8 Over-the-Top Things Women Splurged on for Their Weddings

If you’re willing to drop $150,000, a company called Oliver’s Travels can all but guarantee you good weather on your big day. (This is not a joke: They will perform a three-week process called cloud seeding that makes rain clouds burst and clear out.) But even for those with a more meager budget, there are still extravagances to be bought. Here’s how eight women splurged on their weddings.

1. Amaze-Ball Shoes
“$675 Vivienne Westwood heels—for a beach wedding. I bought them in New York City. I was there for something separate and had an extra day that I dedicated to wedding shoes shopping—because who doesn’t need new heels for a beach wedding? And even though our wedding colors were purple, brown, and cream, the heels that I had in mind as the perfect shoes were coral. They looked nice in the pictures, though!” ­–Amanda T., 28

 

2. Winter Flowers—in the Summertime
“I knew I wanted amaryllis in our bouquets, but amaryllis is a winter flower and I got married in August. My florist had never used amaryllis in a bouquet before, but they were excited for the challenge! They had to do a full test run of each bouquet to make sure the flowers would work and hold up—so I didn’t know for a few months if we could even have them. Plus, they had to ship the bulbs in from Europe, and that cost alone would make you cringe!” –Elissa M., 31

3. A Feathered Cake
“I had to have feathers everywhere in my wedding—on my dress, in my hair, and even on my wedding cake! I wanted that cake totally blinged-out, with a feather crown that mimicked the look of the skirt of my feathered dress. It was four white tiers with crystals on each layer—and cascading from the top and down its sides were the biggest, fluffiest feathers. Everyone loved it! They should have—it was like $700!” –Tori M., 27

4. A Royalty-Worthy Tiara
“My tiara. Oh my God, it was gorgeous. It was this delicate little thing with a ton of crystals and gems on every inch. I love bling, but this was also beautiful and elegant. It cost nearly as much as my dress—$300—but I wanted it anyway. I wanted to feel like a princess!” –Katrina S., 29

 

5. A Cake Topper to End All Cake Toppers
“I saw something called a ‘composite rose’ cake topper—it’s when you take individual rose petals and wire them together to make one huge rose—that I just had to have to top our cake. I don’t remember how much it cost, but I do remember it was a particularly laborious endeavor that came with a pretty pricey price tag. It did not disappoint!” –Miranda G., 28

6. The Dress
“My dress cost more than our venue and catering bill combined. Let’s just say it was edging toward the five-digit mark. I fell totally in love with this Vera Wang gown in the movie Bride Wars—so when I went shopping, I had to have something similar. I’ll admit, I felt like a movie star!” –Katie P., 26

8. Cake Centerpieces
“I wanted to have enough cakes so that one could be the centerpiece for each table [rather than traditional floral centerpieces]. And I wanted another cake to cut into, so we also got a three-tier cake for the cake cutting. We bought them from a super expensive bakery, and we had enough cake left over to last a year—of course I finished it in a month. It was amazing!” –Stephi W., 32

 

9. A Magic-Filled Honeymoon
“For us, I feel like we put our ‘wedding budget’ where it really counts, and that was our honeymoon. You know those bungalows over the water in Fiji? Yup, we did that. Our bungalow was more than $1,000 a night, but how can you put a price on that view with the man you love?” ­–Anne A., 30

All gifs courtesy of giphy.com

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