Weddingbee

I think weddingbee has showcased a whole range of budgets.

I agree with you. Most of the bees are DIY-mode or have large budgets so I don’t feel relate to them at all. However, I continue to read the blog because I am bored…hahaha….

I think there is a wide variety of “bees” blogging on this side. There have been several bees with large budgets, or whose parents are picking up the tab for their wedding!

I’ve read blogs from several brides who have expensive designer dresses, (or even two dresses!) and spending hundreds of dollars on their wedding shoes alone. These are certainly not brides trying to “scrimp.”

Take a poll to see what the average weddingbee reader is looking to spend on their wedding, and use that as an indicator if you need to have more big budget brides.

I think that Weddingbee is great for having all sorts of budgets. The fact is, those that are having the 850K wedding probably aren’t going to sit and blog about it all day. If you want big budget, watch Platinum Weddings…if you want reality…go to weddingbee!!
my 2 cents.

I can’t help but wonder what dollar amount the letter-writer had in mind. I would estimate that most of the Weddingbee weddings are far from low-budget. When I want my fix of over-the-top weddings that I can’t afford, I go to a bookstore and droll over the fancy bridal magazines. Call me crazy, but something makes me uneasy about someone being “frustrated” that the topics here aren’t big-money enough. Am I the only one who feels this way?

I do NOT want to see “spend on a whim” wedding planning on Weddingbee. You can easily plan a wedding if money were no object and most wedding sites/blogs cover that aspect of wedding planning. The reason that I’m a devoted reader to Weddingbee is for the budgeting tips and DIY ideas.

I agree with noel. There are a lot of bees who seem to have very expensive weddings. When I read what bees are spending on their shoes or their clutchs, I can’t help but assume they have a large budget. If I was interested in irresponsible spending, I would read the tabloids. Weddingbee is perfect as is and I think if you find brides with bigger budgets the rest of us will start to think our weddings aren’t good enough.

i think it was pretty obvious who is a city bee and who is a country bee.

I like seeing the DIY projects, but I’d like to see more big-budget ideas too. I may not adopt all of them, but seeing what a big-budget bride does might inspire me to spend my budget (whatever its size) more creatively.

We are a little more budget-minded. Our wedding budget is about $14k. My parents are picking up about $3k of that, and the rest is up to us, 2 grad students. We’re not going to take on any debt for this. However, the wedding is not in a big city, it’s in upstate NY.

While I don’t mind reading about those who can spend lots on their wedding, I, too like to see some of the DIY ideas, or how people stretch their budgets, like Fallon said.

There are plenty of resources out there for “spend on a whim” brides…i.e. the knot, brides.com, instyle weddings, etc. Plus almost every single wedding magazine out there. One need only look there for inspiration. I think weddingbee does a good job of showcasing weddings for all brides with a range of budgets and in general I think they reflect the type of weddings most of us will be having. Miss Bluebell did a poll on budgets awhile ago http://www.weddingbee.com/2006/10/25/wedding-budgets/?pollresult=182 and only about 5% were having the “spend on a whim” type budget. Weddingbee is there for the other 95% of us.

a “high, average, low” budget is entirely dependent upon where you live. A low budget wedding in New York City or San Francisco may be an average or high budget in a smaller town. Perhaps it’s not an issue of having higher budget weddings, but showcasing a bride who is DIY impaired but still having an elaborate-looking wedding.

The appeal of Weddingbee to me is the “DIYness” of it. And I agree with the other posters - a lot of the bees have had, from my perspective, big budget weddings!

