Wedding cost

[negadave]

What's the right amount to spend on your wedding?

Had abc world news on and they did a thing on Chelsea Clinton's wedding. They said it was gonna cost between 3 and 8 million. hock: For one day?? That's nuts.

My buddy did it on the complete end of the spectrum. Knocked his girl up semi accidentally. She's kinda quirky and gets panic attacks around alot of people, so she didn't want a big deal made about it. They went to town hall and got married for $35. She was happy. Done deal.

On the other end, my girl cousin got married about 2 years ago, and they spent $80'000 on it. The church was like a half hour. Stayed at the reception for like 4 hours, had a plate of food, got hammered, and went home. Fun yes, but i could do alot more with 80k

legally there's no difference between the two. 6 months down the line, does it really matter?

You want to do things right on a hopefully once in a lifetime experience (50% chance it's not gonna be), but you could put the money to much better use if your trying to start a family. Down payment on a home, college fund for the kids, whatever.

Another buddy from H.S carpentry shop in the trade school we went to told me he dropped like $50,000 on his wedding. That's like a years pay for a carpenter.
Year's pay gone in 8 hours :? I don't know man...

I know what you make has some bearing on it, but what do you think is the right amount to spend?

[LeNeve]

0 dollars. Weddings are such a ridiculous waste of money. I don't get the whole thing. Its fun if you are a guest. I hate the thought of anyone starting out to make a family to waste this money in this way. Girls are brainwashed from an early age to think this massive waste of money is normal.

What happened to the good old days of the caveman? Knock a chick out, drag her to the cave, and get her pregnant.

[BDH]

I think it all depends on whether or not the families are helping out or not. I have NEVER been to a wedding with an open bar. I guess all my friends and family are either poor or cheap. My gf has never been to a wedding with a cash bar. She's Italian and apparently they go all out for these things.

I am a glory hound and would like to make my wedding day something memorable, but Im by no means loaded, so it would probably not be everything I want it to be. I also have a lot of friends and buddies in the music, entertainment and DJ industries, so I would be able to snag some good deals on shit like bands, DJ, photogs, etc...

Ultimately, I think anywhere between $20000 and $40000 would make everyone happy, depending on your income.

[negadave]

Maybe i'm forgetting about the gifts. Most people try to cover their plate at the bare minimum. You think you even come close to breaking even?
I'm saying 5-10K. want it to be nice, but don't go crazy. I'd say don't spend more than you would spend on a nice vacation.

[LeNeve]

Maybe i'm forgetting about the gifts. Most people try to cover their plate at the bare minimum. You think you even come close to breaking even?
I'm saying 5-10K. want it to be nice, but don't go crazy. I'd say don't spend more than you would spend on a nice vacation.

If I was to ever have a wedding this is all I would spend. Ive been with my "wife" for 11 years almost. We have 3 kids. Nothing has ever been made official, other than filing taxes together. Which according to the government, we are married.

My mother who has been married 4 times, and stepdad since 1994 (who is an awesome dude), have said they will pay for a wedding.

My Dad, who has been married 3 times, and my stepmother since 1990 (who is also an awesome person), have said they will pay for a wedding too.

Even with the combined help of my family, I still refuse for them to waste money on me, for such a frivilous tradition.

[Pete Nice]

The woman's family is supposed to pay for the majority of the wedding. The grooms family is supposed to pay for the rehearsal diner. So it shouldn't cost any of you guys much out of pocket. So F it, let them spend what they want on it.

This breaks it down pretty good.

http://wedding.theknot.com/getting-engag...MsdVisit=1

If you look at the cost, the bride's family has the big stuff. You, as the groom, just need to pay for the honeymoon and some minor things.

[ap bikini team]

I think it all depends on whether or not the families are helping out or not. I have NEVER been to a wedding with an open bar. I guess all my friends and family are either poor or cheap. My gf has never been to a wedding with a cash bar. She's Italian and apparently they go all out for these things.

I am a glory hound and would like to make my wedding day something memorable, but Im by no means loaded, so it would probably not be everything I want it to be. I also have a lot of friends and buddies in the music, entertainment and DJ industries, so I would be able to snag some good deals on shit like bands, DJ, photogs, etc...

Ultimately, I think anywhere between $20000 and $40000 would make everyone happy, depending on your income.

