Happy Wedding Wednesday!! This week I wanted to write about all the last minute expenses that every Bride will come across! Now that we are about 2 weeks away, so many different last minute add on’s have been brought up and unfortunately some of these were items that we had to wait on towards the end.. Let me get started.
Last minute expenses that had to wait towards the end:
-Catering headcounts: So usually with the catering companies, you have to provide them your final headcounts about 2 weeks before the wedding day. On their end this gives them enough time to make sure they have all the supplies/ingredients needed to feed your guests and this timeframe will give them the closest counts. For most brides, your headcount will come from your RSVPs. We sent out our invites in the beginning to mid August and gave our guests until Sept. 1 to send back the rsvps. Surprisingly we did have a lot send us the RSVP’s back by then but we did have a couple of stragglers. This caused me huge anxiety just because we did send out invites to 160 guests but we knew we weren’t going to receive “Yes’s” for everyone. So in our catering counts we only accounted for 130 adults. So as you can imagine if those additional 30 adults said yes to being able to come to the wedding that was a huge additional expense. Thankfully we really did a good job on estimating who was coming and who was not so at the end our numbers were just about right. Also brides, if you are on a budget, you will need to stand your ground on when guests ask for +1, especially if you had not counted them in your catering counts because the moment you start saying yes here and there, your catering expense will skyrocket towards the end.
-Seating chart: This is optional but we are doing a seating chart. I couldn’t complete the seating chart until I had all the confirmed guests. A seating chart display will more than likely require an additional expense. I have seen ideas where you can get a huge sign printed with the seating chart. I didn’t go this route because again it was end of September and I was still waiting on a couple of people to confirm. If you go the calligraphy route, again it’ll still have to wait until the end and depending on the calligrapher they may charge a rush fee.
-Place cards- also optional, but we are doing placecards for a certain amount of tables, and of course this had to wait until the seating chart was done. Lol I think ya’ll see where I am going with this. Basically all these last minute expenses come down to waiting for guests confirmations. So if you are a guest at weddings, PLEASE do the couple a HUGE favor and RSVP on time. Unless you are planning a wedding, you have no idea the stress this brings on towards the end.
-Logistics: Not sure how to exactly word this portion but basically once my coordinator and I started talking “day of” timeline, my mind went into 20 million directions. Here is a perfect example, our bartenders wouldn’t be arriving to the venue until about an hour and 15 minutes before the cocktail hour. This turned into a concern of mine because we are having shuttles drop off guests at the venue. So essentially I didn’t want guests to start arriving and the bartenders were still setting up. So basically adding an additional hour to the bartenders got rid of this concern, but that came with an expense we had not planned for. This similarly happened with our photographer, I didn’t realize with the actual timeline, that I really needed 1 additional hour, so that was an extra expense.
-Vendor meals: Another expense that we did not plan for. When we booked our caterer, we still hadn’t booked all of our other vendors, so for instance I didn’t realize how many vendors I would truly need to have a meal for at the wedding.
-Beauty Expenses: Ok this one is totally optional again, but I personally want to look and feel my best on my wedding day, I mean what Bride doesn’t. But that comes with a pretty $ sign tied to it. Here are the last minute things that I am doing that are going to surely add up: Facial, Hair Cut/Fresh Color, Nails, Eyebrows. As much as those things are things I wish I could spread the cost out, they’ll have to be done that week of.
-THE DETAILS: OMG, this killed me lol, I love detailed photography so everytime I would come across details on Instagram/Pinterest, I found myself adding things to “the list”. Things like a “pretty” ring box (LOL), to a brand new perfume. To things for the reception like all the different signage, and things for the signage. Like easels, picture frames, printing the pictures for the frames, the guestbook. I think this whole section will require a post on its own, because it is so much!!!
-Bridal Party Lunch: Again totally optional, but I am having my bridal party get ready with me and we will be at the venue all day. From my perspective it only feels right to at least provide them lunch, I don’t want any drunk bridesmaids falling over as they walk down the aisle, or any hangry bridesmaids..total buzzkill lol. Anyways again this is an expense that has to wait until the actual day.
-Vendor Tips: This is a customary thing to plan for. You will need to tip your awesome team for making this day happen. And with so many vendors, this is sure to add up. I found some guides that provide what percentage/who to tip. I will be sure to write a post on this as well.
Not so last minute expenses-but things that still add up.
-Bridal party gifts: I thankfully did a good job on getting this done early to spread it out and not feel this huge cost. My fiance did the same thing so this made us both feel at ease.
-Parent’s gifts: Another expense that should be expected, however we both focused on the bridal party gifts because there were so many people that we ended up leaving our parents to the end and this made it feel like a “last minute” expense.
-Bride/Groom details: Shoes/Jewelry/Undergarments, thankfully this was something else that we both bought with enough time that at the end it doesn’t feel like another huge expense.
-Honeymoon shopping: This is another of those optional things, but I found myself shopping for the honeymoon towards the end, even though I knew I should have started this way before. Thankfully I had purchases alot of cute swimsuits for my bachelorette weekend that I didn’t get to use so I am taking those with me to the honeymoon!
Alright that was a long one, I am sure I am missing some items, so post-wedding, I will be happy to come back and update this post. My biggest advice for these last minute expenses is to make a HUGE list and start prioritizing what are MUST haves and what are nice to haves. Also limit your usage of pinterest towards the end, because this was a huge lesson learned for me!! The more I got on pinterest, the more my ideas got wilder and expensive. Had I never seen that cool cake stand, I wouldn’t have cared for it. There were so many things that now towards the end I am not stressing about and realize that everything will be ok if I don’t have that ONE sign. Compared to an actual necessity like table numbers. Til next time!!
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