What's the MOST important expense for a wedding?

If we are going off of cost then I think this is how ours goes which is pretty close to order of importance, but may be off by a few. Flowers cost too much and I think we got a great deal on other areas.

1. Food & Drink - this is where we are spending most of our money and what I think is most important - guests need to be able to eat great food and drink, drink, drink!

2. Venue - Kind of goes hand in had with #1 as we have to spend a set amount of $$$ on F&B on top of our rental in order to have our wedding there - a great venue is important. It has to be easily accessible to guest and should be close to a town / city that has entertainment, hotels, restaurants, etc. for OOT guests.

3. Honeymoon - Oops - this was right up there with food and drink. Our bad.

4. Photography - Gotta have great pics.

5. Décor - Flowers are costing a lot, but it's important to me that the area is decorated well and looks beautiful. Etsy is baaaaaad!

6. Dress - I spent way too much on this

7. DJ / MC - Super important to have a DJ that is well recommended, reviwed and not only is a DJ, but will be the acting MC at the wedding as well. This guy will keep the party going and flowing!

8. Transportation

9. Gifts

10. Officiant

11. Invitations

Well this is difficult. I'd say 1) ceremony 2) food/alcohol 3) DJ/entertainment (ETA: photography and rings were also high on our budget, but we could only pick 3 things for this question so...hmmm...)

1. The couple

1. The officiant

1. The wedding license

2. Everything else

1. Officiant. (Unless there is a specific statute or case law in your state saying that a friend ordained online can be your officiant, don't spend all that money for a wedding only to risk finding out down the road that you aren't legally married!) Marriage license wasn't on the list, but that's the other critical one.

2. Food and drinks.

3. Music.

1. People

2. Food

3. Drink

4. Music

5. Photography

1.) Venue

2.) Food/Booze

3.) Photography

As a guest, food and music hands down! As a bride: photography, food and your look (dress, hair and makeup, veil, shoes, jewelry and accessories, the whole package-- you should look your absolute best!)

My top 3:

Venues

Photography

Rings

My top 4:

1. Venue-- I'm getting married in the outdoor chapel of a camp where we have a family reunion every year and I've wanted to get married in since I was in elementary school!

2. Flowers-- It is already a pretty outdoor space, but I just really love flowers too.

3. Food-- though I don't think $ = better. We're going to have BBQ, which is our fave.

4. Photography-- I expect to be so excited/nervous/full of emotion that I will miss things, so I look forward to having photographs to go back and see what I missed, and also capture candid moments of my friends and family.

License

Officiant- if I'm not married at the end, it was a HUGE waste of money

Food

DJ

Attire

I would say 1) photographer 2)DJ/entertainment 3) tie with food and dress

Photography, food/drinks, venue, honeymoon, music

1. Photography

2. Venue

3. Food/Cake

4. DJ

1. Venue/decor 2. Food/drink 3. Photography 4. Music

Good food, cocktails, and a DJ. If you have those three elements, you've got a fabulous wedding that your guests will be talking about a year from now. The venue doesn't have to be marble and crystal chandeliers -- it can be the Elks Club or a VFW. What matters is what you serve them to eat and drink and the entertainment you provide. I'm serious. These are the three areas to invest in.

1. food - we're hosting mostly family, and while they would be (mostly) happy to sit in a bare and quiet room to celebrate with us, they still must be fed!

2. Photography - Our living room is decorated primarily by photographs on the walls - I definitely want to add our wedding day to our walls!

3. Venue - I am so excited for our venue. Whenever I've been 'stuck' in one place for hours on end, I always start to feel like I'm sort of living there (this has been since I'm kid - I might just be weird). I think I'll feel very comfortable and at home in our venue on our wedding day

4 - Officiant/Ceremony - we're planning on paying for a friend to get officiated online (he hasn't said yes yet, but the bumper stickers included in the commemorative gift we'd have to purchase for his certificate seem to be swaying him to say yes), and I'm looking forward to our 'box ceremony'

I think I had planned to spend the most money on food/drinks but my current list is looking like:

1: Venue

2: Food/drink

3: Photography