What You Should Spend On A Wedding

Last time, I wrote a post on what you can scrimp on if you would want to save a few bucks during your wedding planning. However, there are aspects of your wedding that would be most advisable not to DIY on. These are the crucial aspects of your wedding. I'm not saying to completely blow your budget, but rather, to hire a real professional instead of relying on a relative, cousin, or friend to DIY for you. There is a huge difference in getting a real professional with a good portfolio, as these are very important elements. Read below:

Unleash the inner donya. Do not compromise your wedding and get real, quality suppliers that are worth every penny.
Photo by Owee Salva
Dress by Ivory and White Bridal 

Photographer and Videographer

People will eat the food and digest it. Years from now, they will not remember how the fillet mignon tasted like or the choice of desserts they had. You yourself will not even remember the taste of the food, trust me. However, people will remember the event by photos, so choose a photographer and videographer to beautifully document the event through photos. Photographers and videographers have several packages to fit your budget. They will make your event immortal, that your children and children's children will get to relive the experience. It also pays to choose a photographer you have good chemistry with and whose style suits you as well.


 Coordinator

Your wedding coordinator is your lifesaver. They will help you with the RSVP, to talk with your suppliers, to arrange things, and so on. Wedding coordinators gone through so many weddings, not counting their own wedding so making weddings run smoothly is second nature to them. They will remove the "-zilla" in the word "bridezilla" so she would be a beautiful, stress-free bride. They will bug your suppliers, make sure the decor is in place, calm you down, appease impatient guests, sew a tear in your gown, make sure no one loses the wedding rings, and even write your own vows and coach you when you walk. They are your P.A.s, your runners, your handyman (or women), and will absorb all the stress for you. It really makes a difference to get a professional wedding coordinator. They give you a certain sense of security so on your wedding, all you have to do is just be beautiful and get married.


Hair and Makeup

a pro MUA setup at 5 in the morning

I'm not saying this just because I'm biased, being a professional hair and makeup artist. Although makeup is second nature to us ladies as we do it everyday, there is a difference in hiring a real professional makeup artist rather than those fake-up artists that charge like Php5,000 for bride and whole entourage. A real makeup artist knows what she is doing, takes care of her products by applying proper cleaning techniques, and will not bail on you because they take the contract seriously. Their work is good that you practically need minimal or no retouching, thus your energy is directed to getting married and enjoying the event rather than checking if your lashes are askew or if you're oily.


Wedding Dress

Ivory and White bridal's high quality RTW dresses

I've seen a lot of complaints with dresses that looked super far from what brides would expect, like horrible expectation vs reality memes. That's because they chose a cheap clothing manufacturer they randomly saw online. A good quality wedding dress practically sculpts your body and flatters you well. It won't rip at the seams when you pose, walk, kneel, or even try to put it on.  After all the horror stories I've been hearing about getting some random cheap wedding dress,  it pays to get a beautiful and high quality gown. As wedding dresses do not come cheap and I understand that this is something you will wear once, here are a few tips to still save, One, is to #LoveLocal and support the local economy by choosing from our very talented pool of local wedding gown designers. Designers also collaborate with RTW lines or even have an RTW bridal line of their own, which is cheaper than custom-made. Here in the Philippines, there are already RTW wedding gown stores so you get to see the gown in the flesh as it is. so no need to order online. You can also make an arrangement with your wedding gown designer to design the gown in such a way that after the wedding, you guys will be able to cut, color, and alter the gown and re-design it to a cocktail dress or evening dress that you could wear to future events.


Venue

Palazzo Verde (formerly known as Fernbrook Gardens)
Photo by Owee Salva

Choose a venue not because it's dirt cheap but because it's something close to your heart, Consider  also the number of parking spaces and accessibility to an Uber or private car service. Popular wedding location spots are highly recommended because these places are already used to dealing with weddings and know how to handle unforeseen circumstances like rain, multiple weddings, where best to put fireworks, etc. Also, if a venue is beautiful on its own, there will be less need for a whole lot of decorations. If you would want an airconditioned church and function room - go get it! The extra money is better and you, your groom, and your guests would be more comfortable and look less sweaty in photos. Also, no matter how awesome your makeup artist is and how waterproof it is, with today's heat, meltdown is meltdown.


In weddings, If you want a beautiful and hassle-free wedding, be prepared to spend, as wedding suppliers do not come in cheap. But understandably, it's quite too much to blow off all your savings for just one day. Spend wiser and smarter and spend on key items that will really matter so you can have more savings with the beautiful wedding with happy bride, happy groom, happy guests, and happy suppliers.

Directory

Ivory and White Bridal
Eaglestar Condominium , 25 Fabian de la Rosa St. Loyola Heights, Quezon City, 1100; 0917-324-2280 ; facebook.com/ivorywhitebridal ; ivoryandwhitebridal.com

Owee Salva
facebook.com/Cartwheel.Images; oweesalva.com

Palazzo Verde
palazzoverde.com.ph ; facebook.com/palazzoverdeeventsplace


Image Credits:
photo of Palazzo Verde and cover photo: Owee Salva
photographer photo: pexels.com
wedding dresses: facebook.com/ivorywhitebridal