Wedding$

My wife took care of the whole deal . We rented the hall at my dads firehall , had some one decorate it . Hired an outside caterer . Hired a DJ. 11 grand total . Some people go crazy on wedding ,we wanted a big party that we could also take part in .

Had a backyard wedding a year and a half ago. Rented a tent, tables, chairs. Bought all the table setting stuff ourselves. Had a friend officiate, another dj. Had delicious catering from the company we wanted. Bought our own alcohol at the store. Spent between 10-12on it. The price to do it the "regular" way was ridiculous and it's not what we wanted anyway.

I had a small wedding, 45 people, I have no family or relatives so it was just her side, cost me 8 grand, it was actually very nice because it was more like a small party, I never had fun at weddings where 300 people attended

Hey you could save a few bucks by using paper plates lol

Between a nice small (40 people) wedding at our local chapel, to the reception which we had in a hall at a BBQ restaurant, including wedding cake etc we spent about 8-10k. Which is cheap when you get right down to it lol

We did not go on a traditional honeymoon. We spent the night in our first house for the first time.

People used to get married at their church and have a reception there or another location usually put on by the bride's family. Now everyone thinks they need to impress Robin Leach. It's silly really. I am all for good parties but that money could be much better spent by the couple.

My Dad told my sisters you get x amount. You can have a nice (not lavish) wedding with that or go cheap and use it as down payment on first house.
Figure it out.
TM

$450 for us. That's wedding, cake and photos. We eloped.

I would get annoyingly specific with all the $0.50 crap. "Well we have 100 guests, but 27 are kids so we only need 73 knives, the kids don't need knives. Robert's sloppy ass never uses a napkin, he prefers his sleeve, so only 99 of those. Mark is a habitual ice cruncher, but it's annoying as hell so everyone gets ice cubes except Mark. Fuck Mark."

The only wedding I paid for was my daughters about 8 years ago. It was at the Brigantine restaurant in Del Mar. Between Delmar race track and the ocean. The rented out the back patio which was really nice for our crowd of approx 65 or so. Had a small dance floor and place for a band/dj. Excellent food and we did a open bar.

Venue with the food was around $6,000. The bar bill ran up another $5,000 and we left $1,000 tip for the staff. I got away with $12K total for the 65 people. We did all the decorating...but easy beachy stuff...maybe $4-$500 for that? I thought it was a decent deal for the quality of the food and the excellent service

Now our youngest son is looking and getting outrageous quotes for your typical venues like wineries etc.
they are putting it on hold for a bit to research a little further

$35.00 bucks at the county courthouse. Done. And I'm just as married as those that spend thousands. Imediate family only with a nice dinner afterwards.

One of my requests was the bar stays open during dinner and I want buckets of bottled beer at the end of the buffet tables . I hate the power trip shit when they close the bar for dinner.

Jesus...

i just got engaged, my fear is spending even 5k on a wedding.

mutual friend of ours just got her parents to buck up for a $50k wedding. didn't even last a year. the parents are fucking pissed.

can't believe this shit is so expensive

Father-in-law gave us $10k to do as we please. Said to tell when and where to show up. Wife and friends made deals all over town, and did a lot of the little fancy crap themselves. Great wedding, under budget and paid down a couple credit cards with the access. As for the bar, we paid $1k, everyone on their own after that.

I wish all you guys best wishes in your future marriages!!!!

Not trying to be a kill joy but the divorce rate in the United States is 50% so please be careful guys, my divorce is almost final, I stayed in a bad relationship for my girls, once they moved out I said I'm out

I believe in marriage, and have no regrets

My mrs hints at getting married, but like fuck I can afford that! I was thinking of applying to one of those shows that gives you £15k and the groom has the plan the wedding himself without the brides input, for comedy value.

I think she'd kill me if I actually did that though haha.

The venue she likes is £12k alone, but I think that includes catering.

