List of Importance -

For us the order of importance was

1. Venue

2. Dress

3. TOG/VOG

4. Food

5. Flowers

6. Cake

7. DJ

8. Stationery

9. Favours

10. Honeymoon

WSS

Church

Reception Venue

Photographer

Videographer

Dress/Suit

Stationery (invitations/order of service/place names/table plan etc.)

Honeymoon

Flowers

Venue Decor

DJ/Entertainment

My list is exactly the same as jojo2 with car hire being number 11 in priority.

I think mine are:

1. Venues

2. TOG

3. Dress

4. Food

5. Stationary

6. DJ

7. Flowers

8. Cake

9. Favour

10. HM

Saying that, this is not the order in which I sorted stuff! And some things (like cake and stationary) I had to research for ages, and yet I only have a vague idea of what my flowers will look like!

1 church

2 reception venue

3 dress

4 honeymoon

5 photographer

6 flowers/decor

7 cake

8 favours

9 stationery

10 food

Thanks for the replies, its really interesting to know. I have to say that i am very surprised by how important stationary is, but as soon as i said to my OH she agreed.... must be a man thing ?

I thought id put my list on here as well. Nothing to do with the OH choices lol

1. Venue
2. Dress/ Suits
3. Entertainment
4. Food
5. TOG/VOG
6. Car
7. HM
8. Venue Decor
9. Cake
10. Flowers

I forgot car hire - but in my defence we're using our camper so haven't actually had to organise that! It would be high on our priorities I think

To play devils advocate, which in this list gives you a physical reminder of your day for the rest of your life and which are day only related??

Then again, I am biassed.

If the entertainment was not out of this world i would certainly regret it. Being in the wedding entertainment industry i know that i would look back and kick myself if we didn't have the best we could.

I know photos an important part, but we have lots of friends who are wedding photographers and will be in attendance so its not something that is important to me as i know that we will get some amazing shots. Also i hate the thought of taking an hour or 2 out of the day to pose for photos which have no true reflection on our day. I would rather a very natural photographer with photos that just happen and are not false.

Church

Reception venue

Guests

Food

Drinks

Photographer

Dress(and BMs)

Ceremony music

Suits

Flowers

Cake is important in that I want to have one, but as I'm making it, it's easy to control. Don't want anything fancy though.

Cars never got close to my list - I would have been quite happy with any car my dress would get into and come out in a good state - no one sees them properly and I'd much rather spend lots of money on an interesting hire car on the honeymoon so we can actually drive the thing. Wedding car money would easily cover a day or weekend hire of a baby supercar! Or at least a sports car to take up an interesting mountain pass!

Honeymoon is less important than the day for me as I don't want a traditional honeymoon - I'd rather spend the week in a tent in Wales than go to an all inclusive beach resort (that might have something to do with the fact I really don't tan, don't really do hot weather and my wedding is in June!)

I don't wish to distract from this thread, and I also like naturally occurring photography. That said, there is nothing "false" on he wedding day if it is part of what actually happened, not in the hands of a professional who can art creative images or create "environments" where natural things occur. For example, at a prime local venue, I know of a location where few go. Couples adore this shot and want it in their album, although if left to chance, it would never happen. IMHO the best photographic mix is natural blend with artistic imagery.

Which of these images are "false" and which were naturaly occuring?

I can understand exactley what you mean but its not for us, i just do not like these "artistic pose" shots that you can tell are purly for photographic purposes and not a true reflection of the day.

?I am trying to widen the discussion, purely as many couples regret elements of the photography that is missing after the event....Over the years on this forum we have seen this dozens of times.

We were very pleased with our shots (hmm, need to flash these!)

They were a mix of everything - a few "standards" - but this is a rare occasion where we get families together.

A few really nice shots of Carmens 96yr old gran is priceless considering she didn't want us to make plans for her!

I do understand the need for having a tog in control, otherwise it ends up like hiring a jukebox for the evening and expecting a guest to sort out the 1st dance...

For our wedding, the Tog and Entertainment were equally important.

The venue had to be good value - but we've both seen enough weddings to know its the guests that make the day - hiring a castle or village hall doesn't really make much difference to the evening party.

Then the Food has to be good. It was :-)

From a guys perspective, the Dress/Suits - lets face it, the bride will look great anyway :-)

Minister

Guests

Photographer

Food

music

Dress

Suits

BMs

Drinks

Flowers

Venue (Incl venue decor - it's a village hall and needs to be dressed to impress)

TOG

Food / drink

Entertainment

dress/suit

Stationary

And that's about it. We're going for simple (although not necesarily cheap - more good value is a focus!)

?

Venue/food

Dress/suits

DJ

Photographer

Stationery

We prioritised these above all the things we disn't really care about (cake, car, etc). I will also add that I suspect the DJ thing is artificially high on our list, because music is such an important and defining feature of us and we wanted that reflected in our day (it was themed in our stationery, place settings and venue decor).

1. Venues

2. Dress/ suit (inc. BMs and groomsmens)

3. TOG

4. Flowers

5. Honeymoon

6. Cake

7. DJ

8. Stationary

1. Venue

2. Dress and accessories

3. TOG/VOG

4. Food and drink

5. Honeymoon

6. Flowers

7. Venue decoration

8. Music

9. Dance lessons

Let's see...

1.Food

2.Outfits

3.Entertainment

4.Drinks

5.Flowers

6.Venue

7.TOG

8.Cake

9.Favours

10.Transport

11.Stationery

12.Honeymoon

I think this is roughly reflected in the proportion of our budget we are spending on things.

Venue

Church

TOG

Dress

Decorations/flowers

Band

stationary

food/drink

cake

suits

Whilst we had a car, I wasn't bothered what transport we had as long as it wasn't a horse! my dad sorted this - otherwise I would have probably walked and then gone in my own car to the venue. OH disagrees and says he would have sorted something for us, and he would place it in the list ahead of the cake. Suits he would also place higher but neither of us was bothered about top hat and tails or hire suits, OH just bought one he liked and would wear again. (Bought less than a month before I have to add so it wasn't that big a priority for him!) He would also put the band and food above stationary and decorations.

My order of importance is;

1) Ceremony Venue

2) Accomodation (abroad wedding)

3) Food

4) Photographs

5) Entertainment

6) Honeymoon

7) Dress

Couldn't care less about transport, flowers, decorations or stationary at all.