How to spend budget

[jessica22]

Hi everyone!
I am going to my planning session in a few weeks and I am still trying to decide how to distribute the budget. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or reflections from thier own weddings on what was worth the splurge, what you could have done without, and what you wished you would have had. Some of the things I'm still stuck on:

Major Domo
What kind of entertainment for reception (ie dj, ipod, pianist...)
Dessert party menu
Floral centerpieces
Wedding Pavillion decor
Bridal Party transportation
Upgraded linens and china
And any other advice you have!

 

[lurkyloo]

It really depends on what your priorities are. If you pick the three things that are most important to you and the three that are least important, it will help you see where to allocate the funds.

Certain elements will simply cost more than others—for example, chartered transportation took a HUGE bite out of our budget, but it was important to us that our guests (most of whom had never been to WDW) not have to figure out how to get from place to place for our events.

Floral and decor can cost a lot, but we had almost none because it was not our priority... Entertainment can cost a lot or a little... It just depends on what is most important to you.

 

[2nd Time Bride]

Hi everyone!
I am going to my planning session in a few weeks and I am still trying to decide how to distribute the budget. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or reflections from thier own weddings on what was worth the splurge, what you could have done without, and what you wished you would have had. Some of the things I'm still stuck on:

Major Domo
What kind of entertainment for reception (ie dj, ipod, pianist...)
Dessert party menu
Floral centerpieces
Wedding Pavillion decor
Bridal Party transportation
Upgraded linens and china
And any other advice you have!

My advice is to include the transportation, the last thing you want to be worrying about is the bridal party being late to the ceremony! My wedding is on Oct 12th so I haven't had it yet but I know it sometimes takes a while to get around Disney!

And - IMO - maybe you can choose to upgrade the floral centerpieces and then go with basic china. I had a friend who did that at her wedding - her centerpieces were AMAZING and I cannot even remember what the china looked like. Maybe white?

 

[girli565]

I found that entertainment was very important to us. We needed someone to handle announcements and keep the party going while gauging the crowd. Our DJ was AMAZING and kept the party going right to the end of the reception. And of course Mickey was a huge hit. Worth every penny (esp when we realized the DJ for 5 hours was going to be $1400, I almost had a heart attack)

 

[Belle2Be]

I found that entertainment was very important to us. We needed someone to handle announcements and keep the party going while gauging the crowd. Our DJ was AMAZING and kept the party going right to the end of the reception. And of course Mickey was a huge hit. Worth every penny (esp when we realized the DJ for 5 hours was going to be $1400, I almost had a heart attack)

Isn't Mickey $900 for just 1 hour though?

 

[girli565]

When I signed my contract the prices hadn't changed yet so Mickey was $800 for a half hour set. After Oct he's $900 for a half hour set. It's a lot but worth it as was the DJ for the entire reception who was a separate $1400 aside from Mickey.