# How much did YOU spend getting hitched?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 30, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379 "2003-06-30T17:33:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/1 "2003-06-30T17:33:35Z")
I was reading a wedding thread in the Pit, and someone mentioned the price of the average wedding, and what you could do with that much money. I know the industry claims the average US wedding costs around $20,000 now, but most people I talk to have much, much smaller budgets than that.
So, how much did you spend getting married? Please include where you are/were at the time, since there’s a huge difference in price between punch and cake in the fellowship hall, as is the norm where I grew up, and the dinner/dance for 200 that seems to be the norm in the Northeast. Also include the year, as inflation tends to make a big difference.
We’ve only been married six months, so the rough figures are still pretty fresh for me.
For our wedding:
Dress: $135 plus $20 for alterations
Shoes:$40
Jewelry:$15
Veil: $6
Shirt and Tie: $45
Rings: $50 for gold tanzanite ring, plus matching hematite bands to wear at work
Flowers: $50
Decorations for reception site: $70
Reception, site and food: $950
Minister: $150
License: $27
Week in B&B in New Orleans: $2000
Food and Gas: not sure, but less than $500, certainly.
Sooo, for wedding, honeymoon, and all related paraphanalia, we were looking at the $4,000 neighborhood.
It’s a little less than most of my friend’s spent on their wedding, but of course they had a lot more than 30 guests and had professional photography. Of course, they didn’t have destination weddings so cool that confirmed nocturnals said were worth getting up at 4 in the morning for.
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### Author:  [@Eilsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eilsel)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/2 "2003-06-30T17:37:22Z")
Mine was cheap because my parents were cheap lol.
Dress - Cocktail length - $60
Flowers - $45
Cake - $50
Mints, etc - $10
Coffee/Tea - $10
Announcements - $40
Invitations (handwritten on parchment and edges burned…to family only) $10
My fiance already had a nice suit. We got married in my cheap parents’ living room.
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### Author:  [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/3 "2003-06-30T17:42:18Z")
Hmmm. I’ll try to remember:
Tux rental - $150 (X2 - paid for my Best Man’s as he was a little short)
Mrs. Bernse’s Dress - $700 - (Awsome deal - regularly $5000, tells you the markup on those things!)
Flowers and Decorations- $500
Hotel dining/meeting room/dinner $1500 or so. (We had a fairly small guest list)
Cake - $300
Church “donation” - $200
Pianist - $100
Invitations - $200 (We made our own)
Thats probably about it… but realistically I’d say around $4500-$5000 as I am sure I’m forgetting some stuff.
Our wedding was “relatively” on the cheap as we made a point of not having too many guests at the reception.
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### Author:  [@tanookie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanookie)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/4 "2003-06-30T17:46:56Z")
We got married in 1996… ‘Garden ceremony’ at his parents house. About 80 people in attendance.
Flowers $200
Rings $100
Tux $100
Dress/alterations/shoes $200
Food $1000
Tent $1200
Cake $30 (I made it myself … we had cake for weeks afterwards!)
JP $50
Invitations $60
Favors and decorations $150
Pictures $200
No honeymoon as we needed to go back to work. I’m still waiting… we planned to go on our 5 year anniversary but we were just getting used to the new baby!
Grand total … about $3000. His parents paid for the food and the tent so we didn’t have to come up with too much out of pocket. I cannot see spending $20,000 on a wedding! We had a beautiful day and a lot of fun and now we have some great memories!
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### Author:  [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/5 "2003-06-30T17:48:27Z")
Marriage license - $25
Wedding bands - $200
Married by Justice of the Peace - $50 (?)
Avoiding seating charts, bitchy bridesmaids and a frantic mother of the bride…
Priceless!
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### Author:  [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/6 "2003-06-30T17:48:58Z")
Queens NY 1987
Reception for 225 @36.95 per person plus tax and tip -around $10,000
Dress, veil, slip - $600
Shoes $40
Flowers and photos $2000
Favors $500
Limos $500
Invitations $300
Rings $200
License $10
Church $250
DJ $500
That comes to about $17,200 - not including the honeymoon and some things that I don’t remember how much they cost- attendant gifts, bridesmaids lunch, rehearsal dinner. And that was relatively inexpensive in NY even then.
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### Author:  [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/7 "2003-06-30T17:50:14Z")
Oh yeah, and the three-pack of condoms for the wedding night! 😃
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### Author:  [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/8 "2003-06-30T17:57:08Z")
Only a three-pack? I thought you were a bunny!
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/9 "2003-06-30T18:05:38Z")
I was married in 1997, and had just over 100 guests. I can’t remember the exact breakdown of costs, but for the wedding (not the honeymoon), we paid about $5000. My wedding dress was off-the-rack at Jessica McClintock; I spent under $175, and got some money knocked off because it needed dry cleaning due to the lipstick stain right inside the neckline.
The majority of the cost was renting the hall - a gorgeous stone cabin in the middle of a big, lovely park out here in the Chicago suburbs - and catering a German food buffet, a special order. The caterers were wonderful, and really worked with us to make sure that we cut back costs where we wanted. They even had enough vegetarian options for myself and some of the guests.
