Obfusciatrist and I went to the Chapel of the Bells in Reno, Nevada this past weekend and tied the knot. They charged us $92.00. When I stuck in a $5.00 bill into a $1 slot machine later that afternoon and won $150.00, it paid for our wedding! We didn’t buy any flowers or anything. And other than the platinum bands we got at cost, we’ve kept our wedding budget to a minimum.
This got me thinking…
How much did YOU end up spending on YOUR wedding? And if you were to do it all over again, would you spend more? less? Was it worth the money you spent?
Hmmm, i’d have to ask the Mrs’s about it, but i think the total was somewhere in the neighborhood of $7,500, for 250 people.
I’d do the same exact thing over again. Although i’d get a different photographer. The guy we had was a total fucking lozer. The schmuck somehow shot 2 rolls of film twice so we lost a bunch of pictures because they showed two different photos. The idiot also must have needed glasses because alot of the photo’s were blurred. Needless to say, i bitched up a storm when we got the photo’s back and threatened him with a court action and his life, and refused to pay a single cent for the photos. He was nice enough to agree that he really botched the job and didn’t complain too bad when i sent him packing without pay.
I had a small family affair that probably cost less than your Vegas wedding. Cold cuts, cheap champagne, and a modest cake. We were married by the mayor of my hometown, who lives across the street from my grandmother’s house. We tied the knot in her den(my grandmother’s den, not the mayor’s, I mean). And you know, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
I can’t even fathom plunking down 20 grand on a single day. Hell, that’s enough for a new car! And I bet if you added up all the people I’ve been aquainted with in my entire life, it wouldn’t come close to 450.
My wife shares my attitude. She told me if I bought her an expensive ring she’d slap me upside the head. She’d rather have something she can actually USE, and I don’t blame her. I paid about $100 for her ring at a pawn shop and she loved it.
I guess it’s a cultural thing, Neutron. Where I come from, if a parent can’t give his kids a decent wedding, he’s not much of a parent. Sure, my folks put off buying a new car for a year or so, but paying for a big party is an expected expence, like sending your kids to college. We offered to pay them back with the wedding checks (we netted around 25,000) but they refused. If we had’t both been eldest children - the first to get hitched - it might have been different.
As for the amount of people - it adds up. Besides our friends, we had our co-workers (bosses included), family (up to second cousins, and my wife has quite a tribe), our siblings’ friends, our parents’ friends, our parents’ co-workers and employees and business associates, neigbours, our parents’ neighbours…
You see how in goes. We had to work hard to keep it below 450.
I also hope I never wind up there for any reason and for any length of time.
Yer pal,
Satan
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I think this really comes down to money not culture! My wife has a large family, my side small to average. We both have a lot of friends. We had about 200 people attend the wedding and spent maybe $2000. The wedding and reception were great, we just did all of the work (our families helped out a bunch) We catered it ourselves, decorated, etc… The point is, nobody on either side of the family has/had that kind of money. You imply that a DECENT wedding has to cost a lot of money. Also the bit about sending your kid to college. It’s EXPECTED? My dad worked two jobs for quite awhile to provide for our family. I am sure college would have been an option had they the resources.
Congratulations Mr. and Mrs Baglady!!
My wife and I eloped. 50 bux for the marriage commissioner, and about the same for the flowers. The supper afterwards cost us about 600 bux.
Works out about $3,500 for ours I suppose. We paid for the everything ourselves - very simple - 60 people to the ceremony (licensing restrictions) and an extra 50 to the late reception. One of the things I loved was that the whole thing was in one place - a very old hall in a place owned by Queen Elizabeth I at one time. Really lovely place for photographs, and zero travelling between bits of the wedding. (very unusual for the UK).
I agree with what’s been said above - no offence to anyone who does it differently, but I couldn’t bring myself to spend so much money on a single day of my life - no matter how special. I wouldn’t want my parents to spend that sort of money either, even if they had had it at the time. The other part of this is that at my wedding we had our friends and family - the people we love that we wanted to share our joy with. That definitely does not include co workers of my parents, or, god forbid, their business associates.
we spent around $1800, which included a week house rental, ski lift tickets for 15 people and some non skier passes to get them to the top. We get married on top of wildcat mtn NH, we both loved it and wouldn’t have it any other way. we both hate the conventinal wedding and its comercializartion.
