Everyone’s always talking about how to cut costs for your wedding, and while it’s important to stick to a budget, there are certainly a few things you should have the green light to splurge on. Just think of it the same way you budget your normal life. Sometimes you have to use someone else’s Hulu account because you need to Uber to walkable destinations multiple times a week. Unless you’re as crafty as Lauren Conrad pretends to be on Instagram, you’ll never be able to DIY an entire wedding and make it actually fun. Here are a few areas of your wedding you really shouldn’t cheap out on.
1. Photography
I mean, if you’re going to spam our Instagram feeds with pictures from your “best day ever” on every Throwback Thursday until we die or an apocalypse wipes out our internet connection, they better be good. Even if a marriage doesn’t last forever, the photos will. Hire someone who knows what they’re doing and can find your angles, and not just your one friend with a DSLR and a mild Instagram following. Plus, everyone knows that in 2018, an event is a total waste if you don’t get good photos, so your entire wedding will be pointless if not documented properly. Sorry, I don’t make the rules.
2. Spray Tans
If you’re planning on getting a spray tan for your wedding, you better steer clear of every automated machine in town. Unless, of course, you have that photo of Ross Geller’s spray tan on your Pinterest board, in which case, I think we have bigger fish to fry. Spend a little more and have some chick with a handheld airbrush tool do it, because her skills are more reliable than your ability to count to three.
3. Makeup
Oh, some girl from your high school writes #MUA on all her Instagram captions and is involved in a makeup multilevel marketing scheme? Don’t do it. Your wedding day is not the time to start blindly trusting people you vaguely know. Your wedding is basically just a long day of photographs followed by a long night of drinking with some sporadic crying mixed in, so hire a damn professional who can keep your lewk fresh for the entire event.
4. Invitations
A bad invitation will have people talking shit about your wedding long before it even happens. I’m not saying you need to invest in a bunch of handmade silk boxes that doves fly out of, but try to avoid doing these yourself (you don’t want the extra stress, anyway). Look for a stationer with lots of paper options and printing methods, and you’ll be able to get a solid design for less than you think. And for the love of god, don’t even think about handwriting anything.
5. Alterations
I know that like, every rom com in history has some joke about altering your body instead of altering the wedding gown, but like… why bother? Unless you’re super into the idea of sweating for the wedding (ew), just find a bomb-ass seamstress that can make your dress fit you perfectly. As a bride, you have enough pressure on you as it is. Don’t make it worse for yourself.
6. Cocktail Hour
If your reception is in a different venue than your ceremony, your guests will prob hate you forever if you don’t feed them well and liquor them up upon their arrival. You also better make sure they have appropriate seating, because everyone will either have uncomfortable shoes on, or like, will be old. There’s nothing worse than a bunch of uncomfortable, grouchy, hungry sober guests, so don’t scrimp when it comes to cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.
7. Shoes
Speaking of uncomfortable shoes… don’t buy them for yourself. It’s okay to get a cheap pair to wear as a guest, but you really won’t want to have your entire honeymoon ruined because your feet are covered in blisters and you can’t wear cute sandals or have your feet in saltwater.
Images: Giphy (3)
