How much did you spend on your wedding?

[kaisen]

I just read that the average wedding ran $26,000. I am in the midst of planning one, and it appears to be about right. Some people are floored when they hear the figures.

How much did you spend? Let us know whether it was YOUR wedding, or your child's wedding, and how recently.

E

[singpilot]

Which one?

They tended to get less expensive as the number of them grew.

There was no correlation of anything to how much was spent on the weeding.

[Dave Nordhoff]

8 years ago We had about 40 guests and a Minister come to our home for our wedding. We spent about $600 including the Minister. Oh!, the rings were about $800. How's that for cheap?
Dave

[nostatic]

Originally posted by singpilot
Which one?

They tended to get less expensive as the number of them grew.

+1

#1 was about $15K I think, but that was in '90 and the location was cheap (the faculty club at Caltech).

#2 was about $3K, most of that was dinner at Parkway Grill for 25 or so of our friends (only 6 people at the ceremony).

With that trend #3 should be about what, $42?

[kaisen]

Originally posted by nostatic
+1

#1 was about $15K I think, but that was in '90 and the location was cheap (the faculty club at Caltech).

#2 was about $3K, most of that was dinner at Parkway Grill for 25 or so of our friends (only 6 people at the ceremony).

With that trend #3 should be about what, $42?

Ummmm.... it looks like the trend would point to $600. I thought musicians were good at math?

E

[nostatic]

Depends on if you're assuing a linear relationship.

Hehe...I said relationship. Now *that's* funny...

[ChemMan]

My in laws spent about 10 grand I believe. We had about 250 to 300 guests. We really tried to not overspend, but wedding stuff is not cheap. We even had friends do the food. My wife's neighbours growing up owned a thai resturant, so we also had thai food at no additional cost.
Mike

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by kaisen
I just read that the average wedding ran $26,000. I am in the midst of planning one, and it appears to be about right. Some people are floored when they hear the figures.

How much did you spend? Let us know whether it was YOUR wedding, or your child's wedding, and how recently.

E

Just Cindy & I, 31 years ago last month. We were in the Reno, Nevada courthouse. We got $10 off the usual price because we opted to get married before noon. Think I paid $35, license and ceremony. Of course, I married her for her money and her rich family... $26K????? Why do people think that is so necessary?
Man, that kind of money could give a young couple a good start in life! Not that anybody ever offered that much to us...To blow it on a ceremony sounds insane to me.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by singpilot
Which one?

They tended to get less expensive as the number of them grew.

There was no correlation of anything to how much was spent on the weeding.

+1!

1st was the biggie. 400 guests and I married the daughter of a lawyer. It was a big whoop de doo for the whole area and from what I heard was close to $100,000 for everything. Also had a Rolls Royce to go from the Church to the party, nothing was left out.

2nd was the surgeon in Germany. Married first in Denmark at the city hall, then six months later at a church in Berlin, with the reception being held at the Officers Club in Tempelhof Airbase, the last official event before it was returned to the Germans.

3rd... not sure that there is going to be a 3rd but if there is it will be short and sweet then a honeymoon in New Zealand, Fiji or Tahiti. We will spend the money on us and not some fancy event or rings...

[Jims5543]

Married one time. We were both from lower middle class familes and didn't want to put her dad out. He is a nice guy.

My parents went 50/50 with hers and the whole shabang cost about $5K. This was for 150 people and it was very simple.

My Aunt and uncle are very wealthy and mocked the whole event. Their daughters wedding cost them $45K in 1990 and the marraige lasted 7 months.

The second wedding fro her in 2001 (which I did not attend) cost another 40K. Looks are everything to them.

A good friend of mine was offered 30K to put down on a house if he eloped with his to be by his future father in law...... He took it and I thought that was a VERY smart move. Money well spent.

[singpilot]

Yeah, cheapest $ was a drive-thru Reno deal. We were on a bike, as was the rest of the party. Dinner at Harrahs' with the bar tab was $200. License and fees at the 'Little Hearts of Reno' chapel were $65. This was my second.

The most money was the first. The wedding was for my parents, really. 500-ish of their friends. Reception at the Country Club. She had no money, nor did I, so I suspect it was one of those $25k things. In 1975 dollars.

The third was in the Capitol Rotunda in Austin. Honeymoon on 6th Street. Suspect I bought rounds for several 'wedding crashers' that night. Was $300-ish including the bar tabs.

The fourth was at a restaurant overlooking Burbank (Moonshadows). Tab was $1000-ish for 50 people, worth every bit.

