First Things First: Priorities.

One of the first things B and I did before we made any decisions (actually we haven't made any permanent decisions yet) was each make a list of our priorities. This list was based on what was most important to us for our wedding.

We each forced ranked the following categories: reception venue, ceremony venue, food, drink (yes I kept these separate, I'll explain later), attire, decorations, reception entertainment, photography, videography, and invitations.

Here is what our lists look like:

I was actually surprised at how similar our lists turned out. Yes, photography is 2 spots lower on his list, but its still in the top half. This made it easier for us to come up with a budget because we know what was important to both of us for the wedding. 

Now, I did say that this list was to prioritize what is important to us for the wedding, and in a lot of cases it means what we will be spending more money on. Lets look at the budget and see how everything is broken down.

 So, the total reception (venue, food, and drink) makes up more than 50% of our total wedding budget. Yes, that's pretty high, but it is important to us to get married in a place that is unique and shows off San Diego to all of our out of town visitors. I am very proud of my hometown, and LOVE showing it off to people. The venues on our list all sit right on the water and have a terrific view, therefore command premium price.

Next is photography with 14%. We will be looking back on these photos for years, so it is so important that we are happy with the quality and aesthetic. 

Everything else falls around 3% and 8%. Even though some things were high on our priority list, like reception entertainment, we are not spending a lot of money on those items. We feel like we can DIY some of those things to bring the costs down. I will discuss this at a later date.

I will be curious to see how this pie chart changes as we actually start paying for things. I am hoping the reception percentage (and total $) goes down. We shall see!