The reason that InStyle Weddings and some of the other magazines don’t appeal to me is that we could never afford any of those things. I wouldn’t mind if there was a “big-budget” bride now and then, but I would hope that the majority would still be DIY/lower-budget brides.

bride who can spend on a whim = bridezilla… not DIY inclined? get a wedding planner. (imho)

if you don’t like the site, there are plenty of others to suit your taste.

i don’t think this site needs to do anything else different.

as long as you have the bell curve (a few with tighter budgets, a few with huge budgets) and most somewhere in between as you have is good.

a website cannot be everything to everyone. I love the weddingbee and have been a loyal reader since Mrs. Bee started writing on her xanga page. (before I was even engaged) Its nice to see the range of budgets, because people tend to have a few things they will spend a lot on and other items they won’t. Don’t worry if you can’t please everyone, I think you are doing a great job.

I agree with Noel and several other commenters … my immediate reaction to the letter was “But I thought most of the Bees WERE big budget brides?!?”

Granted, we’re paying for our own wedding and I’m a notorious bargain-hunter (just got a Bill Levkoff MOH dress for $15.50, and $200 Italian wedding shoes for $7.50!). So, from my perspective, EVERYONE is a “big budget” bride!

But I think that for the vast majority of us there’s more to learn from average and budget-challenged Bees that can truly help us with our own plans. They’re still “inspirational” because they’re incredibly talented and stylish women, and we have more of a chance of actually putting that inspiration to use in real life. For straight-up big-budget inspiration, we can still turn to, well, basically every wedding magazine and a lot of other blogs….

Based on Miss Bluebell’s post on budgets (thanks Baghdad Bride) —
3% of 705 Wedding Bee responders have a budget of $90,000-1500,000,
and 1% have a budget of over $150,000.

So that’s about 28 people out of 705 that spend more than $90,000 on their wedding. Definitely not the majority!

I wouldn’t mind seeing a high-budget bride or two, but it would mostly be for ideas to take down a notch. I too think that a lot of the brides on here DO have high-budget weddings, so I’m not sure how much more extravagant this person wants to get.

I do wonder just how involved in the details a truly high-budget bride would be. After all, wouldn’t she have a coordinator to handle all that? And part of the charm of weddingbee for me is all the ideas and resources that I can use myself– somehow I don’t see that being so easy if the bride has money to “spend on a whim.”

And yes, the original email did seem a little odd to me– sounded almost like the writer wanted the site to cater exclusively to high-budget brides, and move away from the middle-of-the-road-ers.

IMO, spending a few hundred dollars on shoes and a thousand to two thousand dollars on a dress is actually a “big budget” for me. Like someone said earlier, it really boils down to where you are located and what’s defined as big versus small budget. I’m not a DIY’er person either. What some of the bees have considered easy DIY projects, I’ve had trouble following the instructions. I guess I’m just DIY-challenged; however, that hasn’t stopped me from reading weddingbee. I love the creativeness and inspiration that bee-writers have blogged about.

I think Weddingbee does a great job featuring brides with different budgets. I see enough big budget wedding in different magazines (i.e. InStyle Weddings and Grace Ormond) and on tv shows such as Platinum Weddings.

I think WeddingBee hits a pretty large demographic. Also, no offense to the writer of the comment, but I think she should read The Knot to get plenty of what she’s asking for.

As a Bee getting married later in life than most other Bees, my FI & I are both established in our careers and have plenty of resources. We are able to afford any type of wedding we want. However…we choose to keep it simple & I have fun doing some of the DIY stuff. I also really enjoy reading about brides who don’t go DIY & are going all out, but again, I think a lot of this can be found on The Knot. I think WB is unique and refreshing.

For me, WB is not really about the money – it’s about the event. Please keep it that way.

Dear Reader: if your reality is to see ideas for a “larger more significant” budget, then why don’t you just talk to your own wedding planner? At least the weddings in NYC, where a budget of less than $100K is considered “low end”; the planners should be able to give you ideas galore on how to spend money

i love weddingbee for its diy and ideas - some of which are also very expensive - its the personal detail that makes the difference, not the budget

When I go onto Weddingbee, my main purpose is to find ideas for my wedding from other brides. In fact, because of this site, I’m less stress on what to do for my wedding. Thanks to all the bees and their ideas!

