Have you selected vendors/dresses/caterer etc that is over your budget?

We went over budget with some things as well- for example, originally planned on having someone we know bartend and buying our own mix/garnish etc (since we worked in the industry) but honestly was not worth it for the work so we BLEW that budget. but you can easily save in other areas.

We justify these calls by really hashing out how much our time is worth and being realistic with how much time we will actually have to prep for these things.

Yes! 2 areas. We ended up getting a DJ when originally we had planned to do it ourselves, but we did get a good deal from an old family friend.

The second thing was alcohol.. at first I didn’t want to pay for any or wanted to pay for all (then saw how much that cost!), now we’re putting bottles on each table which is still fairly pricey for our budget.

We went way over budget with our flowers/décor, but ended up saving costs elsewhere for sure. It's all about balance an making the numbers work lol.

So far no but early planning stages for me. I have actually come under budget with some already. Only time can tell.

Yeah we did but we cut from other places and shopped around with a bunch of other vendors. the vendor we spent a bit more on we asked if he could cut a deal for a package cuz we are paying our wedding ourselves and he ended up giving us $1000 off!!! so we ended up saving. but price shopping really really really helps!!! dont let anyone guilt you into booking with them

I would say our photographers are over our budget but I expected that because most photographers charge alot.

We didn't - but that's because we don't have ANY wiggle room. We are already going to be draining our accounts to pay for the wedding and are hoping that our guests are generous with presentation to break even (we are okay if we don't of course!).

If you set a budget but know you have the means to go over then I don't see a problem with it as long as you do your research and aren't paying more just because you can or just because they offer one more thing the other vendor doesn't but for hundreds more.

We also didn't have a set budget, but we definitely had guidelines (i.e. Spend ~$2000 on photography).

So when our awesome photographer charger $2824, we had to make the decision if that was something we wanted to spend $824 above our guideline - which we did.

We didn’t have a set in stone budget, I basically went with the most cost effective vendors. For example our photographers packages are usually 3-4K, but because they are a preferred vendor of our venue we got 30% off that price!
We did spend a bit more on a DJ, but he’s a music guy and I was a dancer so music is important to us!

The budget set was tight and on point of cost towards our goal. The vendors that worked towards the amount set workable. The photographer was the one that was set at a higher price and was happy with the results. Sometimes a good deal comes around knowing its worthwhile.

Yup we didn’t have a set budget or anything just numbers we were ok with, it wasn’t set in stone though.

We went over “budget” with venue (includes alcohol and catering), cake, lighting (didn’t even realize the venue didn’t cover this fee) and honeymoon.

I think it depends by how much you’re going over. If your budget is set in stone and you know it’s going to put you in red - that’s a decision for you two to make.

If your budget is flexible like mine, definitely spend a little more where necessary (like your dress, food, venue, DJ).