Diary Of A Real Dubai Bride – Budgeting and Priorities
Written by Rhiannon Downie-Hurst on November 28, 2021.
Tagged under: Mixed wedding, Texas wedding, diary of a real bride, wedding budgeting
Our blushing bride-to-be Kenz is back, and this time, she shares her budgeting priorties. Will napkins win over donkeys? Read on to find out!
This month has been all about how the wedding budget is spent. I’m surprised at how relaxed I’ve become with the little things. I’m normally a very detail oriented person (on certain things), but when my mother brought up getting personalized stamps for the wedding invitations, it just felt like a useless thing to me. An unnecessary expense. -However, these total cheesy heart shaped sunglasses glasses are an absolute must to me, even though my mother thinks they’re an unnecessary expense. This month I wanted to share the things I personally want to splurge more money on, the things I don’t, and why!
Guest Book – Spend!
To me this is one of the most important things. Taz and I wanted to be sure we had something very unique in terms of guest books. In place of a guest book, we’re using a company called Afterthetone.co which I am SUPER excited about. They send you a super cute vintage phone. When the guest pick it up, they hear a little voice message tone and can leave a message which you can then even press into a vinyl if you’d like. In addition to this, we’re making our own album cover for the vinyl which we will also have guests sign. We love this as we have a whole record wall in our house so it’ll be a nice addition.
Napkins – Save…
This was something my mom thought was important, personalized napkins. I don’t get it! It’s something people are going to use to clean themselves with, then throw away. I’ve never seen anyone take napkins home, or comment how cute the napkins were. No thanks, nice plain white ones will do fine for me.
Decor – Spend!
I’ve already talked about my disco-balls and chandeliers above my dance floor. This to me is something that I want no matter what. I would honestly rather take away from the dinner budget (let them eat cake) than not have my disco balls and chandeliers. To me, the decor of the wedding is what makes it unique, you and your fiances personality should shine through it! And I feel like these items particularly do just that for us.
Dessert Bar – Save…
We’re having a little s’mores bar as there’s a really cute fire pit at our venue. My mother thought it’d be cute to take a few graham crackers, a marshmallow, and a piece of chocolate, and put them in little personalized bags. It would be cute and I do agree. However, why spend that much money and time, when you can get 3 nice jars, one for each of the item, and slap it in that. More money for the important things (plus better for the environment).
Standout Piece – Spend!
I think everyone needs to have a standout piece in their wedding. Be it the music, the venue, entertainment, decor, etc. Something that people for years go “Omg, remember x from ‘so and so’s wedding?! For me, I think our standout is going to be the beautiful donkeys that are going to be carrying around the alcohol at the cocktail hour (I’ve also spoken about them in a previous article). They’re so unique and fun! It’s another thing that I don’t mind pulling from other budgets to make them fit in as they’ll be something people talk about for a long time (at least I think so)!
Again these are just my thoughts. Spend where you want to spend, save where you want to save. And remember, it’s your wedding, not your guests! Make it yours.
Don’t forget to visit us next month to see Kenz’s latest bridal diary post and to find out how their wedding plans are progressing! You can also follow Makenzie over at @Kenzieland on Instagram for more wedding updates!
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