Wedding Costs?

How much did your wedding cost??

  • Total voters
    84
Admittedly, we (and our parents) spent a lot of money on our wedding last September. And you know what? I don't regret a single penny. :) It was an incredible day in an amazing place (19th century mansion) that I'll never be able to spend with so many people from all areas of my life (and Jay from his) again. I "splurged" the most on my dress and the photographer, both of which I agonized over doing at the time, but am so happy I did. Our honeymoon was fabulous too and we want to go back someday. Spending a lot on "just one day" isn't for everyone, and there's nothing wrong at all with spending less, it was just what we wanted to do for our friends and family as well as ourselves (and were blessed enough to be able to do). I still get compliments about it and that just makes me beam! :)
 
We sorta eloped. I got married on the sand in Myrtle Beach. The planning was stressing me out, me and mom weren't getting along, the dates weren't coming together for the photographer, preacher, etc... it was a mess. So my dad was like, Amy take the money and run. That's what I did LOL
The only thing I regret is that we actually told a few people. It was nice to have my best friend there, but it ended up being maybe 10 folks, and they weren't really invited. Word spread you know, and I didn't want to be mean if they were willing to drive all the way down there.
We're gonna do it again eventually, just me and him. :)
 
Not really sure what the total was for our wedding, although I'm sure it was under 10 K. We got married in DH's grandparents back yard. SIL and I created the flower arrangements from silk flowers and I was able to rent them out to another couple a little later. We had an "ice cream social" type of reception instead of a big dinner. We rented chairs and Johny on the Spots. We bought a dozen market umbrellas on sale instead of renting a tent. My dress was around $200 from David's Bridal. For the rehearsal dinner, we had a pig roast at the same place. For our honeymoon, we sublet a loft in Brooklyn NY. The whole affair brings me such happy memories. My only regret is that we didn't get a better photographer. We hired some hack who was an old family friend. Nice guy but he just didn't have an artistic eye. The pix are decent but not great.

--Pam
 
I guesstimated but everything including the honeymoon probably cost about $25k... I am horrible at keeping excel sheets of stuff though so who really know what it was in the end! I can't say I regret spending that much thought because it was a wonderful day and worth every penny. THE only thing I might change would have been our honeymoon... I really wanted to go to Greece or someplace in Europe but we started planning it right when 9/11 happened and that scrapped all plans of going overseas (which of course now seems silly). For what we spent on our 4-day cruise and then 4 days at the Atlantis in the Bahamas we could have easily done a fabulous trip to Europe. BUT we will have to save that for our 10 year anni or something!! LOL.
 
lets see the first husband and wedding---was around 10 grand MAYBE 12..at most--we got married in alaska--where he was stationed and so were my parents so it was just base people that knew him from working there and my dads co-workers--most of whom couldn't come because they ran the hospital LOL_--dont want the people who get hurt to go wtihout care right? Lets see my wedding dress was *cough* almost 5 grand of the budget...the rest was pretty simple LOL not bad at all right?

The 2nd husband---yea I think I maybe the only one on here since I've not read 3 and 4...Justice of the Peace---we'd just gone through hurricane Katrina and lost everything I was almost 8 months pregnant at the time--we are talking about renewing our vows this summer or next on the beach in Biloix...where Katrina came in....strange i know--but I dont plan on spending bushels of money this time--SOMETHING SIMPLE :) going for the beach wedding thing...shorts skirts...HUGE BONFIRE for the evening....ya know...lol
 
Our was around $7000 and it would have been less if my first dress wasn't a total disaster.

I think it should depend on who is paying? If your parents are willing to pay some and his parents some? Or if you are paying for it all yourselves?

I think that if others are going to share the cost you should sit down with them and determine what they are willing to spend. Then put it all together and you then know what you have to work with.

If you are doing it all yourselves consider if you want to start your married life with a huge debt right off the bat. Or if you do have savings do you want to invest it all into one day that you will barely remember once it's over. Thank god for pictures!!
 
I'm not sure of the specific amount, but I do know, according to my aunt, it was less than the $2500 my SIL spent on her wedding dress a year later.

We were married by a JP in a suite at a local resort, then had a 50 person dinner & reception in one of the halls there. My dad's company had done most of the recent refurbishing & he got a great discount. My wedding dress was a dress they sold for New Year's Eve formals, cost maybe $150. We're adamant that no more than 50 be at the wedding reception & immediate family & really close friends took up about half those numbers. I think most of the reception cost was high end food and open bar. Photographer was a friend of my mom's, so another discount there.

Our honeymoon was probably another $1000. We spent a week in Great Britain. My folks cashed in their airline miles for the flights & went through yet another friend to get some cheap deals on rooms and tours. (and I really wish they had upgraded the rooms. 2 single beds in most rooms. 2 single beds on a honeymoon!!!)

But this was in 1993, so I'm sure it would cost significantly more to do the whole deal, even on the cheap, now.
 
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Thanks girls. I asked because I was trying to figure out if what my aunt was spending was "normal". I think it depends on where you live too..... a $50K wedding on the east coast is probably a $15-$20K wedding here.