Honestly, I don’t pay attention to the budget that the other bees have. Just like L8Blmr said, if a bride would like ideas for more elaborate weddings, then there’s the Knot or the Wedding Channel.

i, too, agree with noel (#2) and other commentors. it seems like most of the brides that i’ve been reading about recently on the bee actualy have gowns by big names like monique lhuillier and such and i’m wowed by the amt that is spent on shoes (i sooo wish i could spend that much too!)… i know my budget isn’t considered small, but i can’t even afford that kind of dress. so, i’m not sure how much bigger budget she’s talking about but people do prioritize differently. i think the point of the bee isn’t necessarily the budget aspect of a wedding, but more of the ideas, whether it’s DIY or not. if she didn’t want to create it on her own, but liked the look, i’m pretty sure she can pay someone to replicate any of the cute ideas that are presented.

I have noticed that there has been a range in budgets for the bees. Some bees have been very budget-oriented, while others have had more to spend. Regardless of budget, I think everyone has put emphasis on overall planning and details rather than cost. I read weddingbee for inspiration. I love reading about different colors and themes and ideas. I think there is somebee that everyone can relate to. Keep up the good work!

I agree - please don’t change the site! There are a ton of resources out there for brides who can spend an unlimited amount on their invites/flowers/venues. And even for us “citybees” who are spending more than our counterparts in other parts of the country, every penny counts (esp when you are paying for it yourself), and I appreciate the tips and ideas I get from all the bees! As others have said, that is what wedding planners are for!

Spending a lot (or just envisioning a big-budget wedding) is no challenge at all: pick up any weddingporn and have at it.

The thing that has kept my attention since I started reading Weddingbee is that I can relate to the women who blog here.

To the author of the letter:

No offense, but like other commenters, there are plenty of resources to for an expensive wedding. Some resourses include:

Grace Ormonde
Inside Weddings magazine
The Knot
Platinum Weddings on WE
Town & Country Weddings magazine
InStyle Weddings magazine
Ceremony Magazine (if you are a SoCal bride)
Elegant Bride magazine
A wedding planner
among many, many others.

Granted, these are also wonderful resources for other brides to get inspired and find other creative ways to make it work for their budget. With all that said, you did bring up a good point about brides who are not DIY-friendly. That, I think, was a valid. It’s considerably harder for a bride-to-be who is on a budget to not very crafty, to make a her dream a reality.

Personally, I’m interested in how people managed their budget. Like a breakdown what they saved on and/or splurged on. That would be interesting. That would be an interesting addition to weddingbee.

I think that people around wedding bee, do spend on a whim. Two or three dresses for a six to eight hour event? I guess if you want to read about people who can afford to spend the gross national product of a small third world country on a wedding, this really doesn’t phase you, but I’m always like, wow, I could probably have my whole wedding for the cost of that dress! I mean, I think that it is…well I don’t know what word to use that won’t get people all riled up…presumptious to say that $20,000 is a modest budget for a wedding, even if you do live in NYC. Consider how many people have an annual income of less than $20,000 a year. I am not saying that you shouldn’t have a $20,000 wedding if that is what you want, can afford, have parents that can afford, or are willing to go in debt for. But call it like it is, $20,000 is not modest. I’ve always thought all those statistics that say that $20,00 is the average cost of a wedding must be pretty skewed. I bet there aren’t as many $20,000 weddings as one would think. If you had lots of actually “modest” weddings and a few really expensive weddings wouldn’t that average out to be around $20,000? I mean say, a couple of five and ten thousand dollar weddings with a couple of say 40,000 weddings. I guess that I am saying that I think there is a lot of justification of the conspicuous consumption in weddings by saying that well, I live in a city so it is more expensive or the average wedding costs $20,000, so I am only doing what everyone esle is doing. I’d love to see a bee with a budget of less than $5,000. May be I will apply to be a bee with my $2,000 wedding!

