Photo: The Collection Photography

You only plan a wedding once (here's hoping, anyway!) so unfortunately when it comes to all the little design decisions and vendor choices you can't exactly go back in time, but you can help other engaged girls learn from your past mistakes. To spread the word and prevent the dreaded wedding regret, we picked a bunch of brides' brains on the details they wish they hadn't cheaped out on in retrospect. Turns out, you really do get what you pay for so listen up, ladies!

A Professional Videographer

“We cheaped out on our wedding video and spent a lot on flowers and photography so we thought we would be fine with a family member handling the filming. As we watched it back though, we realized that while the rough footage was nice, it would have been so much nicer to have a professional video of the entire thing.” —Katie

The Best Vendors

“Without a doubt, I wish I'd spent more money to fly in vendors I trusted to my wedding destination rather than using local vendors based solely on convenience. My husband and I were looking for something more contemporary: an art museum venue, food stations, family style dinner, late night food trucks, lawn games and a DJ spinning all night. These vendors were accustomed to the traditional ballroom, plated dinner, big band reception and constantly tried to point us in this direction. Ultimately, they did things our way but we were left feeling disappointed with their execution. In hindsight, I should have severed ties after realizing we weren't on the same page and ponied up the extra money to work with my city-based vendors that I knew could execute the exact event I wanted. I think it would have helped me to enjoy the day a little more rather than worry about how everything would turn out.” —Kristin

The Invitations

“The one thing I wish I'd spent a bit more time and money on was the wedding invitations. With dozens of websites and literally thousands of designs, fonts, colors, styles and inserts to choose from, it was extremely overwhelming and I ended up just going with the cheapest, most simple option I could find. Now that my friends are getting married I'm receiving all of their elegant and stylish invites and wishing I'd paid a bit more (and had a bit more patience) to find a design that I loved, rather than what was cheapest and easiest.” —Kelley

The Flowers

“I wish we had splurged on professional flowers. Our DIY arrangements turned out great, but honestly it wasn't worth all the stress trying to get them done the day before the wedding and transport them to our venue.” —Lauren

The Photography Package

“I really regret not having more time with our wedding photographer. We purchased her seven-hour package, and don't get me wrong, I'm obsessed with the photos, but I would have paid another few hundred bucks for the extra hour and more detail shots.” —Brianna

This article was written by Elizabeth Mitchell for Brides.com.