Get married at the dollar store.
Posted on 12/11/2009 10:51:24 AM PST by beefree
I need a reality check from other FReepers about what might be a reasonable amount to spend for a wedding. The cost seems outrageous to me so I would like to hear from parents who have recently paid for one. How much did you spend?
How many guest?
Open Bar? Live music? Church ceremony? Venue?
What City will the wedding be in? Plays a big factor.
did ours for 3 grand including reception and everything, both parents helped out.
Nothing my wife and I went to Elkton MD when we got married
Well it did cost gas and Freeway fees
September 2009: Two months of the Bride’s Father’s Salary.
Total cost; Approx. $3500.
Think outside the "box".
I payed about $6500 last year for my daughter. That also included 5 days worth of honeymoon at Asheville, North Carolina.
Don’t pay for anything until you receive your Dowry of 32 cows. Then pay a Justice of the Piece $50
It also depends on how much you do at the wedding...live band etc. will cost more.
But, you could easily do a wedding in Oklahoma for under 5 grand, even 3 or so like we did. It still was a beautiful wedding.
If it’s complicated enough to require a “Wedding Planner”, it’s too complicated/expensive.
Sept. 07 - $15k, including reception. Guest list of ~ 400
Yes, I know that's not the tradition. But, the cost of weddings have escalated way out of control. That money is much better spent on more tangible items, like the down-payment on a house.
We are paying for our own wedding -- more accurately, I'm paying for it, but it's "our" money ever since we decided to get married. We've decided to keep it simple, limiting the guest list to family and close friends.
Our son is getting married in June. We are doing the rehearsal dinner and I’m figuring $2,000 or so for dinner, wine and the venue. We will be feeding about 40. It will be a large formal wedding.
It all depends on the state. In the heartland, probably not all that much...on the coasts, it will be an ostentatious display that would rival in costs and pageantry, the coronation of a medieval king...and end five years later in an even more expensive divorce. But, I digress.
I paid for my favorite niece’s wedding 10 years ago. They were married at Stanford Church (Stanford University), had the reception at the Stanford Golf and Country Club, with a band for 150 people. I paid $26K for the reception alone. Yeah I thought it was a bit much, but she’s my favorite niece, almost a daughter to me.
My niece got married this past October in Charlotte NC. Church wedding, 600 guests, limo, cakes (2), reception hall, and dress. Cost her folks about 6 grand, and that is just because she got a deal on the reception hall.
Get married at the dollar store.
Are you looking for a favorite nephew..? ;)
Can you spell E-L-O-P-E?
OOPS, meant $4000, not $2000.
Depends on the "Must-Haves" and the "what can we do withouts".
OK — when are you getting married? LOL!
Wife and I married at Bridal Cave here at Lake of the Ozarks in ‘75. The cave was free. $35 for the minister.
Save the big party for the divorce.
LOL
Whatever you spend, just be sure you can afford it and
.... DO NOT (repeat do not) go into debt. Do not charge it.
Wanna join my family? We will be really nice to you :)
40 acres and a jackazz. 32 cows and all that CO2 would be too much of a tax burden.
My wife and I eloped...best decision we ever made as a couple lol. Seriously.
We didn’t. We gave the kids money.
They had a civil wedding, a small cocktail party and then, bought a wonderful house.
LOL. Can I get an amen on some dip?
Divorce parties are picking up steam.
It depends on how much you make. A few rules, though ...
(1) NO DEBT. Pay for it in cash. It is not good to still be paying for a party 5-years later.
(2) Set a budget and stick to it. Say “no” when you have to. If you’re looking at $1K, stick to $1K. If you’re looking at $10K, stick to $10K.
(3) I’d say three-to-four-months income MAXIMUM (provided you have the cash to pull that off). If you make $50K, you don’t need to spend $25K on a wedding — even if its in cash.
SnakeDoc
Take a deep breath: 3-day destination wedding for 100 was six figures. And yes I was a little nuts and yes I’m glad I did it. Best party I ever threw and I consider it to be in lieu of a funeral (for me) as IMHO those are a complete waste of money. Besides, I had a great time, and so did everyone else, including the bride and groom.
two dollars for the wedding, 25,000.00 for the divorce...
Yeah...you'd get a break on favors and decor, but if you want food, go the Waffle House route.
It also depends on where you are.
I had my wedding in the Philippines and it cost about $900 for EVERYTHING including the reception.
In the USA it would have been upwards of $5,000 dollars, not counting the bride's dress, the bridesmaid's dresses, or the reception.
Go to Tonga and save on tuxedos.
Woo-woo! I'd do it again!
That would be about right for the rehearsal dinner for a formal wedding. Obviously, if the couple/family is on a budget, you could bring it down to $400 by using the church hall, recruiting the immediate family/friends to do the food preparation, and don’t serve alcohol.
My concern - validated by 2 cases in the past year alone - is that too many young betrotheds think of the wedding as the be-all and end-all, instead of just the beginning of the marriage.
I completely understand.
Not out of the norm.
Attended 8 weddings in the last two years and not one was under 6 figures.
This coming year only two are on the calendar so far.
Doesn't matter how much you spend, it's that the bride and groom are happy.
Well, ours cost around $75.00 - what it cost at the time for a license - we appeared before the judge, and went back to work.
The money we didn’t spend on a wedding was a nice leg up in life for couple starting with almost nothing.
So I’d say, if you don’t have to care what a wedding costs, spend what you wish.
But if you have to ask, ask yourself not “what will make me feel good today?”, but “what will make me feel good over the course of the marriage?”.
And in this economy I’d say that - realistically - the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars that many people spend for a wedding would be much better used to pay down debt, or as down payment on a house, or to further their education and increase their future earning potential - that any of these was more likely than a more expensive cake to contribute to a successful marriage.
YMMV
About 43% more than you can afford to spend.
My wife and I organized our wedding a year or two earlier for less than a third of that. Our friends are still talking about our wedding, too. Mostly the part at the reception where my mother sat on one of my friends lap, though.
Kids are idelaistic. They want everything. I explained to my youngest, IT IS ONLY A DAY IN THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. No you do not need two limo’s. No you do not need to invite 300 guests. No! NO! NO!. Well they got married, are still married and everything is fine.
2 months before tax salary?
No F’ning says this father of a couple daughters.
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