Not necessarily in terms of creativity, but in terms of the "box," many brides and grooms (especially brides) get into when it comes to their must haves. Most of us want the best of the best. The best caterer, the best DJ, the best photographer, and there's nothing wrong with that, except for that most of us can't afford the best of everything. In our case, we're splurging on the venue and photography. We feel like these are lasting investments (if you will), or really (that's just a fancy way of saying) the things we can justify spending thousands of dollars on.
When it comes to the trendy extras like a candy bar or photobooth, we're really having to restrain ourselves. We want it, but our budget simply doesn't have room for it all. For instance, I LOVED the smilebooth. We discovered it during our trip to New York at the Wedding Party, and it was my "must have," item for months. Seriously. Months. I told Aaron I didn't care how much it cost, and when we found it was approximately $1500 somehow (lol) I convinced myself that was reasonable.
Did I mention that was on top of our wedding costs? Yeah. Mr. B wasn't buying it.
Then I got on this kick about having a wedding planner. Mr. B wasn't convinced we needed one until we met with a few, and all the sudden he was all, "we can't do this without one!" Despite his lenancy on the issue, I knew our budget wasn't going to handle a smithbooth AND a planner. So I had to chose.
Of course, the planner was more jusifiable.We'd be utilizing the money we spent throughout the year and not just on one day (we wanted a full-time planner). Not only that, we definitely felt the planner would earn their fee by saving us money on the caterer, flortist, and other wedding-related expenses.
So alas, I had to say goodbye to my beloved smilebooth.
Smooth. I gave in on the smilebooth. Mr. B and I got the planner we felt we needed. Easy peasy. Then, something came up I wasn't so quick to overlook, which bring me to our current debate: chiavari versus banquet chairs.
Even though the cost isn't as high as the cost of a planner and smilebooth, a few hundred dollars goes a long way in the wedding-budget world. You don't want to throw away $200 or $500 on just anything, because there are a lot of good uses for that money (like contributing to more expensive items).
I'm not a fan of banquet chairs (no offense to brides out there that are planning to use them or that did). I think chiavari chairs are so much more beautiful! In the words of our planner, "They significantly upscale the design of the room!" AMEN!
But, I have to ask. Is this minor? Am I being a spoiled bride? Should I be more lax about this kind of thing? Who is going to notice the chairs?
Well, I will. I just think chiavari chairs takes a dining room from "all that's nice," to "wow, that's sophisticated!"
What's really the difference these two types of chairs, you ask?
Are chiavari chairs worth the splurge?
Were banquet chairs included at your venue? Did you use them?
