Learning to Compromise

Zack and I knew from the very beginning that we would be paying for our wedding virtually on our own. We never had to have that awkward conversation with our parents about who would pay for what because we knew we didn't want to burden our parents with that kind of financial strain when they had their own bills to pay. Because of this we knew we had to learn the art of compromise.

Planning a wedding with anything less than an unlimited budget means you are going to have to compromise on something at sometime. Working with a lower budget, we knew there were quite a few things we were going to have to compromise on. To help make this decision easier we decided to rank what was most important to us in the wedding so then when the C word came up, we would know what to cut back on and what we would be willing to pay more for. Our list shook out something like this:

1. Photography

I'll go more into detail in a later post our criteria for a photographer, but this was something that was extremely important to both of us.

2. Venue

Like I told you in my last post, we wanted a venue that didn't feel like a hotel and was warm and inviting for our guests. The venue sets the tone for the wedding.

3. Catering

We love food and we love to eat food so we wanted good food.

4. Attire

Steampunk is most easily translated through clothing. Plus, I want a unique wedding dress and that comes with a price tag.

5. Officiant

We went to a friend's wedding where the officiant was really, really bad. We may not end up having to pay a ton of money to get someone great, but we still label this as a priority.

6. DJ

I have been singing since I can remember so music is very important to me. We knew right away we wanted a DJ and not a band. Bands are great, but they tend to be kind of one-trick-ponies and we have a very wide, very eclectic taste in music that we want to represent at our wedding. But honestly, if push came to shove we could load up an iPod with some music, set up some equipment and put together a playlist ourselves.

7. Paper

We already have an amazing, unique, wonderful Save the Date in the works. (Can't wait to reveal them to you!) We plan on DIY'ing the rest of our paper products as well, so we are hoping to still get good quality for a cheaper price but at the end of the day, all the paper stuff goes in the trash, so why spend a bunch of $$$?

8. Flowers

Since Steampunk has so many metallic and steam elements to it we could get away with cutting out flowers completely. Flowers are beautiful, but very expensive so if we have to save the money, we will cut the floral.

9. Cake

Yea. Just not a big priority.

10. Everything Else!

This includes my hair and makeup, gifts, and accommodations. These are things we would love to do for ourselves, our bridal parties, and our guests, but we can do without them if we must.

So that was our break down. We are building our budget around what we've fallen in love with and compromising in other areas to be able to afford our top three.

What do you guys think? Did anyone else have to compromise for a wedding?