Where decor budget actually goes

Decor quotes usually arrive as one number. That is convenient for the vendor and useless for you. Here is how a mid-range wedding setup divides in practice.

Fresh florals take the largest share, often forty percent, and they are perishable — priced on the morning market rate, not last month.

Lighting is the line item most couples cut first and regret hardest. A beautifully built stage under flat white banquet light photographs like a showroom. Uplighting and pinspots are comparatively cheap and change every photograph taken that night.

The second thing to protect is labour. A build crew that arrives at dawn instead of noon is the difference between a finished room and a room being finished while your guests walk in.