How to not get scammed on your wedding plans

It’s a multibillion-dollar industry for a reason. Don't get got. We want to hear from you! So much has changed in the last few years, so we want to touch base and get to know your wants and needs. Will you take Vox’s audience survey today? [Yes!]( What the wedding industry really wants is for you to be a sucker. When people start to prepare for the big day, they’re prone to getting swept up in the emotion of it all and can fall victim to shady vendor contracts and overspending. Planning the big day is stressful, and couples feel pressure to keep up with the Joneses, regardless of what they can actually afford. My colleague Emily Stewart spoke to many wedding specialists and planners about [how to look out for red flags, even while wearing the rose-colored glasses that come with being engaged](. As one specialist put it, weddings are “a luxury, they’re not an obligation. Weddings are optional. You don’t need a wedding to be married.” While that’s true, it’s not a point that stops anyone from tying the knot in the most extravagant way they can. It’s just important not to go overboard or into debt in the process. —[Melinda Fakuade](, associate editor of culture & features   You know what your wedding doesn’t need? Doughnut walls. [a black and white image of a car with a JUST MARRIED! sign on it, and a ''dollar sign'' scribble across the image]( Amanda Northrop/Vox Susan Norcross has a real bone to pick with doughnut walls. Not their particular existence, but rather what they represent for her as a wedding planner: a trend she finds some of her clients asking about because they saw it online, and one that they absolutely don’t care about or need to have. “In 20 years, do you think you’re going to look at your husband and go, ‘We didn’t have the doughnut wall’? No,” Norcross, who owns The Styled Bride in Philadelphia, said. “For the most part, all these little tiny things, these — pardon my French — BS things that people get hung up on, I’m like, that’s really not the point.” Weddings are meant to be a moment to celebrate love, one of the most important days of people’s lives as they bring their friends and families together. They can also be incredibly expensive, costing tens of thousands of dollars on average (especially if you’re in certain parts of the country). Then there’s the so-called wedding tax, where services, products, and vendors for weddings wind up costing much more than they would for a birthday party, corporate gathering, or other event. [Basically, it turns out there’s a $ in that $pecial day. Amid inflation and current economic conditions, wedding costs now are even higher.]( Even for the seasoned wedding planners like myself, it is hard to estimate budgeting, because suddenly overnight the cost of things that we have known what they cost for ages ... have skyrocketed,” said Mandy Connor, the owner of Hummingbird Events and Design, based in Boston. I reached out to a bunch of wedding planners — many who focus on luxury and high-end events — to talk about how they think about the institution of weddings, what’s worth it and what’s not. Of course, no wedding planner is going to be like, “OMG, this is totally a scam.” But it was surprisingly insightful. We talked about the potential pitfalls couples should look out for, the ways they should navigate priorities, and how external pressures from friends, family, and the internet weigh on a day that should, ultimately, be about them. And, of course, we talked money. [Read the full story »]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...](   Will you take Vox's audience survey today? [Yes!](   The Instagram capital of the world is a terrible place to be Just because you can (sort of) afford to go somewhere doesn’t mean you’ll enjoy it. [Read the full story »](   A Twitter trial would expose Elon Musk to scrutiny. Buying Twitter might help him avoid it. The billionaire might buy Twitter after all — and for once not get his way. [Read the full story »](   More good stuff to read today - [How to come up with a unique Halloween costume without spending a ton of money]( - [Cheating scandals hit different right now]( - [How to get over a breakup — no matter which side of it you’re on]( - [Every movie right now, from Amsterdam to Glass Onion, stars a million A-listers]( - [Celeste Ng is back with a dark parable of America’s history of child removal]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Manage your [email preferences]( or [unsubscribe](param=goods). If you value Vox’s unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring [contribution](. View our [Privacy Policy]( and our [Terms of Service](. Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Floor 12, Washington, DC 20036. Copyright © 2022. All rights reserved.