Anyway, I really appreciate all the sharing!!! You girls are the bestest. :)
 
We got married in August and had a southern-style BBQ for our reception. My dad cooked and ordered in 2 full size smokers from Texas (he paid for those, since the wedding was just an excuse to get them). We had more GOOD food than I've ever seen at any wedding. Ribs, pulled pork, brisket...so much yummy food. We had well over 300 people there, and everyone ate until they were stuffed and there will still tons of leftovers. We got the park down the road for free (maybe it was a $25 reservation fee or something), got the yummy gooey chocolate cake from Costco, I made my own bouquets, I had a tailor custom-make my dress ($250!), had a friend with connections do the invitations. We didn't have any bridesmaids or groomsmen since we didn't want to pick and choose from our friends and family. We "splurged" on a good photographer--$750. Utah is a fabulous place to get married, since you can do it pretty dang cheap. Everything (except the honeymoon) cost $3000. We honeymooned in Vermont at my uncle's farm. Perfect. The only thing I would change is that I would get a fancier dress next time. I went pretty casual because of the barbecue thing, but I wish I would have gussied it up a bit more. My sister spent at least 3 times what I did, and I'm the one who always gets people saying, "I remember your wedding down at the park with all that great barbecue..." It was fabulous.
 
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i'm not married, so i can't vote. but i do know that i'm not having a big wedding. i always wanted to get married in my childhood church. and now that we've got the house, i'll probably do the reception there. we have a huge yard, and a good sized deck. i can just see myself out on the deck eating wedding cake. lol. either here, or at the lake. i'd love to get married in the gazebo up at the resort my grandparents live at. i could see that too. at the end of the summer, when it's still warm. that'd be fabulous!
and i always said my mom would make my dress. lol. there's no way i'm buying a dress, i've never had to buy a formal gown in my life. my mom made all of my prom and formal dresses.
anyway. i think that money doesn't matter. you could spend $100K and be miserable, or spend $500.00 and have the best day ever. know what i mean?
 
kscwgirl said:
Thanks girls. I asked because I was trying to figure out if what my aunt was spending was "normal". I think it depends on where you live too..... a $50K wedding on the east coast is probably a $15-$20K wedding here.
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I totally agree with you. I'm from NY and in my opinion people from there and NJ throw the BIGGEST and BEST parties! Okay, that being said....are they worth the money for 5 hours max? NO! My dad always said it's like buying a brand new Mercedes, driving it around for a few hours, then driving it off a cliff. LOL. So yes, I agree that perhaps what costs $50,000 on the east coast would cost a fraction of that elsewhere in the US.

But there is something to be said for having a really nice wedding with all your family and friends there in one place, at one time, making awesome memories together for you and your hubby.

My fiance and I are paying for it ourselves and, like Paula Duncan said in this thread, if you're paying for it yourselves you most likely end up chosing something less costly. So we're getting married on the Disney Cruise Line, aboard the "Wonder" on a 3-day cruise. We have about 52 guests so far which is more than I ever imagined would come so everyone's SO excited!! The cruise is costing us just under $2,000 plus $3,500 Disney charges to get married at their private island, Castaway Cay, plus about $500 for the favors (that's what I'm estimating - we're doing nice gift bags for everyone's rooms), plus about $800 for the photographer and photos that come in the package...so that's about $6,800. And honestly that was the cheapest option for us considering what we had envisioned and what we'd be happy with. I looked into a TON of options in the area and it was all VERY costly. We met while working at Walt Disney World and we're both huge Disney fans and LOVE the Disney Cruise Line so it'll be really memorable for us and everyone on the cruise.

My sister's a fashion designer so she's making my dress. We went to the bridal store Friday and picked one out for her to copy! I'm so excited! I probably will not know what that ends up costing her between the fabric and all the pieces needed to make it happen b/c she won't tell me but I know it'll be cheaper than if I bought it and much more special.
 
Dang! I'm SO jealous of all you $10K girls! Ours was about mid-$30K. Probably half was our banquet. We had around 350-ish people and Chinese banquets in our area range from around probably $350 - $500. I think we picked a mid-priced menu.

My dress was probably around the $200s and the one thing I regret was that I skimped on the photographer. Esp after following into scrapping and realizing the type of photos I like. We paid our photographer less then $2K, but prices in our city easily get in the $7-$10K range.

I was so jealous when my sister eloped in Hawaii. My parents weren't happy though. I would've preferred a Vegas quickie, but yeah...knew that my parents wouldn't be happy. We did pay for the entire wedding ourselves too.
 
I voted less then 10K and it was way less the that!! I had my dress home made (less then $200), We didn't have to pay anything for the church and the preached did it free as part of our gift, we paid an organist ($75), I printed my own invitations and programs just bought the actual cards and bulletins ($50), my brides maids dresses were about $100 (3 of them), A friend made our cake for just the cost of ingredients ($75), we bought all the food (except meat) and had it cooked and served by friends (the meat was from a local meat shop and was about $100), My Aunt and Uncle paid for the hall for our reception as a gift ($75) we decorated it our selves (maybe $100), my flowers were simple yellow roses with greenery ($150) and the tuxes were $100 apiece (4 of them) and the photographer just charged my mom to developed the film ($400 plus we got prints and ALL the negatives), our honey moon was a couple nights in a hotel ($200) and then our rings ($200). So all in all our wedding cost under $2500 and it's the best memory I have in my whole life...I don't think I'll ever forget that day!!! :wub:
 
Well we eloped, and had the wedding... Wedding was already planned when we eloped so we did not cancel it LOL...

But honestly we spent less than 3000 :) And we had a nice little wedding... Exactly what we both wanted.
 
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