Our wedding was unique. My wife and I had been living together for 26 years. But her medical insurance didn’t care. We had to get married for me to get on her coverage.
A family reunion had been scheduled for the date we had moved in together, which we celebrated as our anniversary. About a dozen of us went to Rhode Island - where none of us lived - where a seaside rental was waiting. My wife and I went down early and got a marriage license ($25) and found a retired judge that would perform the ceremony at our beach house.* Then we sprang the news. Everybody freaked. Nobody was willing to be as casual about a wedding as we were. Think of the pictures! We finally beat them down to going to a restaurant for dinner. They arranged for a cake to be there.
What it all cost I don’t know. We would have done a dinner anyway, I think. The judge got a little something. The cake was a simple cake. Everybody had a camera; it was a family reunion after all. I think everybody was happy.
That was 24 years ago. My wife and I celebrated our 50th anniversary this month. I guess the marriage took. We’re very, very, very much a couple, with or without the paperwork.
*When he showed up his wife was in the car. Turned out she had never seen one of his weddings, so of course we brought her in.
Mine was sub 10k but towards the upper end. We rented out the coffee shop where we first met had catered food and maybe 75 guests. We did our own music via iPod and a friend performed the ceremony.
My husband’s family is all about expensive weddings. Part of it is the size of the family - one I went to last year had about 400 relatives. I’m not great at estimating prices but I’m gonna say at least $200,000. It was black tie. The whole reception area was stuffed with fresh roses. And they were giving them away at the door. For all that money, I’ve gotta say it was the most aesthetically beautiful wedding I’ve ever been to. It was dark red roses with warm light candles and creams.
But the venue was so huge, I couldn’t see a damned thing.
I voted in the 1k-10k range (probably middle of the range), and it’s only been the one time in 2002.
I’ve probably told this story before here, but when my wife and I advised my father-in-law to be of our plans (we had been together and living together for 6 years at this point) he quickly offered us $5k US to elope. We said we’d get back to him in a couple of days, but were likely to say yes… by the time we did, my MIL nixed it big time. So we got a medium sized wedding and a big reception that they paid for.
The wedding venue though was very inexpensive because we had it at the campus chapel where we’d met in college, and they only had token charges for alumni. Everything else, well, added up. But 80-90% of the whole thing was for my MIL - she’d been waiting for us to get married for a long time, and after years of going to friends and co-workers events, wanted to have one of her own.
My memory is that it was about $12,000. This was in 1992, and that cost included the wedding venue (we had an outdoor wedding at the same club where the reception was held), the reception (~130 guests), the wedding dress, the DJ for the reception, musicians, etc.
I voted $1000-$10,000, but it was probably about $2000. My parents’ back yard was the venue for both the ceremony and reception. Largest cost was probably the dress (about $600, but that’s steal for something at Nieman Marcus) and the rings (probably about $700).
It’ll be 25 years next month. That morning it had hit 100 degrees by 10:30 AM. Don’t get married outside in July while in Texas, kids.
Not sure. The Wife paid for it. There was a fee involved at the courthouse, and she hired an officiant to perform the ceremony in a plublic space overlooking the harbour. I don’t remember who paid for dinner for half a dozen people at the nice (expensive) steak house across the street.
Was about $7000, but that included a destination ceremony that included 3 nights in Jamaica for best man and maid of honor (and obviously us) then a reception for 30 at a small private room of a very nice restaurant. Including photographer in both Jamaica and at the reception, videographer in Jamaica, flowers two wedding dresses. A cousin was DJ/MC and wouldn’t accept any payment (he was a part time professional).
This was almost 25 years ago. Probably be a $25k wedding now.
First wedding in 1988: I don’t recall for sure. Probably $10-15K. 150-ish guests at swanky resort, fancy dress for her, rented clothes for the me & the guys. Not counting rings.
Second wedding in 2021: Whatever the local courthouse fee was. $10 I think. But I just checked their website and it may have been completely free. We had no party or witnesses or nuthin’. Just us two in nice clothes we already owned. Left the courthouse and drove straight to a nearby mainstream jeweler and bought two plain gold bands as temoprary wedding rings. $1300 total for both IIRC. Our real wedding rings were designed and ordered later.
Ditto that! Our 1992 wedding was in Texas in August. Outside in a gazebo in a city park. My husband smoked back then and the pack of ciggies in his shirt pocket was completely drenched in sweat by the end of the ceremony.
12-15 G I suppose. Had too many guests. About 100. Way too many.
No big dinner. it was more of a kind of brunch type thing. Open bar as long as you liked wine, beer or vodka (Bloody Marys, Screw Drivers) The venue messed up for our original plans. Turns it was getting remodeled starting the day of our wedding.
So… plans got changed. We all ended up taking a gondola to the top of Keystone mountain (Colorado ski resort) and did it there.
A cousin of my Wife married us, so that was kinda traditional. But we really like her. My Wife and I are not religious ourselves, but some family is, so what the heck. We paid for her travel and stay.
It was actually very cool. At least for those not afraid of heights
Our Hawaii wedding. $60 for the license, $60 for the judge on his noon hour break. $12 TWELVE!!! For parking. Our “reception” dinner was at the upscale* Zippys downtown Honolulu paid for by our realtor (wife’s best friend) and mortage broker (wife’s HS classmate) - the guests.
$50 for a marriage license in Vegas, married by the Justice o the peace. I voted $0-100, but if you want to include gas from LA and gambling losses, them maybe a notch higher.
My soon-to-be father in law paid for the reception, maybe 60ish guests; couldn’t have been much, the toast was in plastic champagne glasses. The other expenses were flying to my wife’s home town, tuxes for my side of the wedding party (bride’s attendant made her own dress), rental cars, a limo. Hotel for a couple of nights. Various tips; it’s your wedding day, you tip generous to everyone in range.
Must be less than $10k, but no idea what part of that range.
And yeah, my divorce after 25 years was much more expensive.
My wedding was a long time ago, so for the sake of inflation I answered for my daughter who got married about six months ago. It was about $10,000 so I was torn of which option to choose. I went for the $10,000 to $50,000 option only because of you add the cost of the honeymoon, a cruise to Greece and Turkey, it went over the limit.
Mine was right around $1000 in 1981. The dress was $99 off the returns rack at the discount bridal shop; we had the train cut off and stitched to the front so it would be long enough, and that brought the price up to $150. The ceremony was at my inlaws’ church, and I think we slipped the pastor $25, a lady at the church who lived to make cakes made us a full-on beautifully decorated three-tier cake for $30 (the cost of ingredients), and we had a barbecue buffet reception in the maid of honor’s back yard. She was my only attendant, and she wore a formal dress she already owned; we rented tuxes for the groom and best man. Our best man was a silversmith, and he made our rings after helping us work out a design, then gave them to us as a wedding present. My dad bought a case of champagne for the reception, and we had about 40 guests. It was a blast, and we were in our very early 20’s, so no one cared if it was tacky or not what the etiquette books said.
Now, my daughter’s wedding in 2019, that was a different story. I don’t even remember how much we spent on that (it might be a type of protective amnesia), but our son-in-law’s parents picked up a lot of the bill because his family is amazingly large and ours is teeny. We didn’t begrudge them any of it - hers is likely to be the only wedding we’ll be having - and what a wonderful experience it was that the only arguments we had were each side insisting on paying for something!