Dude, I don't GO to weddings unless it's an open bar lol.

But 10-20k for a decent size group of people should work. Now in that, I'm including the honeymoon and rehearsal dinners in there.

[DaveP]

No open bar.. im taking half of my gift back.
I went to one last week that had fucking liquor on tap.. ON TAP!
seriously, a gun that shoots vodka, rum, etc.. it was awesome.
and it was all FOR FREEE

[NussieT]

I got married last year. Jim and I paid for everything, my cunt mother didn't want to come but my grandmother made her... I would have been happy if she wasn't there because all my family photos she looks like a miserable bitch.
We had a small wedding at a country club where the ceremony was outside and the reception was in a building in the same parking lot. The entire wedding cost us just a little under $5000 but we bought the dress and the rings the year before and didn't take that into consideration. If we did it would be a little less than $6000. We splurged on the photographer because I am so anal when it comes to pictures... they have to be good.
It was a great wedding, I knew everyone in attendance, they were either close personal friends or family members. We did have a cash bar but only because Jim and I don't really drink, Jim's family is a bunch of mennonites and don't drink at all. My family are churchy type people and don't drink at all either however my dad's family is a bunch of alcoholics and we weren't going to waste our hard earned money by paying off a booze tab.

[DaveP]

I am so anal

:atm:

[the keifer]

I'd say anymore than 5g is ridiculous. And like Negadave said, That 80g should go towards a down payment or to help pay off a house.
My one cousin did the court house deal and did a reception about a month later at the local VFW. They had a little one on the way so it's better to spend more for the kid.
My one friend did a casual wedding in his now exwife's parent's back yard. They had a big canopy set up, a caterer, and a photographer. It's a good thing they didn't spend much cause that marriage only lasted 2 months.
Both were under 5g.

[Joe]

I'd say anymore than 5g is ridiculous. And like Negadave said, That 80g should go towards a down payment or to help pay off a house.
My one cousin did the court house deal and did a reception about a month later at the local VFW. They had a little one on the way so it's better to spend more for the kid.
My one friend did a casual wedding in his now exwife's parent's back yard. They had a big canopy set up, a caterer, and a photographer. It's a good thing they didn't spend much cause that marriage only lasted 2 months.
Both were under 5g.

How the hell does a marriage only last 2 months?

[the keifer]

I'd say anymore than 5g is ridiculous. And like Negadave said, That 80g should go towards a down payment or to help pay off a house.
My one cousin did the court house deal and did a reception about a month later at the local VFW. They had a little one on the way so it's better to spend more for the kid.
My one friend did a casual wedding in his now exwife's parent's back yard. They had a big canopy set up, a caterer, and a photographer. It's a good thing they didn't spend much cause that marriage only lasted 2 months.
Both were under 5g.

How the hell does a marriage only last 2 months?

Idk. I think the only reason he did it, is because she's the mother of his child. I tried talkin him out of it. Now she's trying to take him for everything he's got.
I should have said that she left him 2 months into it and never came back. Legally they're still married trying to get the divorce to go through.

[Beckster]

Weddings should be cheap as possible. Though I am all for the party... Reception.. After.

[bdinva]

Our original budget was $10k, we ended up spending closer to $15k (including the honeymoon) after all was said and done. We had an open bar and sit-down dinner at a resort on a lake in the Blue Ridge Mountains in VA. Kind of like a destination wedding but only a 2 hr drive for most of our guests (close friends and family only).

While I agree that this money could have been spent better elsewhere, everything about the day was perfect and for a once in a lifetime type of thing, I wouldn't change a thing if we had to do it over. I've been fortunate with my career so far (I'm only 26) so we didn't break the bank with this event at all.

I've been to a few low-budget weddings (they spent less than $2000 on everything) and if you get creative and have the help of a lot of friends and family, you can still have an awesome event. We got bent over on a few things ($800 for table linens - WTF?!), so there's a lot of completely avoidable costs in larger weddings.

Best piece of advice is not to have a planner. They are like a GC building you a house - adding overhead and profit to EVERYTHING that's already marked up in the first place. Vendors will negotiate the price with you if you have an opportunity to deal with them. You look at them like subcontractors, and get them bidding against each other, your money can go a lot farther.