I agree with tracey (comment 31). I love Weddingbee because it gives me great ideas and provides the inspiration I need to really get going on my own wedding. I think most of us can usually tell which bees have larger budgets and which have smaller ones, but I think there is a good mix here. What I really think distinguishes weddingbee from other sites out there (the knot, brides.com, etc.) however, is the really great mix of styles and personality among the bees. This comes out in their posts, ideas, and the way they creatively chose to spend their money - however much (or little) of it they have. I don’t have many friends getting married soon, so the “bees” are the girls I look to for ideas and advice.

Thanks Weddingbee!

I think the whole point of weddingbee is having bee’s who plan…. budgets vary greatly but having a budget is part of the planning process. Some bees who could spend whatever they wish may choose to DIY because they like it not just to save money.

I am also more interested in Weddingbee than most magazines and websites because it shows the creative process and a variety of budgets and ideas. Watching someone just spend spend spend is not so interesting to me.

well said everyone! i think most readers feel there’s a wide range of budgets already and there’s no need to change. for the writer of the email and anyone else who has an unlimited budget, that’s what wedding planners are for. just tell them what you want and they’ll make it happen since $$$ isn’t an issue anyway. done. your wedding is planned; no need for you to read weddingbee.

some of the bees are definitely high budget. you can tell by the products/vendors they choose! and, DYI is not always about money. its about adding personal touches to your wedding and being able to say “i made that”.

i like the site the way it is. a lot of the bees have taken from the big-budget weddings and tailored it down to fit their budgets, either by bargain-hunting for alternatives or even diy, which is a great testament to how it’s possible to achieve the big-budget look without the price tag, that’s something you don’t see all the time.

while there are a lot of bees who are diy-inclined, there have been other bees who weren’t so but still didn’t spend two arms and a leg to get something made for them. think the current mix is great because, honestly, i do feel that twinge of jealousy when i watch or see any of the super big budget weddings. this site reminds me that you can have that dream wedding no matter the budget and still be fabulous.

i feel it’s easy to just spend xx amount of dollars to get something creative but more impressive when it’s done on a smaller more affordable scale. can’t afford letterpress? try gocco. stuff like that. i relate a lot more to the bees who post than anything i’ve seen on tv or the magazines or even the knot.

I have an opposite feeling about weddingbee. My budget is ~$5k and I feel that all the bee’s are spending way more than me!

But, that being said. I’m not opposed to having big budget brides on weddingbee. It’d be great to see what all can be done when money doesn’t stand in the way. My only concern is that most people with a BIG budget, hire the planning out to a wedding planner. They don’t usually do the planning themselves. It might be hard to find a big budget bride to post on the bee.

I really enjoy that the weddingbee bloggers seem to have very different budgets and very different wedding “visions.” I appreciate reading about both the DIY ideas and the spluges that are clearly out of my budget. To me it seems like Weddingbee has a great variety of bloggers all with different budgets and tastes and that is one of the reasons I like it so much. Besides, variety is the spice of life right!

Also, it seems to me that Weddingbee tends to attract the crafty-type. So many of the bloggers give Martha Stewart a run for her money. I am not the least bit crafty but I like to get inspired from those that are.

I say keep up with the good work!

Maybe I’m wrong but I’d think it would be really hard to find a bee who is planning without regard to money. Honestly, we had what I think is a high budget wedding (around $60k) but that didn’t mean I didn’t care about cost. I wasn’t going to pay $10k for flowers that I could get for $5k. It’s not always about paying less/getting less but often about figuring out what something is actually worth. Even if you could find a bee who’s spending $150k+ on her wedding I don’t think it would be any nicer than the weddings featured here that probably cost around $50k because what would that mean - they bought 2 $10k dresses? Gave away bottles of champagne for favors? That doesn’t make a wedding any nicer.

