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8:18 pm
October 25, 2011
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Shannyn @FrugalBeautiful.com
| | Chicago, IL | |
| Member | posts 261 | 
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Anyone that's read Ramit Sethi's "I Will Teach You To Be Rich," has read his rant on the average American Wedding and how most people are unrealistic on how much they are actually going to spend on a wedding "Oh no, I want a simple small wedding" and then end up spending $15,000+
How much did you spend on your wedding, and how did you come to that number? How did you cut costs?
What's the most expensive wedding you've been to?
The most expensive wedding I've attended was about $25,000…about $100 a person with about 150 guests. Yikes. (and after 13 years, they're still married…but their parents footed the bill!)
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8:04 am
October 26, 2011
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Jason@LiveRealNow
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I have no idea what the most expensive wedding we've been to would be.
Our wedding cost about $3000.
That's $1000 for the caterer, for about 100 people to eat really good food, buffet-style.
The wedding site was free, because the county closed the park building due to bat guano the week of our wedding. We were doing the ceremony outside, so that didn't matter, and it saved us $300.
The reception site(VFW) was $100, because we decorated and cleaned it ourselves. It would have been less if the bar would have gotten a bigger workout, but they had a fairly small selection of liquor in the hall, so a lot of people went to the bar proper to buy drinks.
The DJ was, I think, $500. Cheap because he was the boyfriend of a close friend.
Photographer/photos was about $300. Again, friend of the family.
Minister came from the yellow pages and cost $150.
Decorations ran about $200.
Wedding dress was $100 and beautiful. David's Bridal had a massive sale we took full advantage of.
Bridal party presents ran $2-300. The groomsmen got engraved pocket knives, and the bridesmaids got…something else.
Rehearsal dinner was nothing. We did the rehearsal in my yard and made the food.
Hair and nails cost something, but I don't think I was ever told that number.
Flowers were minimal. It was $200 at most. Hard to stick $1000 worth of flowers in a public park the day of the ceremony.
A few months later, we went on a 10 day Caribbean cruise that cost $1500, including airfare, day trips, and booze. A good friend's family booked a trip for their extended family and we crashed in on the group price.
$4350-ish for the whole works, but my mother-in-law paid for the caterer and part of the cruise. Numbers are estimates because this was 9 years ago and we didn't keep close track, then. That's what credit cards are for, right?
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9:37 am
October 26, 2011
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Jeff @ Sustainable Life Blog
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I'm currently in the stages of planning a wedding, and I may even do an "I think wedding DIY is a waste of time" post, but i'm not quite sure yet.
I'm getting married next july near yellowstone national park, and here's what i've spent so far.
500 – venue reservation. IT's going to be outside. I havent seen anything but pictures and the road in there is probably closed, so I wont get to see it until spring. I'm sure the area is great though.
50 dollars – save the dates. For this, I've been using post cards and stamps, hand writing them. I think they came out ok (my writing was even legible!)
we havent decided on a dj or a photographer so I'm not sure about those. I think that we may have a family friend for the photographer, but i'm not sure. The DJ is another story, one which we havent even brought up yet.
As for the minister, a friend of ours is a justice of the peace, so we plan on asking him.
As for drinks, the place we are getting married at doesnt have the license to serve anything other than beer, so that will by default save quite a bit of money (and I dont care because I prefer beer anyway)
I'm not sure we are going to be too heavy on decorations or flowers, but then again, I'm not too involved in that part of the process. I'm just hoping that I can show up and look good enough for someone to marry me!
All in all, I think our budget is probably floating around 6k, though I think it will be lower than that – I'm not sure. Wyoming is also a fairly cheap state.
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11:01 am
October 26, 2011
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The College Investor
| | San Diego, CA | |
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My wedding was about $9,000 – very cheap to what most of my friends and family did.
We had our wedding and reception at a local restaurant. We were married by a family friend, I wore a suit I owned, my wife did get a dress, but it was only around $500.
The biggest expenses were food – about $3,000 – and drinks – about $3,000. The great thing was we didn't have to pay special for the venue because if you met a minimum tab (which we did), there was no additional fees.
The mos expensive wedding I've attended cost upwards of $200,000. Yes…$200,000… It was outrageous what they did – private island, fireworks, mainstream band…etc… However, their parents paid for it all…
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5:53 pm
October 26, 2011
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FamilyMoneyValues
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It's been a long time, but I think we spent under a thousand – because that's what Dad was willing to part with. He gave me a choice, a wedding or the thousand in cash and I chose the wedding.