Yep,the wedding game is definitely a Black Hole for throwing money in. My ONLY daughter got married a little over 2 years ago. Her and my wife wanted to have it at a local facility that happened to be ranked as the Number 1 wedding facility in western Pa. Very ,very nicely done old barn on 10 groomed/landscaped acres with a beautiful pond with an outside altar. All magazine quality stuff,lol. By the time everything was totalled up , including the white horse and carriage 300 yard ride for us and the daughter from the "dressing house" to the altar, the open bar, the 250 people 4 star dinner, the dessert selections, the fireworks,DJ, the all-girl string quartet , the live singers during the ceremony,the photogs/videographer and shit I'm sure I'm forgetting ,our tab came to a shade over 52K..........(and that included a 15% discount for having it on a Sunday!!! ) We had made only 2 restrictions for our guests---no gifts were permitted , and EVERY attendee had to wear jeans . It was lavish but very casual, everyone loved it.

Now the worst part--- My wife is General Banquet Manager at a very nice local Country Club,and my daughter is Bar manager. Our clubs owners were "comping" the facility,the chefs were cooking for free and their Alcohol venders were donating all the booze,and all that would have saved me about 40 large, BUT they had to have it at "The Farm",but she is our only child,been a great kid and married a fantastic guy,so I went down for the count .

Did it hurt at the time ? Absolutely !! Was that level of lavishness necessary ? Absolutely not !! Is the bank account STILL stinging? Certainly is,lol!!! Do I regret it now? No way !! It was the greatest time and the memories will last the rest of our lives ,and everyone had a very,very memorable day !!!

On a related note--my wife and I's wedding may have tipped the scales at maybe 4,000 ?? And we had a great time at ours too, so there you have it---- doesn't really matter how much you spend

Got married at a church and had a BBQ for the reception. Sounds redneck, but we had a good time. It was small, quick, immediate family and close friends. My only regret is not taking a proper honeymoon. We had just purchased a house and used our money saved on the small wedding to put towards the house. Little did I know there is always money needed to put into your property. New or old it doesn’t matter.

JRT812 wrote:

Got married at a church and had a BBQ for the reception. Sounds redneck, but we had a good time. It was small, quick, immediate family and close friends. My only regret is not taking a proper honeymoon. We had just purchased a house and used our money saved on the small wedding to put towards the house. Little did I know there is always money needed to put into your property. New or old it doesn’t matter.

kind of in the same boat right now. we have a bitchin' in-ground pool but the surrounding yard around the pool is useless and i want to build a sweet-ass pool patio and pool-house. i'm thinking 15k or so... so i want a small cheap wedding.

tough decision

Vegas. Duh. If she says no then tell her she must not love you. Where did all the American guys balls go? I think we spent about 4-5k and most of that was for my family and friends to get hammered! If, and I hope I never get a divorce, but if I did, and got remarried, I'd spend every cent on going someplace nice for as long as I can. Vegas is great because if she pisses ya off its a quickie anolment (incorrect spelling) and an even quicker trip to the o'l Mustang ranch to forget her with a new model of lesser years... c mon guys, they get half your shit if it don't work, ya wanna give up the other half on the first day? Sheese...

this guy is cheap

Back in 1995,asked my bride do you want to be a princess for a day or go on a great vacation.
We spent a month in Europe,got married in Edinburgh Scotland, Planned the whole trip around a couple of GPs.
Her parents kicked in five grand for the trip.When we got back we had a nice reception for the families.
Marriage lasted 10 years,still love her and we are great friends when not married.
The girl who I have lived with for the last seven years is into the same kind of trip. She bought me a KTM 300,so she is a keeper for sure.
The best part of a wedding is the Honeymoon imo.
Congrats on the upcoming nuptials.

This guy ^ knows what's up. And it sounds like he could get action from both if he wanted, I bow to you.... not that you would, please don't be insulted, just sounds like you don't burn bridges, I live the same way.

Do not tell anyone you are planning a wedding. They just add a zero to the price.

