What we splurged on for our wedding

Honestly, we didn’t really splurge on anything if you compare our wedding details with what you see on TLC, but what other word is there? Our idea of splurging has really been more of ‘willing to pay full price’ or ‘not on the chopping block’!

the venue

Our venue was about 25% of our wedding budget! We chose the most expensive package because it allowed us and some of my family to spend two nights in the attached lodging (4 suites) that also had a large kitchen and gathering area. The venue was absolutely beautiful and the owner has been great to work with. We chose convenience over cost in this category, and I know it’ll pay off in reduced stress! If anyone is wondering, we went with Deer Ridge at Lexington in Bedford, IA.

Brandon’s tux

Brandon rented a tux when we went to an adult prom last May, and while he looked great in it, he was really hoping for something that fit better for our wedding. We decided it’d be good to purchase a tux for him instead of renting. We ultimately went with Suit Shop! This was about double the cost of renting, but we’re going to another adult prom in March, so it’s going to pay for itself in time. Overall, we were very happy with Suit Shop. We did have to exchange the jacket for one that was smaller, but the only tailoring cost we have is hemming the pants!

our wedding bands

Since wedding bands were something we were going to wear (ok, we’re already wearing them) every day for the rest of our lives, we didn’t want to cheap out, but we also didn’t want to go too far over budget. We both decided to go with something that was a little more than we anticipated spending, but something we were excited to wear. I also only got one wedding band with a plan to add the other for an anniversary down the road.

a photobooth

This wasn’t outrageously expensive, but it was something extra we decided to throw in after we’d already decided it wasn’t a ‘need’! Our plan is to have our guests use our photobooth (the DJ prints us a copy of every picture) instead of providing a guest book to sign.

All other categories for our wedding: food, DJ, drinks, and my dress are around the average price you’d expect for a wedding. I’m very happy with how intentional we’ve been with planning our wedding. It’s so easy to go overboard with the extravagant weddings you see on social media and TV, but I challenge you to ask yourself what YOU want if you find yourself stressing over the wedding budget. At the end of the day, it’s about celebrating your marriage with your spouse. Trying to impress people or splurge for a ‘gram-able wedding scene is not worth the cost!

We hope to throw a great party for our guests in less than five months. I probably won’t blog more about the wedding unless I share our wedding photos later on! My blog is primarily about home design and that aspect of our lives, but I’d been tempted to post about our wedding for some time now so I did it!

Thanks for reading!

Davien