I hired this “makeup artist” over a year ago. We agreed on having three people coming to my destination wedding and she gave me pricing, it didn’t sound too crazy.

I went for my trial last September, she did nothing of what I asked. I told her I wanted a little bit more dramatic makeup because my eyes are small, she did the opposite “because my wedding it’s in the forest and it has to look natural”. I asked her to barely put any foundation since I like my skin and I only wanted my eyes to be the protagonists. She left me cakey, I had more wrinkles, I looked terrible.

I felt bad canceling and I was just sending her inspo and references over the last year.

Three weeks ago I went to a wedding so I made an appointment with her. She did nothing of what I asked again, but the makeup was not that bad so I didn’t say anything and just redid my face when I got home because it was too much.

That day she told me one of the hairstylist wouldn’t be coming because she had her aunt’s wedding. After that she has the audition to say that she’s taking her 14 years old nephew as her asistan to help with the hair. I did not say anything because I was in a rush, I messaged her during that week saying that I would not be comfortable with her bringing a kid to MY F WEDDING DAY and that I needed her to hire a professional and then she says it’s $300 extra because she had to pay her i’m like wtf?!?! We agreed on three people when I hired you and then she gaslighted me saying that that’s why she doesn’t like taking jobs so far away from the event. So? How is that my problem? She has to be professional.

I start calling every makeup artist I found and no one was available, so I thought “it’s okay” on the trial I won’t be a people pleaser and be honest if I want her to change something. Well… I was clear when I daw it and I was still nice saying that I didn’t like it. She starts making excuses as “your eyes are too small and and your lid doesn’t help” WHAT?!?!?! i’ve never had that problem before with another makeup artist, and then she continues doing whatever the f she wanted and starts applying the foundation hitting the sponge too hard on my face. I kept telling her I wasn’t convinced and she told me “I have to go so I don’t have time to fix it and it looks exactly as the reference” I tried to stay calm but at this point I was almost crying. Then she says that she will charge me way more money extra because she has to travel (2 hour drive) and loses a whole day of work. Ok WHAT? She gave me a minimum of people to go and I got even more. How are you losing the day of you’re still working????
Then she says that she does 13 makeups on a Saturday. I don’t even thinks that’s possible so I tell her I will get 3 more people. She still says it’s that amount of money (plus two nights hotel, paying for gas and tolls, their food for both days even if she’s just working one and makeup). She leaves. And then she bombs me with 20 messages saying that nobody ever complained about her work and that she felt very humiliated and cancelled completely but asks me to pay $800 for cancelation. But I didn’t cancel tho?? She would get even more work.

Sooo I don’t know if I should pay her because this job is ridiculous. I never saw such thing on a bridal makeup.

So at the end I’m doing my makeup myself. I’m not an expert but I totally like more what I do with my eyes and skin sometimes. I’m extremely pissed and sad. It’s like if planning a wedding without a wedding planer (out of budget) wasn’t stressful enough I add this 3 days before my wedding.

We got some gifts and cash from our 60 person wedding but we were so hurt that some of our best and closest family and friends, couldn’t even bother to write us a card/note. A couple of simple words.

EDIT: we were not expecting to receive gifts AND cards. I mean either OR. We did not ask for gifts at all. Surprised that our friends and family couldn’t share a heartfelt message.

10.02.2026 Graduate!! Imma be bragging for a long time!!

The day was absolutely amazing and perfect!! Some things fell through the cracks but only things that I will remember. I'm just happy to be marrying one of my best friends and that we have such fabulous memories and now photos to commemorate!! It was honestly a perfect day, but damn I was so stressed up until the first look. I wind myself up so much and honestly just needed my now husband to help soothe my nerves. ❤️

I didn't know how to word the title to be less harsh. I 100% understand why people ask this question so often! Wedding costs are crazy and initially it can feel overwhelming to get a sense of how much you will need to spend on your day. But without context or a local reddit wedding group, the answers are meaningless. Without knowing the approximate location, how many people were at the wedding, and ideally the time of year, you are going to get numbers as low as $35 to well over $300k! To break down those items further:

1. The approximate location. NYC cost of weddings versus the middle of Wyoming is going to be a huge difference even if you have the exact same amount of florals and type of food because NYC is a high cost of living area.