Mine was about $12K if I remember accurately. That's in 2002 dollars.

peelout wrote:

kind of in the same boat right now. we have a bitchin' in-ground pool but the surrounding yard around the pool is useless and i want to build a sweet-ass pool patio and pool-house. i'm thinking 15k or so... so i want a small cheap wedding.

tough decision

If your chick is laid back, which I assume she is or you wouldn't be with her, opt for the pool house expenditure and cheap out on the wedding.

I got lucky with my wedding. Think I paid about $5,000 for 200 people at the wedding. We have a lake house and right across the street is a wedding venue that my mom was friends with. She bartered with the lady. Made some chair covers for her in exchange to drop the price of the venue.

Outside of that, I wouldn't have put much emphasis on our wedding. In the end, the amount of money people spend on a 2 or 3 hour event is asinine. You'll enjoy the pool house and patio exponentially more than that three hours.

IWreckALot wrote:

If your chick is laid back, which I assume she is or you wouldn't be with her, opt for the pool house expenditure and cheap out on the wedding.

I got lucky with my wedding. Think I paid about $5,000 for 200 people at the wedding. We have a lake house and right across the street is a wedding venue that my mom was friends with. She bartered with the lady. Made some chair covers for her in exchange to drop the price of the venue.

Outside of that, I wouldn't have put much emphasis on our wedding. In the end, the amount of money people spend on a 2 or 3 hour event is asinine. You'll enjoy the pool house and patio exponentially more than that three hours.

completely agree with you on that. we've decided that $5k is our max for the actual wedding festivities. being in Utah we have some amazing country and a good friend has some great property in the mountains 20 minutes from my house, i think we'll try to do something low-key like that.

and yes, the pool-house and patio will be a much better way to spend some money

peelout wrote:

kind of in the same boat right now. we have a bitchin' in-ground pool but the surrounding yard around the pool is useless and i want to build a sweet-ass pool patio and pool-house. i'm thinking 15k or so... so i want a small cheap wedding.

tough decision

IWreckALot wrote:

If your chick is laid back, which I assume she is or you wouldn't be with her, opt for the pool house expenditure and cheap out on the wedding.

I got lucky with my wedding. Think I paid about $5,000 for 200 people at the wedding. We have a lake house and right across the street is a wedding venue that my mom was friends with. She bartered with the lady. Made some chair covers for her in exchange to drop the price of the venue.

Outside of that, I wouldn't have put much emphasis on our wedding. In the end, the amount of money people spend on a 2 or 3 hour event is asinine. You'll enjoy the pool house and patio exponentially more than that three hours.

peelout wrote:

completely agree with you on that. we've decided that $5k is our max for the actual wedding festivities. being in Utah we have some amazing country and a good friend has some great property in the mountains 20 minutes from my house, i think we'll try to do something low-key like that.

and yes, the pool-house and patio will be a much better way to spend some money

Just make sure you are both are on same page with the pool house over fancy wedding.

I DJ 30 - 40 weddings a year and I am usually the cheapest thing at the event. Venues make a killing, photo/video people usually start at $1500 and go up, food usually starts at $1000 for a small wedding, flowers make nice money too.

I watch parents spend tens of thousands of dollars on these kids.

We spent about 12k on our wedding. My only advice is only spend what you have saved. I've heard of people actually taking out loans and using credit cards for stuff. That's one of the dumbest things you can do. Set a budget yoi can afford and stick to it.

Our daughter was already a few years old when we finally got married and did the fairytail Disney wedding with 30 people for 5k. Included everything but the pumpkin carriage ride which we just jumped in that for pics. Lol They did everything. The church is on an island with the castle in the background and bunnies and ducklings everywhere. Then big reception with band and cake, week in a suite on green during pga. Re hitched by Mickey and Minnie and then Donald and Daisy while dining in the parks for the week. Lots of perks through the week. King and queen table in the castle and lots of good times. I'm sure the price has gone up ten fold since but was awesome and was package priced from 3k up 20 years ago.

I like this plan, take the wedding money do this: