DC Wedding DJ - Six Budget Blowing Regrets

As an active Wedding DJ Service, we attend more weddings in the Washington DC area than the two guys in the movie “Wedding Crashers”! We always like to take in as much of the setting as possible and often marvel at the details we see. Estates, barns, hotels, parks, and backyards are just a few venue styles.

After the party is over and with the venue staff packing our gear, we see the aftermath. As we see tables with wedding favors left behind, desserts, and centerpieces unclaimed, we wonder if the couples would make the same choices.

To satisfy my curiosity, I went to the internet to see what information I could find. Sure enough, there is information about purchases couples would not have made had they known what they know now.

Here are the most common regrets:

Save on Washington DC Wedding Ceremony Decor

“We had a huge 250-person wedding, decked out to the nines in all regards. The one thing I thought was a waste… the aisle runner! Fricking $1,500, and I didn’t even notice it walking down. It doesn’t even really stand out in the pictures. An item I recommend to scrimp & save on!”

Save money on Wedding Programs/Guest books.

“Our guestbook is now in the landfill.”

“I wish we would have skipped our guestbook. My husband drew this awesome photo of a tandem bicycle with strings attached. We had an ink pad for people to stamp their fingerprints as balloons, and my cousin decided it would be funny to stamp his fingers to make it look like the bike was running over the balloons. We only had about ten people put their mark on it.

“Total waste, and I would not do it again!”

“I spent all this time creating these super cute Madlibs that doubled as our guestbook. We had 120 guests, and maybe…20 completed?

Save money on Washington DC Wedding Floral Centerpieces.

“My cousin had these gorgeous, involved centerpieces made by the florist, but we had to throw them out at the end of the night. She handed a few to guests, but many of us were traveling and couldn’t take them home.”

Save on your Wedding Bar Tab

Ever looked at a restaurant menu and noticed that the lunch meal is $8.99 and the drink is $2.99? The same thing can happen at your wedding.

Dumping Drinks to Inflate the Bar Tab

“I seem to remember a lot of unfinished drinks on tables as guests were dancing. They would return to their table and discover that the caterers had cleared them before the guest could retrieve them!”

This is common with pay-per-drink bars (either customer-pay bar or the couple pre-paid for X drinks bar).

Toasting with Bubbly

“A champagne toast wasn’t worth it to me. I knew half of our guests wouldn’t drink it. I wish I had chosen to have my guests toast with wine.”

Decaf coffee

Older women insisted we’d have many older guests wanting decaf since our wedding was in the evening. It was barely touched!”

Wedding Favors

“I wouldn’t have gotten the favors. I had heard a couple of times that edible was the way to go if you want people to take them, so we got a bunch of British candies (my husband is British, I’m American, and the wedding was in the US).

About 70 percent of them were left at the tables, and I’m positive no one would have been offended if they weren’t there.”

This comment is from a guest: “I just threw out a bunch of shot glasses, wine glasses, wine bottle stoppers, and mini photo frames. You collect them from every wedding and never use them because someone else’s name is on it.”

This person worked for an event company: “I worked for an event company while in University, and I can’t tell you how many times most of the favors were not picked up. Very frequently, there were more leftovers than were taken. Event staff often offered to take one in these situations, and I got some pretty sweet stuff!

Like the one bride that made little Vera Wang gift bags. No lie – people didn’t want to take them! I got home and had a little body wash, perfume, and a lotion set. The male version of the bag was pretty sweet, but I can’t remember what was in it.

Thinking back, the most popular favors were candy bars. People seem to love those.”

Save money on your Washington DC Wedding After-Party.

“After-parties are practically standard, and we followed suit at our wedding five years ago. But if I were planning it again, I would probably skip it.

Not because it wasn’t unique and fun—it was! We had a ’90s cover band, and it was just a hilarious, drunk bacchanal. But, frankly, we were having a total blast at the reception, dancing like maniacs, and the DJ was crushing it.

When we transitioned from the reception to the after-party, we lost a bit of that party momentum, and a few guests decided to call it a night (to be fair, it was 11:00 p.m.). We should have just kept the reception going.”

Save money on lodging for your Wedding Party.

“I married in a small town and became obsessed with all my closest friends and family staying under one roof at the hippest hotel in town. I loved the hotel, but let’s face it, we barely spent any time there. We spent significant money on a buyout fee that didn’t even include everyone’s room rates. Everything would have been just as perfect with guests scattered around town.”

At Perfect Harmony Entertainment, we provide exceptional DJ | Photo Booth | Lighting | Amusement services to clients in the four-state area. Our dedicated team of DJs performs at events in Harrisburg | York | and Lancaster as well as Washington DC | Northern VA | Frederick, MD, and all neighboring areas.

If you would like to learn more about our services or discuss your event in greater detail, please get in touch with us in the manner you prefer: Call | Text, | Email.

Perfect Harmony Entertainment

We help people create legendary events.