bought linens rather than renting. So far based on the comps I've seen, we've saved about 5k on that stuff.

Our splurge is the photographer and food.

Splurge- venue, photographer, craft beer, decor

Save- food (just went with a simple southern bbq), honeymoon (stayed local)

Splurge: food, bar, photography

Save: no save the dates, no favors, limited decor, no live music

Food and drink can be a splurge. You can go with the standard or you can upgrade and have the works. We upgraded the food at dinner and cocktail hour and the bar to top shelf with a martini bar. We also got chivari chairs cause I don't like chair covers. We saved money on centerpieces and flowers by booking when our florist had a special.

Guest hosting and entertainment. A huge amount of cocktail hour food, 4 plated courses, a dessert bar, 5-hours top-shelf liquor, at a hotel known for it's 5 star food and service. And guests are still talking about how good the 12-piece band was.

Where we saved: no limos (I haven't seen one used at a wedding for 7 years), no shuttles (over 50 discounted rooms were booked at the hotel), no planner (Mom did all the planning/organizing), no DOC (venue provided staff was more than enough), no engagement photo session (only needed one, good, casual photo, for our save the dates), no out of town gift bags (only 2 rooms at the hotel were booked for people who had to fly-in), no favors, etc.

I'm not sure that we are splurging on anything, or saving, really. We looked around for the most appropriate prices for our (very expensive) area, while still properly hosting.

Splurged on food, alcohol, and photographer.

Saved on favors, STDs, and linens.

I splurged on just about everything but plan on reselling a lot, including the dress.

I did save on bridal/bridesmaids jewelry (yay Charming Charlie!) I also got major discounts on bar tender and DJ due to family professional connections but most people should splurge in those areas.

Whole wedding is a splurge.