Jadey

Yeah, that's what I keep saying, but half jokingly. I wouldn't really expect her parents to pay for it, but I am expecting the to help. I wasn't initially, but they've said they will. After seeing the budget I had put together her mom originally had said "traditionally the groom's family is supposed to pay for the rehearsal dinner so you don't have to worry about that" but then my fiance told her it's not really done that way anymore. Her mom scoffed at that until she realized that if they were following the "traditional plan" they were going to be on the hook for about $9500 and we would love for them to chip that much in, but I definitely would not be expecting that much.

As far as the planning goes we met with 7 photographers over the last 3-4 weeks and they've ranged in price from $650 - $4800. the funny thing is that the most expensive photographers did not include engagement photos in their packages. We ended up going with a married couple that was somewhere in the middle after D's parents agreed to pay for the photographer. (they had a real bad experience with their wedding photographer and wanted to make sure their daughter did have to deal with that). After we decided on the photographer I was able to negotiate the price down over a couple hundred dollars. Then on top of that they gave us another $200 discount for paying in cash. They were pretty reputable and have been around for years doing weddings in this area so I was pretty comfortable with the cash payment. Plus, I got a receipt for what it's worth.

After finding out I'd negotiated the price down almost $500, D's parents also agreed to pay for the DJ. So we've begun that search. One of my groomsmen has DJ'd wedding and parties in the past, but I kind of get the sense he doesn't want to do our wedding as he'd rather just party that nite. I totally understand. But we are meeting with the friend of a friend who dj's around town and does the occasional wedding. So that is next on the list.