I think Weddingbee has done the right thing by being tightlipped about exactly how large (or not large) their bloggers’ budgets are, I don’t think it would be right if the exact amount of money they are willing to spend or have spent is disclosed. Anyway, “fashion can be bought, style cannot.”

I’d love a Classified section on Weddingbee broken down by major metro areas so b2bee’s and married bees can swap/sell/share stuff! After the event is all said and done, who is really going to need a dozen giant flower pomanders lying around the house? Can we set something up please?

Just because someone has a large budget doesn’t mean they aren’t out for a good value! For us, it was about shifting our budget into something we will have long-term (jewelry, photos, hospitality goodwill) and away from the one-day disposable items (flowers, candles, makeup & hair).

But each bride seems to have her “thing” she will spend on and other things she doesn’t care so much about that can be economized. It’s hard to know what each couple’s “thing” is (depends on personal values & prioritization & cultural, etc.), so it’s nice to see a variety of ways to splurge or economize on any given item.

I used to think it would be helpful if each bee’s profile would include a budget profile (low/medium/high), maybe adjusted for location (meaning money goes further in some places than others), but not sure that would matter so much after all. No matter how much money I’d have, I’d always be economical or resourceful on certain things anyway.

Typically those with sky-high budgets aren’t planning their weddings themselves - they hire wedding planners. I think that is the biggest reason you don’t see bees with astronomical budgets.

Now what would really be interesting is to have a top notch planner be a bee - and share the latest stuff she is doing.

I’m just wondering who the “plenty” of brides are that have the ability to spend *hundreds* of thousands of dollars on their wedding. Tens of thousands, I can understand (in theory), but hundreds of thousands - without blinking an eye??

hehe, and here i am thinking all the bees had huuge budgets. i guess it’s all relative….

Hmmm…
I don’t think it is OK to decide to showcase or “not” showcase a wedding based on money.

I am NOT bragging, but my family spent big money on my wedding.
The thing is, I have seen many elements from other low budget weddings that have been even better than some of my “high budget” elements. (Don’t even get me started on how my florist screwed me over….)

Money, a lot OR a little, does not dictate how good or inspirational or creative the event ends up being.

I’m sorry, maybe I am being dim, but what does the size of a budget really matter on this site? Yes, it is wonderful to see what creative things brides are doing here, but creative people will do creative things if they have money or not. I come to Weddingbee to see how people are planning their weddings, and what they base their decisions on, and what vendors/resources they are using that I haven’t heard about. I honestly don’t think the spirit of Weddingbee has anything at all to do with how much money brides are spending(large OR small amounts), but the decisions that they are making and the advice they give in many situations that are common to a lot of people.

I love WB, and just think that the bloggers should be considered on a case by case basis as they are now. I am also very confused why people would think having a large budget bride would “change” the site. ? A beautiful event can be planned at any budget as long as you are making choices that feel right to you.

(I think Red(#64) has a fantastic idea with the allocation of wedding funds. That would be much more interesting and useful to me than Miss So-and-so is spending $5,000 on her wedding and Miss This-and-that is spending $20,000, or even a low-mid-high budget distinction.)

Don’t mess with the bee… This is the only site that I can truly relax and relate during this stressful time of buy buy buy / spend spend spend. The industry (and internet for that matter) is PACKED with overpriced big budget wedding on a whim types…

some of us do not want to blow our entire nest egg on one day. The creativity that wedding bee offers with the DIY is crucial to the site

Martha Stewart has tons of money and shes still out there DIYing her little heart out!!!

Was this written by a wedding professional who is hoping more people jump on the bandwagon to spend more so they can make a quick buck?

Wow…I went away for a day and all H-E-double-hockey-sticks broke out!!

This does raise a very valid point in that it seems like most of the people who have commented here didn’t know that the budgets of some (if not most) of the bees are not as big as they seem. It also has opened up the conversation to help us realize that ‘big’ is relative when it comes to budget.