2. The amount of people. If you start to spend any time looking at information about weddings, the number one thing you will see is that guest count has the biggest impact on your overall cost. Why? Because your two biggest line items are (usually) the venue and the food. Larger venues usually charge more and more people means more food and staff to feed those people. Florals can also be a big line item and the more tables you have, the more flowers you will need.

3. The time of year. There are major savings if you get married in January vs June.

Bonus: When did they get married? Costs in the past few years have increased exponentially, so if you have a cost estimate that's over 4 years old, it probably won't give you a lot of context even if the first 3 items are the same.

So what can you do? As I said before, ask this question in a VERY specific reddit for your area or ask that people include the information above. Also, here's an example for you. According to the Knot (I know not everything they print is 100% but this is just an idea), the average cost of a US wedding for 2026 is $35k and the average wedding guest count is 117 people. This averages to $300 per person. Ask yourself this question: is where I want to get married above or below the national average? (Take into account this number can vary wildly; I doubt the Biltmore Estate is a great deal even if North Carolina is not as expensive to live in as New York).

With your $300 per person number (fudging it to your area), multiply it by your guest count and you can get an idea of what the average cost of your wedding might be. Again, local reddit or Facebook wedding groups with cost breakdowns can be amazing for getting an idea of cost! Find a few posts from the past year and just divide their cost by the amount of people. Once you have a decent sample size you can understand the per person cost of your area.

Of course, this is just for the USA weddings and International weddings can have their own cost breakdowns. And again, I understand why people ask the question- wedding planning is unlike anything anyone has ever done before and usually is only done once. The information is constantly changing and it can be very hard to start the process yet overwhelming once you are in it. Good luck to us all, whatever stage in the process you may be!

I want to know what expenses are definitely worth it, and which one you can skip. Me and my fiancée are in wedding planning modus, but we are limited by our bankaccount.

First and foremost, I know being stressed out about this is ridiculous. In the grand scheme, it really is not a big deal. I'm a super sentimental person and a big fan of the USPS, so I love mail. I love cards and hand written letters, so I've been really excited about the cards we're going to receive on our wedding day. I had my fiancé build a mailbox that will stand next to our guest book table for our guests to put cards in.

However, I can't get rid of the nagging feeling that people don't really write cards anymore. I rarely receive birthday cards from anyone other than aunts that live out of town (which is totally fine, because I LOVE writing cards for other people). Are there any people who have gotten married recently that received cards from their guests? I can't help but feel a little ridiculous about being worried about this.

We eloped earlier this year & just had our reception with close family & friends this past weekend after a year of planning.
I’ve been struggling with post wedding blues because so many of the little details I put so much time & thought into didn’t happen the way I planned. I spent so much time organizing & making binders for our vendors with every little detail so they would know exactly what to do. I wanted everything to be organized & clearly laid out so I could relax & enjoy the day knowing everything was taken care of.
But signs ended up on the wrong tables, my embroidered card handkerchief wasn’t put out, our card basket situation wasn’t what I had planned, we didn’t have a cake to cut, my sweetheart table didn’t get decorated, I was late getting ready, & I didn’t get to decorate everything the way I envisioned.
I know these things aren’t huge in the grand scheme of life, & I’m so grateful we got to celebrate with everyone. But I can’t stop thinking about how much time I spent planning all these details just for them to never even happen. It makes me feel like I wasted so much time & energy on things that ultimately got overlooked.
I think what hurts is that I tried so hard to prepare for everything. I made sure the instructions were there, the details were communicated, & everything was organized, but I still couldn’t control whether things actually got done. I wanted to look around that day & see all the little things I had worked so hard on come together, & instead I’m left thinking about what went wrong.
I was already having nightmares before the reception about being unprepared & running late, so having that actually happen has made it even harder to move past.
I don’t want to look back on our reception & only remember the things that went wrong. I’m happy to be married & grateful for everyone who helped make the day happen, but I’m also genuinely sad that parts of something I spent a year planning didn’t turn out how I imagined.
Has anyone else experienced this? How did you stop replaying everything & make peace with the things that didn’t go as planned?

We are having our wedding on a Sunday since our venue was booked for the Saturdays in the month we wanted. Our wedding goes from 6PM - 11PM, but we are considering an after party since a lot of our guests are taking off, staying at a hotel, or simply like to party lol. Is it worth it to have it at the venue for an extra hour (more food and open bar), or at the hotel for more hours but not food and no open bar?

