Real cheap. I don’t remember how much total. Mrs. O, who coincidentally just called on the phone, says we spent a total of $50 on license and fees and $15 at the coffeehouse downstairs for pieces of cake and coffee. It was just her, me, and the Tzeroling. The camera we used was a total piece of shit and the photos didn’t come out. Period.
However we are going up to NH and Mamma O’s for a meet & greet with both sides of the family and a few select friends in mid-August. Another DIY affair, probably $500 total, and that’s probably including the accommodation fees for the out-of-towners.
Congrats to you and Mr. Baglady! Best wishes and all that!
I just spent my honeymoon in Manchester (and Grafton). Got married in January, in Garrison, New York at a colonial inn built in 1780something. We paid for everything–well, my husband paid for most of it–and it cost us about $7,000. We wanted to spend less (we had only 50 people) but we wanted to stay at nice inns in Vermont and they cost loads of money. Also, renting a car from NYC is a small fortune. The actual wedding only cost about $3500.
The chef made whatever we wanted (we kept a colonial theme), the place had fireplaces in every room–it was pretty amazing. He wore a suit, I wore a dress from JC Penny (a $160 dollar wedding dress), we had a best person (female) and a matron of honor, no other attendants, no flowers except the ones his nieces carried (they insisted on walking down the aisle too). The b&b where we married used their regular flowers, and tablecloths, and things. I made the place cards and the ceremony programs myself.
It snowed the night before, the inn was toasty from the fireplaces, classical music (on CD) playing in the background…it was heavenly. (and yeah, it was only 6 months ago, so I can’t stop talking about it.)
Oh, and congratulations, Baglady and Obfusciatrist!
OMG JimmyNipples – what did you EAT that cost you guys 600 clams? I don’t think I’ve ever spent that much on food, EVER , except for a few airline meals (but those counted the airfare).
Well, having just recently eloped myself, the numbers are still pretty fresh in my head. We spent a whopping $149. If you want to include the dress that’s another $150, and I have no recollection of how much was spent on the partying afterwards. If I were to do it all over again (granted this was only three weeks ago), I’d do it exactly the same.
Ours was about 5G for 150 folk 15 years ago. Here's the story. Ms. Dinsdale's folk were going thru a divorce at the time. Less than a year before our marriage she found out her dad was a fucking bigamist - had another family w/ 2 teenage kids living less than 5 miles from her family house. So you might understand we didn't want him in any way associated with our celebration of what family and marriage meant to us.
We planned on a small, low key event. Buffet dinner, jugs of wine and kegs at a VFW/Am. Legion type hall. If we spent any , it would be on a band. Ms. D’s mom wanted us to have a fancy wedding. Her sister had had a big blow out a year or two earlier. Mom-in-law said she’d pay for it. So we go through the hassle of arranging this fancy country club deal from a distance, inviting many more folk than we otherwise would have.
The day before the wedding we needed a final check for the hall, and mom-in-law drops the bomb, “Oh, you have to get that from your father.” So the day before we get married, we have to go hat in hand to this fucking bigamist for $. And he was pissed Ms. Dinsdale wouldn’t let him walk her down the aisle.
Long story short, the band kicked ass. My friends still talk about what a great party it was. We were exhausted and left early. IMO big weddings are great for everyone but the bride and groom. The photographer sucked - our last photo in our album is us leaving the hall flipping him off.
Congrats, baglady and omniscient.
Depends on how broad you define wedding expenses. When one of my friends got married they spent about 350 on the actual ceremony and reception, but he demanded on paying for the entire bachelor party(strippers and booze) for about 20 guys and probably blew about 3000 bucks.
Can anyone beat this? I got married at the court house. cost something like 75 total. I got the license on friday and got married on Monday morning after work. I worked at night so I came home changed in to a pair of jeans and collared shirt. I was tired since I didn’t usually sleep on Sundays for long. Then right after getting married I went straight to school on the first day of the semester. then I went home got some sleep and went back to work without even seeing my new wife for about a day after that!
What were WE thinking? My wedding cost around $25,000 (front to back…honeymoon included). Our families chipped in a combined $10,000. About 300 people showed up. Quite a shindig…if I try to be unbiased it was the second best/coolest wedding I’ve been to.
Personally I would have been happy with immediate family and close friends and a BBQ but the wife wanted the fairy tale wedding and she pretty much got it.
The sad part is I hardly remember any of it. Not that I was drunk (barely had a drop of booze till the very end) it’s just that it went by so fast.
