Top 3-5 areas to focus on

Hi, I focus my attention and budget on my venue, some flowers and invitation/save the dates and my guests having a good time (which they did) and memories. I did focus on my dress and my husband's and son's tuxes. You will have to focus and budget on things that are important to you and what you what you want for your wedding (this is where your budget comes into play. There are so many things that comes into play when you are planning. See what you would like to have for wedding and see if it fits in your budget. You might go over your budget a little. In my case I did go over a little because of some of the things I wanted to have and the cost of things. Good luck

Food, photography, decor & venue.


We’re big foodies, our friend group is big foodies, our family thinks buffet steaks are good food. So, we’re splurging on really good food. Not only is it going be memorable for us, but it’ll leave a lasting impression for our guests. We don’t anticipate much dancing, so we wanted to create a fancy dinner party feel.
Photography, obviously we want to remember our day forever. We’ve never had professional pictures taken together, so it’s been super important we find someone we feel comfortable with & also trust to deliver great images.
Venue & decor kind of go together. We looked at 15 venues! Location was a big issue for us as over half our guests are traveling from out of state. We also had a specific look we wanted, our venue fits that plus includes most decor. It’s more than we initially wanted to spend which is why it became a top budget item, but we know it’ll fit the feel we’re going for.

Me: 1- Ceremony venue, the Church we regularly attend. 2- Hotel ballroom, so my side could easily fly in and rest post parties. A ballroom wedding also fit our elevated taste palette with food and feel. 3- Decor, no DIY for me. I trusted my florist to bring drama to my already colorful venues.

My husband: 1- top shelf bar, 2- live band, 3- local vendors, small business owners, people of color. Our community and hospitality industry took a hit during the pandemic and we wanted to provide work for our peoples.

So yeah, we didn't fully match or limit priorities, but as long as we held to the budget together, we got what we wanted.

We're really focused on having a guest-centric wedding which has lead us to prioritizing a great venue (which includes F&B), phenomenal band and photographer. In close 4th is a full service wedding planner has been immensely helpful in keeping us sane haha

1) Venue/food, 2) my dress, 3) his custom suit, 4) cake. The restaurant we're getting married in is beautiful and has lovely views, so I'm going light on decor. Dress and cake were my priority from the get go, but I actually didn't end up spending nearly as much as I was willing to. I got my dream dress at a sample sale, and the style of cake I wanted is fairly minimalist, so not too pricey.

The only things FH wanted were a custom suit (NOT cheap) and a third bartender at the reception (only $250) so no one has to wait on line for drinks.

1) Venue - I wanted to find a place that offered the most for our guest's experience and for a memorable celebration. The wedding package we selected had all sorts of additional incentives - tons of food options during the whole day, champagne toast, open bar, signature drink, decor to utilize if we wanted, extra bartender if we felt the need, shuttle service (if we also wanted to use theirs), bridal suite, photo booth, overnight stay for us the night of the wedding, and the package even included our wedding cake (we went to the bakery to select flavors and design and only paid if we wanted some additional decoration on it).
2) Photographer - I wanted to select a photographer whose style I enjoyed but also captured beautiful memories. We get a custom photo album of our favorites after the wedding too.
3) Dress - I didn't shy away from paying a little more for a dress and veil that I felt absolutely beautiful and amazing in.
4) My wedding band - FH custom designed my engagement ring and I wanted the wedding band to match as close as possible and also be the same material, platinum, scroll engraving on both sides, milgrain detailing.

5) DJ & Ceremony Music - It was really important to my FH that we selected a DJ that could speak Portuguese, he's Brazilian and has some family and friends attending and to even have some announcements and music incorporated would be really nice for inclusiveness. We also selected a harpist for our ceremony and cocktail hour, we thought it would add a really romantic touch and be unique.