My worry with the hotel is a lot less people will show up or go to their rooms instead… and people who aren’t staying at the hotel won’t have an incentive to go (which I understand!)

I’ve always been a hopeless romantic. I always dreamed that my wedding day would be a magical day that I’d be eagerly looking forward to. But recently, I’ve been faced with the reality that’s not the case.

Don’t get me wrong. My fiancé is the man of my dreams and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with him.

There’s only 3 more months until the wedding and there’s still so much to be arranged. I knew the planning and paying part of a wedding would be stressful but it’s causing me anxiety.

On top of that anxiety, I’ve been feeling hurt:

I have a circle of close friends, at least I thought that was the case. There’s another couple in this circle of friends that are getting married 3 weeks before us. Due to the nature of our work/connection, we share many mutual friends with this couple.

I’ve come to notice recently that many of the same people who I’ve invited to my wedding (including some of my bridesmaids and my MATRON OF HONOUR!!) have posted their wedding invitation on social media while I haven’t seen any post about ours.

It is especially upsetting that I spent a lot of time and money making bridesmaids proposal gifts, spending hours on putting together wedding invitations and all of that work feels like nothing to people I consider my closest.

I know that comparison is the thief of joy. They’re my friends and I’m happy for them but I can’t help but feel hurt to not receive that kind of energy, causing me to emotionally spiral. Makes me wonder why. Is it because I’m not a good friend? Does no one really care about us? Why oh why?

I ended up deactivating my social media for the time being because I know that all this is not good for me mentally. Just wanted to get all this off my chest.

I’m looking for some honest perspectives because I’m really struggling with this decision.

I’ve ALWAYS wanted a traditional wedding, and I still do, but the costs are becoming incredibly discouraging. We aren’t planning to get married until 2029 to give ourselves more time to save, but our expenses are very high right now since we pay cash for me to attend graduate school. We can save, but nowhere near enough for the large wedding I’ve always envisioned.

We have a large family, and our engagement party alone had 85 people, with another 15 or so who couldn’t attend. Our guest list would likely be 100–120 people. We’re already looking at ways to cut costs, like simplifying desserts and supplying our own alcohol, faux florals, etc but it still feels overwhelming.

My fiancé would prefer to elope and have a reception at a later date. While I understand the financial appeal, it was never something I wanted. Part of why this is so hard is that I’ve never really felt celebrated. I never had a Sweet 16, highschool and college graduation party, or many birthday celebrations, and prom wasn’t a particularly fun experience. I always imagined my wedding would be a chance to finally have that special moment celebrating us with the people we love.

I’m starting to wonder if eloping is the smarter decision, but I’m scared we’ll never actually have that traditional wedding celebration later.

For those who originally wanted a traditional wedding but eloped for financial reasons, do you regret it? Are you happy with your decision, or do you wish you’d found a way to have the wedding you originally wanted? I’d especially appreciate hearing from people who struggled with the decision, too.

My fiance and I got engaged in Hawaii a few months ago. After, we were talking about where to have our wedding (we want a micro destination wedding), and he is set on Hawaii, where we got engaged.

Now, I obviously love Hawaii. Its beautiful and it is the one place that means something to us. But..it is honestly not where I can picture my dream wedding.

My dream wedding is dark romance, castles, victorian mansion type vibes. I want our wedding photos to have a moody, Gothic vibe with a castle/mansion in the background. I have always loved that type of vibe.

I brought this up to my fiance, and he said it was fine, he just doesnt know where to look.

After our trip in Hawaii, we started looking at places that have this type of vibe, and we started looking at photographers who can do that moody/gothic look. I was in love with this and this is what I could picture for us.

The issue was finding a place, and not knowing if we would actually like it or not. I did find a few places. One that I actually really love. But we've never been to that state, dont know the surrounding areas, etc.

So after a few weeks of looking I told my fiance we should just have it in Hawaii. We already know the area. We Know activities to do with our small list of guests. But....its just not my dream vision. My fiance was super happy that I agreed on Hawaii.

We found a venue in Hawaii, but haven't made any plans yet. But, now I keep thinking about the vision I want, and I just wont get that in Hawaii.

