Let’s face it, every decision involves some sort of risk. But often there are many red flags that people tend to overlook when they’re wedding planning. Initially, brides’s are in ‘la-la land’, dreaming of the perfect wedding and how to make all their dreams come true. The heart wants what the heart wants… but the ‘elephant in the room’ is the budget, and it cannot be ignored forever.
When the budget is finally addressed, the rationalizing and bargaining begins. Obviously, this ‘is not’ the problem, since – of course – this is a realism of our lives. The real problem is trying to balance all your options equally. With a wedding, you must remind yourself that ‘not all options are equal’.
If your approach is to take all the things you plan for your wedding and then divide your budget equally to cover everything, you will probably end up being very disappointed with many of your choices. That’s because you need to consider the importance of each option – and how paying too little – might affect your overall wedding day.
For example: If you are a ‘Foodie’, and the food at your wedding is what matters to you, and is what you want people to remember, then go ‘all in‘ on this option! And if having a huge bouquet of flowers has little importance to you, don’t waist too much money on the flowers.
“Duh, right!?” Actually, you’d be surprised how often brides will give a little too much priority to things that aren’t important, because they feel that – although it isn’t that important – it still has to be in the wedding. That is true to a point, but it might benefit you greatly to understand that dumping a few low level items in favor of the priorities will benefit you more. (Will your guests know that you ended up going with the $5 favors on their table, instead of the $50 ones? Not if you don’t tell them! After 500 weddings, I have yet to hear a single guest say, “I wish the couple would have spent more on US!”)
There is a second – and possibly even more problematic issue – that comes with equalizing your budget, and that is getting too cheap on the priorities due to covering all the bases. So, ask yourself this – and be honest with yourself when you do:
“Would you rather spend $1000 on something you regret and are disappointed with, or spend $3000 on something you love and will cherish forever!?”
It’s not something to take lightly, and in the example, the difference is more then double. Also, if you answered that you’d rather spend more for something you love, you should probably brace yourself to the unavoidable truth that you will exceed your budget! However, this isn’t that bad actually. Remember, spending – anything at all – is too much if you aren’t happy afterwards, whereas spending a little more might give you something ‘priceless’.
This is good logic for important investments and is often how people think when buying a house. A few dollars more might sting a bit upfront, but down the road, the value becomes more and more obvious because when you love what you have – instead of living in a place you are stuck with – for usually only a few dollars less.
I am actually surprised at how many people I’ve heard back from that ‘didn’t hire us for their photography. Most are asking if we can fix their wedding photos, but several have actually just written to let us know they were sorry they didn’t choose us… and that is so sad on so many levels.
I truly feel sorry for these people because they got burnt. There’s no joy on our part knowing they got a raw deal either. It’s actually sad for us, because (obviously) we needed the jobs, but it’s also troubling because – somewhere out there – a bad photographer got paid for doing a bad job… and of course, the worst part is, it’s over and done – and can’t be re-done.
Over the years, we’ve compiled quite a mix of ‘mind numbing’ and ‘thought provoking’ images that can give you a better idea about why – if you love good pictures – you should ‘invest’ in a great photographer!
Money well spent is far more then payment for services. That’s simply a purchase! Money well spent is purchasing something priceless.
