Two dollar amounts— $21k and $36k. One is the amount most QCA couples actually spend on their weddings and the other is the amount required to hire a high-quality wedding professional in all categories. So what’s the $15k discrepancy? That’s where couples prioritized and made some tough choices.

Below are some examples. Consider that the first three couples had a $20k budget and a guest count of about 150— both pretty realistic. Each couple prioritized parts of their wedding day and allotted their budgets to reflect that.