What's the MOST important expense for a wedding?

I'll start. I mostly value things that last past the wedding day.

1. Photography

2. Honeymoon

3. Rings

Band, booze and food were our tops. Then I would say photography, ceremony officiant, my dress/ ring, honeymoon and gifts for our BP and parents. Venue and videography were somewhat important. I didn't really care about cake, decorations, invitations, and transportation at all. It was more what was easiest/ most convenient.

1) Photography

2) Great food and booze

3) was a toss up between DJ and officiant

Getting married (saying 'I do') to my wonderful FH.

Rings.

Venue.

1. DJ

2. Photography

3. Booze

4. Food

5. Videography

1. Food and drinks- because I love both

2. Photographer- because those pictures are as the part of how I'll remember my wedding

3. The DJ- they can make or break a good party

DJ

Food

Attire

I just want everyone to have a good time look and feel beautiful!

1.DJ 2. Officiant 3.Food 4.Venue 5.Photographer

Food. I took into account my guests experience, and the fact that attending a wedding today takes a lot of effort, time and money. I never once lost sight of that. The wedding experience was never about me. The marriage, yes, was about us, but the wedding ... I wanted to make sure everyone was well fed with high quality menu items carefully chosen. I got so many compliments on our food from happy and surprised guests who thought they were going to be eating the usual "wedding food" ...

1) Food

2) Venue

3) Photography

4) DJ

5) Favors

I've always had a thing about feeding people and giving presents, so food and favors had to be up there. 2-5 can probably be shuffled around depending on my mood, they're all equally important to me.

In no particular order, my top 5 would be:

1. Food

2. Music

3. Photography

4. Booze

5. Venue

1. Marriage license (can't get married without one)

2. Officiant (can't get married without one)

3. Everything else (can get married without)

What I think is most important to a wedding, not necessarily where we spent the money:

Music (DJ or Band)

Photography

Officiant

Venue(s)

Drinks (includes open bar)

Dress or Attire

Transportation (like a limo)

Food

Cake

Decorations (includes flowers)

Honeymoon

Rings

Videography

Gifts (favors, for parent, for bridal party)

Invitations and other paper products

My top 5 (or at least what I think they are right now...):

1. Photography

2. DJ (Music)

3. Dress

4. Booze

5. Honeymoon

Photography

Food/Booze

Music

Venue

1. Food - hungry guests are no fun

2. Drink - helps keeps things festive

3. Music - helps get the party started

4. Videography - I spent more on video than photography. I'm just not that in to wedding photography but I can watch videos are hours. This was really important to me. I do have a photographer though that will capture the entire day.

ALCOHOL

Food

Music

1. Officiant (pretty much the most important person there) 2. Photography (so you can remember the day) 3. My dress (okay, so I'm a little vain and want good pictures to look at for the rest of my life) 4. FOOOOD. (I love food. Om nom nom.) 5. DJ (so your reception flows smoothly)

@Nancy, that wasn't really the point, lol. Marriage license was left off the list because it is, for the most part, a set cost. You can't do anything to change the cost of it depending on how important it is to you. Officiant, while also required to get married, was on the list as a how much do you care about how "good" they are. You can get a friend ordained for like $30 or you can pay $1,000 if you care a lot about how great the ceremony is. I agree that basically everything is unnecessary for a wedding except for the things you mentioned, but most people on these boards still have them. This was more of a "Where did the money that wasn't necessary go?"

1. Food

2. Drinks

3. Photographer

4. Music

5. Attire (particularly my dress and shoes)