Weddings

[other one]

Have any had weddings lately, I need to know about the average cost of a wedding these days.

Sam

[dwinkjr]

Have any had weddings lately, I need to know about the average cost of a wedding these days.

Sam

you dont wanna know

Honestly if oyu keep it small and sane the wedding itself can be pulled off relatively cheap, minus the dress, rings, and flowers :x:

when my wife and i got married (about 2yrs ago) we had a very small wedding and we still spent $600 on flowers alone. The Church did not charge us anything, but we did make a donation. with dress rings and honeymoon and everything else involved we probably racked up about $4-5k i would guess.

God Bless,

Dave

[Guest LadyC]

weddings can range from next to nothing to enormously expensive. mark and i got married for the price of a pot of venison chili. that was a big price to pay, too! i have a hard time parting with venison!!!

now of course, that didn't include the marriage license. i think the license fee in the county and state we lived in at the time was $35. this varies from county to county, state to state.

things to consider... a wedding dress... will it be simple or lavish? wedding dresses can run anywhere from 100 bucks to 100,000 bucks. i got married in a housedress. when we renewed our vows this last year though, i bought a beautifully elegant but simplistic wedding dress off of ebay for about $40. it was gorgeous!

will the wedding party be purchasing their own attire, or will the bride's family cover the expenses? bridesmaid dresses can run as much as a wedding dress can. will the men be wearing tuxes? when my brother got married, he and the groomsmen wore black jeans, black boots or shoes, white shirts and black ties. they looked fabulous, even with the lacy extravagant dress the bride wore.

does the couple belong to a church? and does that church offer members free use of the building for weddings? does the pastor charge anything? many churches charge a fee which can get pretty pricy, others ask for a love gift.

wedding cakes are pretty expensive, but the price depends on the size of the guestlist. walmart superstore does some nice cakes, if you have one nearby. the starting cost for a two teired wedding cake that feeds 48 guests is about $65... if you want a three tiered cascading cake that feeds 118 guests, the price starts at $125. grooms cakes are generally sheetcakes and start at $11. here's some photos of walmart cakes.

catering is another expense that's hard to avoid if you're having a full reception after the wedding. price depends on the number of guests and what you serve.

floral arrangements are also another expense. and if you haven't priced flowers lately, you may have a heart attack when you do.

photography.... wow, you don't even want to know the price of a good wedding photographer. my dad and my brother were both wedding photographers, and it's outrageous!! the total cost of their services averaged several thousand dollars. and if you want video of the ceremony.... you have to hire somebody else !i've heard of people who got married and, for the reception, placed a disposable camera on every table. the guests were asked to take snapshots during the reception and leave the cameras on the table when they left. it's fun for the guests, and much cheaper for than a wedding photographer! but, i would recommend a real photographer and/or videographer for the ceremony itself, and for the posed shots of the wedding party.

if your daughter is getting married, you might want to pay for their honeymoon and encourage them to get married in a cheap chapel somewhere! but then i think way too much importance is given to "the day" of the wedding rather than the lifetime of marriage anyway.

[IslandRose]

OK...My daughter got married a in October, 2002. I kept a list of our expenses which I just dug up. Here was how ours broke down.

Invitations.....................$375.00

Brides dress...................$400. 00

Brides maids dresses......$280.00

I paid for my other daughter's and another girl who could not afford hers.

Hairdresser....................$100.00

Photographer..................$1040.00

Flowers...........................$575.00

Reception........................$1373.00

This includes the food (fruit, vegetable, meat and cheeseplatters); punch ingredients; service items such as plates, cups, etc.; and all the decorations such as table clothes, and clear twinkle lights; and little 'bell' favors.

Cake.............................$100.00

This was for ingredients and decorations for cake that was made as a wedding present.

All this came to about $4243. I could have probably saved quite a bit of this if I had been on the grond in Denver, where she got married , more than 9 days before the wedding. As it was, I had to do a lot in a short time. I also took her mother-in-laws word that there would be at least 450 at the wedding...though I had very strong reservations about that number. When we had more like 250 to 300....I had a lot of left over food.

We did a "church reception" with finger food, cake and punch. If you do a sit down dinner, plan on a LOT more. My niece did that and her wedding cost about $10,000. My daughter was not interested in a big reception. They wanted to get away from that whole thing as quickly as possible. :oww:

[Leonard]

My daughter's wedding was about $12,000. OUCH!

[Steff]

My wife and I spent about $3500 dollars on our wedding about 2 years ago. That included cake, Tux, Dress, pictures, catering and flowers. You can do it fairly inexpesive if you do some planning and haggling. It all depends on how many people. We had about 60 people or so.

[Khristeeanos]

My bride and I got married 10 months and 1 day ago and our wedding cost between $12,000 - 15,000 for the whole thing.

Yes it was expensive, but when those doors opened and my bride walked it--it was worth every cent.

[Guest LadyC]

call me stupid or something, but i just don't see why any couple would want to start their marriage in that much debt! especially when financial difficulties are one of the top reasons for divorce in our country!

and call me even more stupid, but i don't see why any couple would want to put their aging parents into so much financial debt in their golden years, either!

and i also don't get why it's the bride's family that is traditionally saddled with the expenses!

i think it's a far better use of money to spend it on the honeymoon and setting up house than on a lavish wedding. when that bride walks down the aisle, she's gonna be just as beautiful to her groom whether she's surrounded by flowers and wearing a fancy dress or standing barefoot on a beach in a sundress.

[Khristeeanos]

Yea, it isn't a good idea.

[artsylady]

Totally agree Lady C.

It's a major rip-off. I think we should start doing pot-luck weddings or something. It's insane - all for one day, then it's gone.

some people I know have spent close to 30 thousand on their weddings. It's just foolishness what is happening.

If my husband and I were to just decide to throw a party and spend 10 grand for that one-day party, everybody would think we were off our rockers, but because it's a wedding, it's expected!

The money could also be used on a down payment for a house. I'm telling ya I think it's ridiculous. It starts young couples of on the wrong foot! And agreed, most parents just can't afford this stuff either but because it's 'tradition' the little girls don't question it and the parents would probably feel guilty saying 'no'.

Here's what I'm going to tell my daughter. She's pretty thrifty so I'll tell her that she can have the three to six grand, or have a wedding and she'll probably be smart enough to pocket the money. Or we'll compromise. I'll get a family friend to do the photographs, we'll do potluck, invite only those we've spoken to in the last 2 years who are actually close to us and we'll have a fun stress-free day with no guilt! Less is more. The more details and planning you do, the more stresses you have and the more worried you'll be on your wedding.

I always hated certain aspects of BEING in weddings too. I hated going for the fittings and picking out the exact shade of fushia or whatever. Brides are such pains to please! It's not like they have to be princess for the day - they have to be princess for the whole year of planning leading up to the day! And then the mothers of the bride and groom have to get their two cents in and start fighting and ..... Okay I'll stop now.

Done ranting now.