What do I do? I know ultimately the decision is both of ours. I dont want to settle on Hawaii, but I dont want my fiance to settle on another place either.

Any advice is appreciated

Hello!! I’m getting married in February and have been trying to figure out what activity we could do during cocktail hour (although rental would allow us to keep it during the entire event). It’s a small wedding, 40 guests, all adults. No reception, just cocktail hour and plated dinner!

My fiance and I love the idea of renting a claw machine as it’s something personal to both of us and I think it would be fun for our guests as well.

The company lets you put anything you want in it, so I want to ask for ideas! What could we put in it?

hi all! i’m a south asian bride who is marrying an american man. we are not doing a big desi wedding with multiple events. we will be doing an american ceremony followed by a cocktail hour then dinner. I plan on wearing a white wedding gown and then switching into a saree or lehenga for dinner / dancing.

my family isn’t big on huge cultural traditions so we’re planning to do small additions of our culture into parts of the ceremony. i’ve truly had a bit of a hard time with this because it seems like everyone i speak to feels strongly about doing X instead of Y or vice-versa.

somethings i need a bit of guidance or advice on:
- has anyone had a fusion wedding, if so what do you have your bridesmaids wear? i’m struggling to decide if i want them in a saree or lehenga or if i just have them wear a regular bridesmaid dress.
- how do you deal with going against tradition? i’m having our wedding party sit and that seems like the end of the world to literally everyone around us. even the white dress feels like a slap in the face to some.
- how have you incorporated bits and pieces of your culture into a traditional american wedding?

I know it’s our wedding at the end of the day and it shouldn’t matter what others think but as a south asian, these things tend to be big deals and carry weight. balancing two wedding cultures is exhausting and feels really lonely given everyone i know typically leans towards one or the other. any advice would be appreciated. :)

I would appreciate any ideas, advices or recommendations.

Context:

My partner and I come from two very different backgrounds. His family is pretty traditional and strict, and they aren't thrilled that I'm from a different culture. My family is the complete opposite, loud, warm, and always looking for a reason to celebrate.

I would have loved a wedding that reflected my culture. However, my partner has zero interest in his own culture and doesn't want any part of it included. To avoid drama with his family over doing "too much" of mine and "too little" of his, we decided to go with a simple, universal style instead.

At first I thought about just going to a registry office and calling it a day. But after thinking it through, I realised I still wanted to celebrate in some way, even if it's small
Now, we're planning an intimate gathering with under 40 people, just our immediate families and a few close friends.

Nooow this is where I’m unsure:

- My plan is to have a simple ceremony (takes about 30-40 min)
- Then have a sit down 3 course meal (probably will taken 1-1.5 hour)
- Cake cutting (30 min)
- And that’s it
All happening in one venue which is lovely hotel.

What we are not planning:

- No Dj or dancing (since his side of family is quite traditional and not the type to dance, and I think different taste in music due to culture differences just make things awkward) - and I can’t imagine a single person from his side willing to dance.
- Not much drinking since only a few handful of the younger generation will drink

Now whenever I think of this plan, I feel sad.

I feel like it sounds boring and waste of peoples time. I don’t know what else I can add to the day, that doesn’t require the two side of family mingling too much (language barrier) and overall his side not being overly pleased. Since drinking and dancing is not there, I don’t know what else I can add to the day. My current plan is done and over in just over 2 hours which feels ridiculously short. I have considered adding speeches, but due to language differences I don’t think it will add anything more than 15-20 min to the day.

Most importantly

We are trying to stick to a budget of 8k for the wedding, 4k of that is for the ceremony room hire, guest dining room hire and catering for our guests. Photography is around 1k and videographers is around 1k.

Leaves me 2k to cover, hair, makeup, suit, registrar and decor - already bought my dress.

Do you have any recommendations on what I can do to add more to the day to make things more fun but without adding too much extra cost ?

TLDR: I feel like the intimate wedding day I planned is too boring, with no dancing and difference in cultures on top of a low budget, what can I do to make the day more fun or improve it?

In regards to photography and videography, my fiancee and I hired a company called YourLoveFilms supposedly based out of Tennessee. We spoke to our photographer recently who was being contracted out by this company for the first time, and she expressed concerns and suspicions of the legitimacy of this organization after she and and friend of hers discovered they were using stock photos on their website. In the contract we signed with this company they did mention they sell data to third parties, my assumption is those third parties probably involve stock photos. I was wondering if anyone in this subreddit has had any experience with the company YourLoveFilms and if so did you have any issues or complaints that we should be aware of?

