As a professional wedding planner, I often answer questions about what is and isn’t worth spending extra money on when planning a wedding. Here’s what I find matters most:
1. Hiring an extra hair and/or makeup stylist (or two)
How hair and makeup goes sets the entire tone of the wedding day so if you find you’re crunched for time or have more than three people getting hair and makeup done, spring for the extra stylist. If you’re unsure if this is needed, ask the main stylist you hired. They’ll tell you!
2. Cake-cutting fee
The idea of hiring someone to cut a cake (or any dessert that needs serving) can seem silly but believe me, it’s worth it. Cutting cake is one of the most time-consuming jobs you can do at a wedding and it often comes at a time when the people we’d ask instead of the caterer — inner circle wedding VIPs — want to get out there and party. My advice: Take the $1 a slice hit.
3. Bussers! (particularly if you’re not hiring a caterer who typically does weddings)
We often forget about set-up and clean-up on a wedding day and that’s particularly true for food and beverage. Who’s setting the tables? Who’s clearing the tables? Who’s washing the dishes? Who’s re-racking the rentals?
If you're hiring a "traditional" wedding caterer, the answer is nearly always the caterer but if your caterer doesn’t typically do weddings or is the type of caterer that only drops off the food and maybe manages the buffet line, they’re not going to do set-up or clean-up.
There are services you can hire to do this — The WaitStaff Team is a popular one in my area (note: per my code of conduct I don’t take any kickbacks for referrals). I’ve also worked with members of the clients’ own community, most notably a troop of Boy Scouts to do bussing for a 200-guest wedding in the middle of a field without water access.
The trick is to have a manager for whomever you assign as bussers. I fill this role for my clients; if you don’t have a coordinator or your coordinator isn’t available to do that work (many aren’t), promote someone else.
4. Hiring a florist to come back at the end of the night
Beside cutting cake, disposing of flowers is the next messiest job you can do at a wedding. It’s something I often do for my clients and it takes me most of the reception to handle (think: I collect vases, dump water, throw out flowers, and box up vases).
Ideally, you’d hire back any florist to return at the end of the reception. This is better both from a logistical point of view — it’ll save you on having to return anything you rented from them and from having to find someone to worry about the flowers.
It’s also better from a sustainability point of view. Many florists will take the flowers home to compost or dispose of appropriately (vs. shoving them into a black garbage bag and sending them off to a landfill).
5. All delivery and pick-up fees
Delivery and pick-up fees are nearly always worth it. What needs to be delivered and picked-up at a wedding? Common examples include floral vases, dessert platters, lawn games, and decor.
These fees can add up, particularly if, as in most cases, all items need to be out of the venue the night of the wedding. But the alternative — having a wedding guest do it — usually hurts a lot more. That’s especially true if you have a lot of wedding VIPs who are traveling for the wedding so they’re not as available to do returns in the days following the event.
Does your wedding need a gut check? Rent my brain for an hour.
6. Any set-up and clean-up labor (particularly for rentals)
Like cake-cutting, it can hurt to see a $1 per chair or $2 per table set-up and clean-up fee on your rental order but if your venue doesn't do this (and about half of the ones I work at, don’t), it’s worth it to pay the rental company.
Why? First off, they’re not dressed up nicely for your wedding so they don’t care if they get sweaty. Second, they know what they’re doing. Taking care of rentals may not sound like rocket science but it’s physically demanding and sometimes mentally challenging work. (Related: If you’re making your own rental order, this may be useful.)
On a related note: If you can, tip the delivery team. Few people do but they’re some of the hardest workers I know.