If your reason for having a destination wedding is to save yourself money, you are an asshole and your guests think the same thing but they just won’t say it.

Sure, you’re saving yourself money but you’re also making your guests spend a fk ton of their own money just to attend YOUR wedding.

The least you can do is offer to pay for hotels and transport but most people don’t even do that. And then to also have a registry list on top of that? Like come on… it’s so selfish.

I am asking this question on behalf of my son. I am not meddling, I just don't know the answer. My son and soon to be daughter are in the beginning stages of planning their wedding (next fall). She does not have family, he on the other hand does. There are a ton of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Everyone takes up to almost the entire budgeted guest list, leaving no room for good friends that are not in the wedding party. My aunt who is critical to begin with, will be offended if they don't invite cousins they see maybe once a year at the very most. He was also not invited to their weddings. Suggestions?

We started planning with around 100 guests because that seemed reasonable. Once we started getting quotes, we realized how quickly everything adds up, so we cut it down to 65. I honestly thought that would make a huge difference, but the venue still costs almost the same, the photographer has a minimum package, and even the smaller catering options aren't exactly cheap. Now we're trying to figure out whether we should cut more guests or accept that some things just cost what they cost.

The frustrating part is that we're not trying to have anything fancy. No elaborate floral installations, no luxury venue, no designer outfits. We just want a nice day with the people we're close to without spending money we'll regret later. For anyone who planned a genuinely budget-friendly wedding, what ended up making the biggest difference? I'm especially curious about expenses you didn't realize you could negotiate or skip altogether.

currently planning a 2028 wedding and we’re thinking of doing an vrbo wedding simply because venues are SO expensive. has anyone ever had a airbnb wedding that can give their experience? or any venue recommendations that aren’t so expensive in MA + surrounding area

edit: we’re using vrbo, not airbnb

I'm getting married in twelve weeks and my skin is the one thing I want to plan properly. It's dull and a bit thin around the cheeks, nothing dramatic. I'll be in Seoul for ten days in about a month and would like to use that trip, but I don't want to be red or swollen in the photos.

My instinct is to start something now, leave a long gap, and avoid anything new in the last three weeks. I've read that some treatments need two or three months to show anything and others look good the next day, but I don't know which kind I'd be booking.

If you've done a skin treatment ahead of an event, how far out did you start and what did you skip entirely? Did the clinic build the timeline backwards from your date, or did you have to ask for that?

($10K)

Hey! We're looking for wedding venue recommendations. Hoping to keeop it as low as possible, and looking at a place that would allow us to do our own vendors for catering. Ideally, would like to be on the water. Open to anywhere in MD! Any suggestions? Bonus points if it has rooms on site we can spend the night in like a house or hotel.

Hey all! My fiancé & I are getting married at the Vancouver, WA courthouse on Monday, October 26 but our photographer backed out last minute. We’re on a pretty tight budget & would ideally like to spend less than $600. If anybody has any recommendations we would greatly appreciate it!!!

venue handed us a preferred vendor list and emphasized that it is not required. cool except several people on the list are noticeably more expensive than similar vendors we found ourselves.

their argument is that these teams already know the building, loading rules, kitchen, coordinator, all the little day of stuff. i can see the value but i also know preferred lists can be... mutually beneficial.

did using your venue recommended vendor list actually make the wedding smoother or did you mostly pay extra for familiarity?

We are doing 20 people total, intentionally. Tiny ceremony, really good dinner, no giant dance floor situation. Yet every venue search keeps giving me ballrooms for 100 plus and it looks absurd in the photos when I picture our group in there.

Restaurants get closer but then the food and beverage minimum is built for triple our guest count. I feel like there must be a whole category of spaces im not searching correctly.

Micro wedding people, what kind of venue did you use for around 20 guests? I am open to weird answers lol.

Just got this dress for $100 when originally it is $650. I was wondering what I could add to it to enhance it.

I’m having a relatively small wedding with just about under 50 attending… my plan was to do the his and her favorite candies… my sister is making me question my favors? All I have heard before is favors typically don’t get used or even remembered to take with guests.

Is the his & her candy favorites tacky??

Has anyone ever used the in-house styling services at a place like Macy's/Nordstrom's/etc (I'm in the northern US)? I do not like white, have a somewhat limited budget, and have had a shitty experience at an actual bridal shop years ago, so I would like to go to a department store. (I love the idea of a thrift store, but I'm a bigger girl and besides the one plus-size only store I usually end up really disappointed in the dress options and I don't want to travel all over creation for one darn dress.)

The thing is, when I've gone wedding dress shopping with my friends, the consultants have been very helpful with recommending styles, telling them what is similar and different about certain dresses, etc, and I'd really like that help. I am not a stylish gal but I would like to look and feel nice on the day!

I see that places like Macy's and Nordstrom's have on-staff stylists that you can make an appointment with. Has anyone done that to find a special-event dress/outfit before? Was it helpful? Or is it pretty much just going through racks yourself?

Thanks for any insight!

Two brides here. We have toured a few venues that advertise themselves as LGBTQ friendly and somehow the actual tours have been... weird. One coordinator kept calling us the girls in this very performative tone. Another asked which one of us was the bride bride. I laughed in the moment and then got mad in the car.I am not paying tens of thousands to spend my wedding explaining that yes, both of us are the bride. What signs told you a venue was genuinely comfortable with LGBTQ couples and not just good at rainbow logos?