Hi all, has anyone ever found a location that is reasonably priced for just a big wedding after party / reception? Ideally South West.

I got legally married recently with just our parents due to my Dad being terminally ill and it needing to be rushed. However, we still want to celebrate with friends, wear my dress, cut cake, have speeches and photos etc. but we don’t need the legal ceremony and it doesn’t need to be a ‘wedding’. I can’t see to find anywhere that caters for this, or if they do it’s just as expensive as an entire wedding!

Would be keen to know if anyone has done something similar?

Thanks in advance

How are you guys paying for your Long Island wedding?
I’m feeling very overwhelmed. It’s going to end up costing us 70K for just one night. Our wedding isn’t until 2028 so we have time but I just can’t stop thinking about the upcoming payments.

I feel like canceling, going to a court house and having a small dinner with close friends and family.

My fiancé and I booked Lero Movie for our wedding and are hoping to hear from couples who have worked with them in the last six months or so.

We had our engagement session recently and have had some difficulty getting responses about the photo delivery timeline. It will be 2+ months until we receive our photos with a blatant refusal to provide a clear timeline.

We’re trying to get a better understanding of what the experience is like from start to finish, particularly regarding communication and receiving the final wedding photos and videos. They have 5 stars everywhere and were communicative and straightforward until after the deposit went down.

If you’ve worked with them, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience! We plan on asking for contract amendments once we receive our photos but…. should we just cut our losses and walk away?

How was communication before and after your wedding?

How long did it take to receive your engagement photos, wedding previews, and complete wedding gallery?

How long did your wedding video take?

Did they deliver everything they promised, and would you hire them again?

Thank you so much!

Good thing it’s indoors! (Just the cocktail hour was going to be outdoors but easily swapped). And good thing I like the rain.. aside from the ruining dress, hair, and makeup part.

my fiancé and I are trying to figure out what we want our seating chart sign to look like, and we want it to be personalized to us and our interests. for reference, we saw a girl on instagram that did her seating chart as vinyls from her favorite artists (emilysrommel if you want to take a look, she did amazing) and we thought it was so cool, but realistically not something we could do to that extent.

what are some simple ways we can make our seating chart more creative, whether it's the look of the sign itself or the names of the tables? we both love to read and he threw out the idea of having the tables named after our favorite authors or characters. also if anyone else has done something cool I would love to see it!

Looking for a pianist that can record a song for my aisle walk!! I cannot find any instrumental versions of the song I’d like to walk down the aisle to, and looking to see if this is possible.

Quick question, does the groom usually give a speech at the rehearsal dinner? Or no?

Who typically gives speeches?

Thank you.

I completely forgot about my nails like a dummy and I got my spray tan done tonight before my manicure tomorrow. Tomorrow is my only option to get nails done as it’s our rehearsal. I have gel polish on but I plan to get dip nails. Anyone have experience with getting a manicure with a fresh spray tan and it not stripping it? Would it be better to just do a polish change and not a manicure?

It’s a rapid spray tan and I’ll wash off the guide tonight so by the time of my appt I would have already showered.

Thanks!

I am MOH for my best friend who is wanting to get married August of 27’. She has told me that she wants her bridal shower to be this Winter. She got engaged this Summer and told me about her preferences for the bridal shower soon after. She specifically wants it this Winter as more family will be in town and able to attend. I completely offered to plan the shower and have only asked for some input on planning. A guest list was requested and I still haven’t received this.

There are no other vendors for the Wedding booked.

This shower will be held at one of my family members homes. Because she is wanting the shower so soon, I am having to go ahead with planning and will need to send invites within the next two weeks.

My family member expressed that it is strange to hold a bridal shower for someone who does not have a wedding date set. What do you guys think? Should I say something to my best friend? I have expressed to her already that there is not much more time until Aug of next year.

Every time I ask about how planning is going she says that she just needs to make her final decisions and get her thoughts organized. I feel like maybe she is overwhelmed with the planning of things, but at a certain point she does need to get a date set. I am not sure my family member will be willing to host the shower without a wedding date.

Any advice is appreciated!