We had the photographer for the wedding at the hotel, and they had the type of package you’re talking about.
For the reception, we hired a guy who came in and took about 500 pictures. Afterwords, he mailed the dvd with all the pics and we then owned them. Included in that was the ability to sell the pictures to the rest. where we had the reception. They were trying to boost the number of parties they had there and loved some of our pictures.
I verified with the guy and he said they were ours to do with as we pleased, including that. We sold the place 15 pictures, made enough to cover our photography bill, and sent the guy a nice tip.
Yup. I don’t even need to read any farther. This is why we did it. And it definitely wasn’t out of fear of disapproval, because the next time we saw her parents they handed us a very generous check and said “this is what we would’ve spent on a wedding.”
Some people did look down on it at first. No family members - not even any friends - but a few acquaintances. A couple assholes actually quoted some “xyz amount of Vegas marriages end in the first year” statistics. Whatever, fuck them. We’re celebrating our 4th anniversary in a few weeks and just had our first child in March.
Those same people would probably snark if you got married anywhere but in a church with all the whistles and bells- like in a park, on the beach, on top of a mountain, or whatever.
A friend here in Spain wanted to get a crazy wedding, Elvis suited him fine and the bride wouldn’t have minded - but getting married abroad means a lot of paperwork and the respective mothers would have been likely to commit Filicide By Guilt, so they settled for a Vegas honeymoon instead.
They wanted their wedding to be fun for them, rather than spend it stressing over whether someone had had the gall to wear white and whether some clown had spiked the children’s punch.
I can’t really add anything new to this discussion, but I’ll add another data point. We definitely didn’t like the idea of a “traditional” wedding of any size back home.
Our families live in the same place, but we don’t. Planning a wedding where we grew up would have been done remotely. Between the usual hassle, the extra hassle of being hours away, and the expense* of entertaining of people we don’t really care to see, we just decided that it wasn’t worth it. So instead, we spent a wonderful week in Vegas, and had a nice simple wedding ceremony on the second day.
Over 6 years later, and I can’t complain. We’ve never, even for a moment, wished we’d done anything differently. It was stress-free, fun, and something that makes us a little different from most other people we know.
(*It’s not that either one of us are cheapskates. We’re both fine spending considerable money on something if there’s a real, lasting benefit. But what struck us about he idea of wedding expenses is how fleeting they are. Everything for one day of showing off. Tens of thousands of dollars can be spent for what barely lasts any longer than lighting that pile of cash on fire. A one-time dress, an overpriced cake that probably doesn’t even taste good, and so on. The only thing that remains long after the event are some photographs. Oh, and memories…but those memories are rarely enhanced by the grandeur of the event. No one I know looks back at their 10-year-ago wedding and says “I’m glad it cost so much.” I think most people would have a more lasting impact on their own life if they could have used all that money as a down payment on a house or something. But I recognize that many people have priorities different from ours.)
I completely agree. My brother, and my wife’s brother, and several of our friends now have had big weddings. I don’t think they understand until afterwards that it’s basically just a big party that is way more fun for the guests than for the bride and groom, because there’s no stress or expense involved for them. Everyone we know who’s done it eventually comes around to the opinion that they should’ve spent the money on either a honeymoon or a house. Of course, everyone’s mileage may vary, and if you really, truly have the disposable income (as opposed to taking out a 2nd mortgage, begging family, etc), big weddings can be a hell of a lot of fun.
