Seriously?!?!?

Got married in April, we had a small but beautiful destination wedding. Entire thing cost us less than $7k (including our rings, which are gorgeous, tux/dress, photographer/videographer, flowers, ceremony/location and lodging/travel expenses for half of our wedding party), and my husband & I paid for everything except the food for the reception, which my folks hosted.

A wedding doesn't have to be expensive to be lovely & memorable. :)

K~

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sho220

Doesn't have to be...

---

No it doesn't have to be, I have planned a couple weddings for friends since my own for loads cheaper, that were just as nice as my ubber expensive one.

I got married on the beach in San Diego with just my mom and my husband's two sets of parents (his mom and dad divorced and remarried) present. We did the city hall thing for less than $100 in the morning, then did the beach service at sunset. My dress was a white summer beach dress, my husband dressed in shorts, flip-flops, and a white linen shirt, so we probably spent less than $100 on clothes, and maybe $20 on my bouquet (1 large sunflower surrounded by daisies).

Now, my in-laws picked up the bill for their plane tickets, the B&B we all stayed at, and the celebratory dinner in a nice restaurant on the beach, but I'd guess we didn't spend more than $1000 total. And I absolutely loved my wedding, and still get warm fuzzies when I look back at the pics.

Talk to your fiancee and really figure out what's important to both of you. I'm pretty practical, and wanted something as small and intimate and inexpensive as possible while still making it a memorable experience, and my husband felt the same way, so it was pretty easy to put it all together. This is sort of the first big decision you're going to make as a couple, so it's a good test of communication skills and compatible outlooks.

Good luck! And try not to stress too much. Remember, it's supposed to be a fun and happy occasion. :D

Mine in June of 2006 was about $13k. I only sent out about 80 invites, maybe 60 people showed up. I am still paying my parents back for it and I'm divorced lol.

My mom and Step-dad got married for under $100. Mom made all the dresses, my step-dad wore a nice suit, and there was a guy who came and did the vows for free. Because he enjoyed doing weddings.

I frankly think it's absurd to pay thousands upon thousands of dollars on a wedding.

The one I attended this weekend was ~ $30,000. It was super nice but that price didn't include an open bar (dry wedding)

Quote:

---

A wedding doesn't have to be expensive to be lovely & memorable. :)

---

Agree 100%

My first wedding cost just under 3k and lasted just under 3 years...

My second wedding, the actual wedding part, was VERY cheap. We got married on the beach on an island in FL. We got married at my in-law's friend's house on the beach, then had the reception at my in-law's house down the road. Her dress was about $100 and my whole outfit was about the same. Now, plane tickets to get family and friends there wasn't so cheap, but we didn't pay for all of that.

It doesn't matter how much you spend as long as you're happy and you're walking down the aisle with the right person...

Awesome lol my work had been trying to kill me lately and for some reason my sleep deprived brain processed 'average' Into 'omg! Where are we going to get that much money!' ...I feel much better now that we have told everyone and I know we won't have to wait 20 years haha!

Average actually often isn't the best indicator of the actual cost of things.

e.g. If there are 9 weddings that cost $10000 each and one wedding that costs $60k, then the average cost for those weddings was $15k. But 90% of the weddings only cost $10k, that one super expensive wedding brought up the average of the others, when the vast majority were much less. So in this case the median cost of a wedding would have been just $10k and is more accurate.

Median price is a much better indicator, and I remember reading that the median cost of a wedding is more like $15k (maybe even $13k), not $25k (still a lot, but not as much as the industry would have you think).

I'm getting married in less than two months, and we have a budget of $12k, are expecting 150 people, are providing alcohol, passed hors d'oeuvres, cheese/bread appetizers, dessert, DJ, photographer, photo-booth, linens etc etc. This also includes wedding dress, my suit, and all decorations.

We have done stuff to save money. We aren't using real flowers, but are doing paper/origami flowers for everything that we have folded/made ourselves. Instead of wedding cake, we're having a dessert bar with desserts that we are making ourselves that we let each person in our wedding party pick their favorite dessert (plus I'm wicked good in the kitchen and can make anything just as good as any bakery).

Instead of a full course sit-down meal, we're having a cocktail style reception. That was a lot less money and will also encourage people to get up and mingle rather than just sit at their table the whole time - we only have enough tables for half as many people as are coming (so our grandparents can sit down, etc).

Anyways, it can be done. Ours is only so much because there are so many people we had to invite. I wanted a much smaller wedding that would have cost much less, but $12k for 150 people I think is pretty good, considering what others are spending.