I think it is important to keep the buget a relative concept here on the bee. That said, if there is a budget that hasn’t been represented, and the person is doing the planning themselves, than I think the more information the better.

That email is so dumb! Not all DIY stuff comes inexpensive…..sometimes it’s actually cheaper to buy everything in bulk already made than to spend the time and effort on a DIY project. DIY projects make it special and unique. I LOVE WEDDINGBEE and its creativity. If you have all the money to spend and want to hire a wedding planner, most likely, you’ll pay someone for the DIY look and feel but marked up 300%. How smart is that?

I can’t believe someone can be so dim witted to write such an email.

I also feel that most Bees are operating with a higher budget than I could dream of having. I think their weddings are beautiful and unique, as I believe mine will be, and any other bride/groom who puts thought and love into their wedding and remembers that it is about their union with their partner, and not the cost of the lavish party they are throwing. Whether I spend 100 dollars, 10k, or 200k, what matters to me is that I am making a lifelong commitment to the man I love with my loved ones as witnesses, and that is something you can’t put a price on.

Okay, I’m a late commenter too! You know, to be honest, I really can only guess at how much the other ‘bees spent or are spending. To me, it never really mattered. I know I spent more than some bees and less than others, but what it all comes down to is where a couple decides to put their money, not how much it all adds up to in the end. It also depends on what type of wedding the couple is having — we definitely weren’t pinching pennies for our wedding, but we had to scrimp in certain areas because we split the costs among 400 guests. With the same budget and half the amount of people, we could have had a very different type of wedding.

Every couple will have different priorities and “splurge” (I realize that this term, too, is relative) on various things, regardless of total budget. I honestly don’t think that having a known “money-is-no-object” bee would bring anything new to the blog, maybe just more of what’s already here anyway. In the crazy, and — let’s be honest — somewhat competitive bridal-planning realm, it could even be somewhat disruptive if there is a focus on the fact that a bee can and is spending money without any limits.

Yes.

I wrote that e-mail and find that it is being horribly misinterpreted. I was merely suggesting that a bride with gaggles to spend would create an interesting blog to read. In fact, it seems to me that most of these comments have an angry edge in regards to brides who can spend whatever they please. Many go so far as to assume that they would be less creative or care less. I am offended by that assumption. Why would a bride with more care any less about her wedding? I think that is a ridiculous assumption and a faintly veiled attack. It only showcases how a bride with NO BUDGET would be useful to this site.

It seems to me that many of the readers are looking to DIY and save money, which is fine but having a no budget bride would certainly open up the reader demographics.

I am not asking for a bride with a higher budget for vain interests rather for a broadening of horizons here. In the past few days there have been a couple of cost breakdown posts and brags about spending the least. What then, makes that more okay then spending the most. Brides who spend less, spend less because that is what they can afford and there is not one single thing wrong with that. But brides with more, spend more, because that is what they can afford and I don’t see how there is one single thing wrong with that. There are brides who can afford Vera Wang, a wedding planner, Christian Louboutin’s, Tiffany rings and all other things considered luxury items. I’m not suggesting a bride who’s willing to go into debt and lie to her husband (as featured previously on the site) is a good candidate but a bride who simply can. And what’s so wrong with that?

What makes someone assume that a bride with tons to spend wouldn’t be just as interested in blogging as a bride with less? These misconceptions are in and of themselves reason to include a bride with more.

Yes there are websites for brides with more to spend but… why shouldn’t weddingbee be one also? Many brides with less budgets utilize sites like The Knot so why shouldn’t a bride with a larger budget also? I simply don’t understand that contradiction.

“For example, does anyone actually know what it is like to hire a wedding planner? This is the person who you will trust for every detail to give you the day of your dreams. It might be interesting to read about…” Do you?

Excuse the lack of organization here but i’m a bit frazzled by these responses.

And those recent breakdown posts? Those were in r