Expensive Mistakes to Avoid on Wedding Details Your Guests Will Not Appreciate

Expensive Mistakes to Avoid on Wedding Details Your Guests Will Not Appreciate

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Sometimes you waste a LOT of money on stupid things for your wedding. Trust me, I know. When I had my destination wedding many ago, I shipped a whole bunch of cases of bottled water with personalized labels to Puerto Rico when I could have just re-labeled bottles after I arrived. But in the moment, as I pictured my perfect welcome bags to greet my guests, that simple cost-saving step totally escaped me. I just clicked and ordered. I think my guests were drinking the most expensive bottled water in the United States.

As a wedding planner, it's my job - and my goal - to help my clients avoid repeating stupid mistakes I made at my own wedding. I also have 500-weddings-worth of experience to help guide them away from things that have been epics fails for clients. And we've had some doozies. Since the explosion in popularity for personalizing everything that will sit still, I've been surprise, amused, and horrified by the vast array of things my clients have purchased for their guests.

The difficult thing is that, between Pinterest and Etsy, it's easy to believe that ANYTHING is a good idea to spend money on for your wedding. And it's not. Some things are bad ideas because they are in poor taste (a joke not everybody will get, perhaps). Occasionally, they're just bad quality or they wouldn't have been so cheap. Seriously. Let me give you three examples of wedding goody fails:

1) Wedding t-shirts are super cute and look fantastic on your guests at events in your pictures, but do you REALLY know what size shirt every single guest prefers? Of course not. And unless you put a "Shirt Size" blank on your RSVP cards (perhaps under the dinner options?), you're winging it when you order. Reality check: Not everybody is the size you THINK they are. So if you want to be absolutely, positively sure that everyone will get a t-shirt as a favor at a wedding event, you have to order plenty of extra shirts in every size. NEVER attempt to put clothing items by size in a welcome bag because they're stuck if the item doesn't fit. Most people won't want to upset you by revealing the problem.

2) Too many cutesy pictures of baskets of flip flops for "dancing shoes" are cropping up on wedding websites. Let me dispel the myth - nobody wears those. Okay, that's not fair, some really wasted chick will put on a pair, and probably trip, but the rest of the crew will ignore them, unless they're simply taking a picture of the attractive display. Like t-shirts, people prefer to choose their own shoe size and you aren't going to get shoe sizes from every guest in advance. Plus it's REALLY hard to see the sizes on the flip flops if the light is dim or you have been drinking, so for most guests, finding a pair that fits isn't worth the effort. Even when your wedding planner takes the time to put very visible, adorable tags on each individual pair. They're usually the super cheapo sandals that you get when you forget to bring your own flip flops to a good salon for a pedicure. Nothing you'd wear again. Don't waste money buying and shipping shoes that people don't actually want to wear. I can assure you, as a wedding planner, we've ended up donating a huge number of shoes to charities over the years before they'd ever been dancing.

3) Wearable or usable items with the bride's and groom's names all over them only get worn or used during the wedding weekend. Beach totes make fabulous welcome bags that your guests will use for years if they just have the name of your destination or a cool graphic on them. Even solid colors are fine. But if you print "Sandy and Bill, Vieques Island, 9/4/2004" on them, don't expect to see your friends using them after your wedding. Most unmarried men won't even use them for grocery bags. One single guest grumped about a personalized bag and told me it would make him "appear married." He said no single, respectable guy was going to use a pink bag with green wedding stuff on it in a grocery store where he might meet a hot single woman. Hilarious!

It is possible to put your names on pretty much everything now for a reasonable amount of money, but that doesn't mean you should. Beach towels, playing cards, bottles, hats, tacky sunglasses and pretty much anything else you can think of is available online. Etsy.com has taken personalizing your wedding to an entirely new level - but that's not always a good thing. Brides and grooms are spending far more money now on little extras than they were eight years ago when I started planning weddings. Because most couples have a tendency not to include those items in their overall budget, they end up spending a lot more money than they'd initially intended.

Some of the loveliest welcome gifts and reception favors I've seen have been the simplest and least expensive. Fancy wedding cookies that actually taste good (the ones with the couples' picture on them are usually pretty nasty) work for welcomes and goodbyes. Most guests love to find the mixings for a cocktail or a split of wine in their room upon arrival, but bottled water is good, too. Personalized CDs (and now little data sticks). Flower bulbs to "grow your love" can be fun if your guests aren't all apartment dwellers without gardens. Give it some thought before you choose things. You don't want to throw away money on gifts nobody really wants.

If you have the personalization-bug, use it on consumable items like labels (not entire bottles) for your bottled water, or playing cards. Those sorts of items are one-size-fits-all. Hats are fun too, if you don't put your names and wedding date on them, and you choose a gender-neutral color. Not all men do wear pink. Beach towels are nice, but they're more expensive.

The thing to keep in mind when you choose what to personalize, and what to neutralize, for your wedding is the target audience - your wedding guests! These are items that are really not ALL about you. Sure, they should reflect your taste and style because it's your wedding. Some people are inclined to put wine in a welcome bag, others prefer to give tequila. But remember that you're trying to give them something that THE GUESTS will enjoy, not something that you would enjoy receiving. Don't blow your budget on something that won't get used or will be left behind unless you have money to burn.

Until next time, happy wedding planning from Weddings in Vieques and Sandy Malone Weddings & Events!

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