In the two or three years before our wedding, there had been several deaths in my wife’s family – including a young father having a fatal heart attack. My wife’s father said, “How can we have a wedding and not invite people who came to funerals?” … so we had a much larger wedding than we would have preferred. Our 29th anniversary was a few weeks ago.
I guess we spent about $3000 our wedding. It was at a park outside of DC. We got the park meeting hall etc. We only had it for the afternoon because the local high school girls swim team was holding a banquet there later that day. They told us to leave the decorations up because they thought it would be romantic. Lunch was sandwiches and BBQ on the grill outside. The kids everyone brought got to play in the playground outside. Big fun.
Given that, now that we’ve been doing so well, if Mrs Chance was the romantic sort I’d throw a BIG bash for a renewal of vows or something like that. I think this sort of event should be the top people talk about and remember until their dying day.
I friend of my mother’s just applied for a loan for 20,000 to pay for their wedding.
My SO and I both feel that is ridiculous. We have been living together for 3 years and when we do tie the knot it will probably be courthouse style. My parents would help if we wanted a real wedding, but they have also stated it would be a budget wedding. In all honesty though their isn’t one part of me that desires the whole white dress,bridesmaids etc. big wedding. I wouldn’t mind a decent ring, but nothing crazy.
We spent less that $3000. That included rental of the ranch, a sleighride and dinner for all 30 of us, flowers, j.o.p., license, photographer & album, tuxedo(s), wedding dress, 5 days & nights in Manchester Center, VT, materials for all invitations, rsvp cards, ceremony pamphlets etc…, music, and well, everything else.
It was worth 10X what we spent!
Where were all of you when I was planning my wedding!!! I was hanging out on the wedding usenet groups listening to people spending $10,000, $15,000, $20,000…
How much our wedding costs depends on how you figure expenses. We and all our guests flew to Charleston, SC to enjoy a nice weekend with a wedding thrown in for good measure. If you look at the wedding itself plus the dinner we had afterwards at a nice restaurant for our 27 guests, it was about $3,500. If you count the airfare and hotel our parents spent on getting some of the family there, it was more but I don’t know how much.
BTW, I loved having my wedding this way. Low fuss, low stress, a great weekend where the wedding, held in a historic inn, was just one of the highlights.
Mrs. Cal comes from a large family. When they were all little her parents sat them down and told them that they wouldn’t be paying for anyone’s weding, although they’d give them $1000 if they wanted to elope.
True story. Her sister took them up on it.
We paid for our own wedding, and did the arrangements ourselves. I don’t recall the cost, but it was a LOT less than $10,000.
had a couple of friends who got married at college, in the college chapel. Reception in the Student Center Decorations by the Bride (her plants, with aluminum foil wrapped around the pots). Catering by the Dining Service. Music by their stereo. About as cheap as you can get without going to Reno.
We tried to get married in Brazzaville, but could not get special dispensation [from a month prenotice] by the Minister of Justice who was spending Christmas in Paris.
Second attempt was successful in Lilongwe and it cost us $10.00; approx $2.50 for the license and $7.00 for the cheddar cheese, So African champagne, crackers and macadamia nuts reception for a dozen folks. I think someone bribed the asst district commissioner to do it [his first] because he was reluctant and then very enthusiastic. The American embassy notarized the license to make the marriage valid in the US; however they made a mistake on the date - one day earlier. Is this grounds for an annulment?
Actually I would happily do it over again; marriage and ceremony.
Count me in on the cheap brigade, then. I think we spend a total of $300 dollars. Most of that for my wife’s dress. The Church had a $75 dollar deposit, married by our Choir Director (Said he’d been in 300 weddings, but ours was the first (and only!) one he’s ever officiated at.) That doesn’t count honeymoon, mind you.
I paid about $45 for her ring. She would have KILLED me if I’d bought a diamond ring, cause of being too expensive, not needed, de beers is a bunch of monopolistic bastards manipulating people into thinking diamonds are necessary, et al.
You’ll pardon me if I think paying $25k for a wedding is absurd. I’m just as married, and as happy as can be, on the el cheapo wedding I had. Thank God society down here isn’t as hung up on expensive weddings.
