I certainly feel for you it's a huge PITA and not a fun situation - it sucks the power the airlines have to ruin a trip these days with no consequences (and of course when the tables are turn you are expected to shell out $$$, etc.,). My girlfriend's bag was inexplicably in ATL when we went to LHR for her best friend's wedding even though my bag made it and we were both on the same itinerary, same routing, both flying D1, it was maddening.

Next time as others have mentioned I strongly advise you to buy replacements and bill Delta. In my girlfriend's case, they willingly, without pushback, agree to pay back the expenses in full (which are in excess of $50/day).

Did you use a credit card for purchasing as well? Some CC's provide trip insurance that provides additional coverage for delayed baggage up to $500 (Citi Prestige, Citi AA provides up to $100, Chase Sapphire Preferred & Chase Sapphire Reserve both up to $500).

One other thing to add is this can happen on any airline so I wouldn't say this is necessarily a DON'T FLY DELTA situation as opposed to a reminder that for important trips, we all should really consider trip insurance (through CC or other means) because things can happen out our control that make a trip go sideways, even for the most experienced FTers.