Not gonna be any more. Unless it is one of those 'good for the duration of the voyage things'.....

[deanp]

+1 to pwd72s

Will be 10 years ago this December. We paid the marriage license fee, and the JP and were married a bend in the river on the Kancamangus Highway in the heart of the White Mountains in NH. Nothing like eloping to keep the budget in check!

[LeeH]

Total cost was <$1000 in 1994. We found a great picnic shelter that overlooked a mountain lake in north Georgia (Carter's Lake). The rental cost was $14 for the day. We paid for the flowers, but a friend did the arranging as a gift. Another friend made the cakes as a gift. We really didn't need much in the way of stuff so we asked those attending to bring food for the "reception" (Which was really just a cookout after a brief ceremony on a point looking out over the lake). A few people included the dish they brought the food in as part of the gift. I wore khakis and a dress shirt. She wore a skirt and blouse in autumn colors since it was fall. Guests were casual.

We bought bags of chicken from Sam's and another friend oversaw the grilling duties. A friend whose hobby is photography took the photos. We had reusable cameras here and there so others could take pictures. After lunch we played the Newlywed Game. It was a blast. Making up the questions was one of the more time consuming parts of the planning.

Oh... the $1000 figure included our honeymoon trip to San Diego for a week. 12 years later our friends and family still say it was the best wedding they've ever attended.

[trekkor]

This Sept will be 10 years.
For about $1500 we provided all the food/drink and 3 cakes for about 150 people.
I also did 2 ice sculptures, one swan and a giant open clam with five gallons of cooked prawns with brandy cocktail sauce.

I was a chef many years ago.

I even had a 914 then.




KT

My Ice Carving site

[osidak]

$275,000.......









ok we really only spent







$2300 in 1997 for 30 guest. Open bar for the duration.

We wanted small and cheap. I could not imagine spending $26K on a wedding. One of my wife's cousins had a $75,000 wedding that we didn't attend as I really balked at spending almost $3,000 for what was going to be a 1.5 day trip.

Marriage last 11 months

[BRPORSCHE]

We spent $2.5k 25 years ago. 200 guests; about 100 relatives and 100 friends from college and grad school. $500 for the band, $1k for the food, $1k for the booze. Got the American Legion Hall at know charge since we let them bartend and cater.

It remains the second best party I've ever attended. The best was my 24th birthday party, which, according to some of my friends, is still going on somewhere.......

[sewell94]

I got married about a year ago (july 30th). If i had to estimate costs(i don't want to) i'd have to say 30k-35k with honeymoon. It was 300 people open bar etc etc. we were lucky they told us we had to to bring our own alcohol, i took her grandfathers truck to the liquor store and filled that dakota up with a little bit of about everything. The bartenders told me that i bought too much, and that we wouldn't even put a dent in it. Needless to say we ran outta beer and i had maybe 10 bottles that i brought home. I think i spent 3000 or so on booze, wine, and beer.

Buddy of mine just got married (i told him not to do it ) and he spent about 20k and had about 150 guests. To be honest we did alot of stuff real cheap and shopped around, i would think that 26K figure is low for a decent sized wedding.

[gr8fl4porsche]

I think our marriage certificate costs about $26.00 in '96. Picked it up at the court house in Skagway, Alaska and got married on the White Pass Railroad on our way to hike up to the Loughton Glacier. Actually got married on the back of the caboose with the brake man being one of our witnesses. They even stopped the train so we could get a good picture. Stopped the train at a place called Pitchfork Falls.

My personal opinion - weddings are a huge waste of money. Elope and spend the money on something you will enjoy for more than a couple of hours. Have a big celebration party at someone's house and people will have just as good of time.

Some women won't go the cheap route but will wish they had that chunk of change for a new kitchen about 10 years later.

[Noah930]

Too much. I don't even wanna really know the answer. My wife and I preferred something a smaller (150-175 guests) than what her parents had envisioned (275 guests). But they paid for it, and had certain desires of their own. They weren't pushy (they were ridiculously gracious and thoughtful), and they let us make all the decisions. I think the total bill came out to the $30K-40K range.

Not that I don't agree with Randy's opinion, above. But my in-laws spent a lot, and looking through our pictures, we still have great memories of our "party." They may not necessarily be better memories than Randy's--just different. But we (and her parents) don't regret the expense, either.

[fastpat]

I'm not sure of the precise amount because I found ignorance of the number to be, blissful. I'd guesstimate it at about $10k, $7k for the wedding and reception, $3k+ for the honeymoon. We toured the northern California coast all the way to Point Arenas. My wife planned it all, I just went along with it.