Would I do it that way again? I dunno. Hopefully it’s the one and only time I will ever go through that so I guess I don’t mind one HUGE blowout party and it did rock. Still, I’ve been to an outdoor wedding with a beer truck and a pig roast and it was an absolute blast.
Final verdict? Glad we did what we did but I don’t think we’d do it that way again.
The wife speaking now. My grandparents (who, BTW, raised me) are both deceased, so we took care of our own wedding. Our church is one of the oldest in the city, the couple who got married the week before us let us use their decorations (poinsettia trees!), and my dress, a simple ivory dress, cost about $50. The men all wore suits: the women wore dresses. The cake was a beautifully decorated sheet cake (which was delicious) and the punch, mints and nuts were provided by the church. A friend from the church took pictures.
When it comes to an engagement ring: I would much rather head off to a SciFi con or five than have a diamond ring. Just way too expensive.
I think ours was about $22K for around 200 people.
If I was paying for it, NO WAY was it worth the cash. However, Daddy and hubby’s mom paid for it. Since it didn’t cost me anything, HECK YEAH, it was a rip-roarin’ excellent time. I loved it.
What an appropriate question to answer today, our 10th wedding anniversary!
I was 23, just graduating from college, and hubby was 34. We had been engaged and living together for about a year and were just starting to make plans for the big party when I started my first “real” job. The Friday of the first week I came home and said, “Screw the big party – what are we waiting for? Let’s get married ASAP!” We picked the first date that all of our closest friends and family could come – a month away. Here are the expenses:
Rings (all three): $700 (I already had the engagement ring, about $300)
My dress (red/black off-the-shoulder number): $70
His clothes (nice shirt & pants): I dunno, $50 max
Marriage license: $50
Dinner for 23 people: about $250 (my mother paid, it was her gift)
5 corsages/boutonnieres (us, 2 attendants, my mother): $20
Cake (1/4 sheet ice cream cake): $20
Wedding night hotel room: $75
Invitations: I dunno, maybe $10 plus postage; we wrote them out by hand on nice white stationery
We got married at the courthouse by the Family Court Commissioner (no judges available); we both greeted our guests outside before the 3:30 Friday ceremony, which took about 5 minutes. Then drinks and dinner. We took our own pictures (both the formal portraits and the candids) and paid for our weekend honeymoon (mostly shopping in Milwaukee) with the cash we got as gifts.
Just another couple that proves that the length and happiness of the marriage is not determined by the amount spent on the wedding. Too many couples spend more time and effort planning the wedding than the marriage.
Edward the Head, you’ve got me beat on price and I’ve got you beat on time-frame, but we both had the choice location. We got the marriage license at 3:30 PM at a cost of $24 and we were married an hour later at the courthouse for a fee of $125.
I went very cheap. My friend made me a bouquet to carry (no charge). I bought my dress at Dillards for less than $50.00 and paid $9.99 for some shoes that were out of season. We paid $50 to the minister and the church was free since we were members. Total cost of my wedding $109.99.
<B>Nen</B>
the only reason we waited at all was because of the Maryland law saying that you have to wait two days. oh well I don’t like big ceremonies anyway.
I just remarried March 26 (slight hijack, does anyone else’s S/O mention the date, as in the 26th each month, end hijack) We rented a van so we could take our friends with us, paid for two rooms for the weekend and went for a trip to NC for a week so she could meet MOM (who shed only met by telephone till then)
Total Cost sans gambling: $3100
That included the plane tickets, both rental vehicles, the ceremony, hotels, and rings, thought I was pretty thrifty till I saw some of the other posts
Our wedding was not quite three months ago on a covered pier at sunrise Easter morning and my cost was probably under $1700. I put a lot of personal work into it and enjoyed making the flowers, bouquets, guest gifts, invitations, veil, alterations, purse and garter myself. Following a breakfast reception, we were finished at 9:30 a.m. and had the whole day to relax and enjoy.
The only thing I would have done differently is the wedding cake. A week or so before the wedding I had this feeling that the person hired to make our cake was overestimating her ability. It turned out to be the cake from hell. Other than that, our wedding was truly breathtaking.
When my oldest daughter married two years ago, she had a beautiful wedding for just over $5,000 at a private country club. I can’t think of anything I’d change. For her it was magical and I loved the joy it brought to her.
My youngest daughter just announced her engagement this past Saturday. Just when I thought I could take a break from wedding plans, it starts all over again.
I should refrain from such thoughts. We still have one more daughter in the wings.