Flowers and decorations were very minimal and inexpensive. The professional photographer was a complete steal, as he **gave** us the negatives. I think we paid $600 or so for him to be there for the wedding and reception, the film, a proof book, and the negatives. We had a DJ doing the music at the reception, and he was very reasonable as well.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/10 "2003-06-30T18:11:16Z")
Airfare to Las Vegas (last-minute, of course): $700-ish
Super-8 Motel: Under $200 total
Engagement and Wedding Ring: $600
Wedding clothes: $0
Gambling: $200
Ceremony: Not much, I can tell you that!
Jewel Deli Trays six months later: $100
Waaaay cheap.
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### Author:  [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/11 "2003-06-30T18:17:16Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by CrazyCatLady \*
> \*\*Only a three-pack? I thought you were a bunny! \*\*
Well, we had to cut corners where we could. :o
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### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/12 "2003-06-30T18:59:00Z")
Plane tickets to Vegas: $250
Hotel room for one night in Vegas: $95
Dress: $200
No-frills wedding at Chapel of the Little Flowers: $100 (or so; can’t remember exactly anymore)
Total: $645, approximately.
My sister is getting married on Aug. 2 and is doing the full matching bridesmaids, chapel-length gown, country club reception hall deal. I think she and her fiancee are dropping at least $10k on it, although I’m not 100% certain. Mom is delirious with joy that at least one of her daughters is having a traditional wedding that she can fuss over and coo about. For which my sister has my everlasting appreciation, you can be sure.
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### Author:  [@roadrunner70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roadrunner70)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/13 "2003-06-30T19:34:13Z")
Ours was cheap too, as we paid for it ourselves. Back in '89.
Invitations - $80.00
Wedding dress - $500.00
Rings - $2700.00
Tux rental - $100.00
Car rental - $100.00
Chapel - $200.00
Priest - Free (I fixed his motorcycle in lieu of a gratuity)
Reception - $2000.00
Photog - $150.00 (student, but he did a good job)
Honeymoon in the Bahamas - $1500.00
14 years of pain and suffering - Priceless 😃
Holy sh\*t…I _thought_ it was a cheapie…
Damn.
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### Author:  [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/14 "2003-06-30T19:49:32Z")
Married one year.
Wedding Dress - 1500.00
Tuxedo Rental - 250.00 (overseas wedding, extended rental)
Airfare (2) - 1100.00 per person
Hotel - 600.00
Russian Orthodox wedding & 2 day reception: roughly $300,000 rubles = just over $10K which buys 5x’s the amount it’ll get you in the U.S.
U.S. Reception upon return - $2800.00 champaigne brunch
Honeymoon in Turkey - 28,400 rubles or just under $1000.00 not including spending/shopping money
There was of course a ka-zillion other items from portraits, photographer, videographer, DJ, gypsies, Russian traditional folk entertainers, fireworks, limo, etc., that I can’t even begin to recall the total price for.
Needless to say, a lot.
MeanJoe
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### Author:  [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/15 "2003-06-30T19:58:45Z")
We got married in 1988 in Cleveland. Traditional church wedding, reception at a restaurant, string quartet for music. About 40 guests. Cost was about $5,000. I wouldn’t have done anything different.
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/16 "2003-06-30T20:18:15Z")
375 at the BROaDMOOR.
You don’t even want to know.
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### Author:  [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/17 "2003-06-30T20:31:37Z")
I don’t think I can break it down, but a ballpark total of 15K rings a bell. This was in Long Island in 1995. My in-laws thought we were being cheap.
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### Author:  [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/18 "2003-06-30T20:40:21Z")
Wedding(including flowers)/reception(including cake, dinner, & bar)/suite for 4 nights at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe- $3000
dress-$100 in fabric, made by my grandmother (priceless).
maid of honor/flower girl dresses:$250
tux rentals-$125
incidentals(invitations,favors, etc)- $300
My brother in law did the pics, so only around $100.
Worth every penny.
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### Author:  [@roadrunner70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roadrunner70)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/19 "2003-06-30T20:42:27Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by lieu \*
> \*\*375 at the BROaDMOOR.
>
> You don’t even want to know. \*\*
Lemme take a guess…
Gas-X - $500.00
Toilet paper - $350.00
Remodeling bathroom - $5000.00
Air fresheners - $150.00
Remodeling water damaged room below - $10000.00
Am I in the ballpark?
😃
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### Author:  [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-spend-getting-hitched/185379/20 "2003-06-30T21:57:40Z")
The wedding industry is insane, and I’ve come to believe it’s the tool of Satan.
In the midwest, not the least bit typical wedding, 1996:
We wore jeans and sweaters, in the living room of the very nice ULC minister who hitched us. He charged us about $80.
Then we took the best man (the rev’s wife was the other witness) out to dinner, so maybe we spent $50 there.
I worked for years in catering, and I’m allergic to big weddings. The nicest weddings I saw in all that time, the ones where the guests seemed to have the best time, were the least elaborate, and the least expensive ones.
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