We were married in the parent's church, made the wedding dress and veil and the bridesmaids dresses. We had an aisle runner and flowers, At the local VFW (already decorated for Christmas) we had a really bad buffet and a keg of beer!!! No rehearsal dinner and honeymooned for 3 nights at the lake about 200 miles away. Rings were simple gold bands.
We haven't been to that many weddings and I have a hard time judging what other people spend so can't help out on that one.
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7:55 pm
October 26, 2011
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Dominique Brown
| | Washington, DC | |
| Member | posts 510 |
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My wedding was 25k. I was 24 years old and I paid for it in cash. I do not regret it one bit. The only thing I wish I would have done was not have my wedding in my wife's hometown. I would have much rather had a wedding in Virginia with 50-100 people instead of 225 people.
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8:26 pm
October 26, 2011
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BeatingBroke
| | North Dakota, USA | |
| Member | posts 860 |
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Ours was about $6000 when it was all said and done for. Biggest expense, by far, was the food for the reception. If I remember correctly, that was almost $2000 of it. Don't really remember too much more of the specifics, but I know the dress was about $700, and my ring was about $400, my wife's ring was about $1200. We did DIY for most of the rest of it. Spent the better part of a weekend hotglueing ribbons on pillar candles we bought on clearance after the holidays. They were all peppermint and vanilla scented. We did up a custom batch of wine at a place called Vintners Cellar that cost about $300, but it was pretty awesome.
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10:43 am
October 27, 2011
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Khaleef @ KNS Financial
| | Fat Guy, Skinny Wallet | |
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Our wedding was about $5,500. The largest portion was the catering & space rental.
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4:38 pm
October 27, 2011
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krantcents
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Our wedding was so long ago (43 years ago), it will seem cheap. I think it was between $5-10,000.
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4:52 pm
October 27, 2011
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TightFistedMiser
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Our wedding and honeymoon came to about $1100. We went to Vegas and most of our food and shows were comped. It was a low cost option for us but it wouldn't work for everyone.
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4:58 pm
October 27, 2011
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Dominique Brown
| | Washington, DC | |
| Member | posts 510 |
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krantcents said:
Our wedding was so long ago (43 years ago), it will seem cheap. I think it was between $5-10,000.
10k 43 years ago is a pretty penny! 10k in 1968 is equivalent to 61,963.28
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6:37 am
October 28, 2011
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MoneyIsTheRoot
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Im embarrassed to answer this one lol…especially considering finance is my day job, and obviously my hobby…but I want my fiance to be happy since we are only doing this once. Im getting married in July, 2012 and having small heart attacks on a regular basis when I think about the cost…
Her parents are contributing $20,000
My parents most likely $5,000
We are contributing about another $20,000
Total Cost = $45,000…which does not include the honeymoon.
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6:37 am
October 28, 2011
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MoneyIsTheRoot
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Oppps forgot to add the guest list is between 250-275 people attending.
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3:17 pm
October 28, 2011
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Budgeting in the Fun Stuff
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We got married in 2005 and it was $3000 total split between us, my in-laws, and my parents. Here was my post on it: http://www.budgetinginthefunst…..-sooo-fun/
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3:25 pm
October 28, 2011
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Dominique Brown
| | Washington, DC | |
| Member | posts 510 |
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MoneyIsTheRoot said:
Im embarrassed to answer this one lol…especially considering finance is my day job, and obviously my hobby…but I want my fiance to be happy since we are only doing this once. Im getting married in July, 2012 and having small heart attacks on a regular basis when I think about the cost…
Her parents are contributing $20,000
My parents most likely $5,000
We are contributing about another $20,000
Total Cost = $45,000…which does not include the honeymoon.
LOL nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm sure the wedding will be beautiful. Aslong as you aren't over extending yourself I say go for it.
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4:50 am
October 29, 2011
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Kay Lynn Akers
| | San Diego | |
| Member | posts 904 |
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Our low budget wedding probably cost $5,000 including the rings and honeymoon 16 years ago. We had the reception in my brother-in-law's backyard but I rented tables/chairs. My family made all the food except the wedding cake which was a gift from a neighbor.
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9:18 am
October 29, 2011
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MoneyIsTheRoot
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YourFinancesSimplified said:
MoneyIsTheRoot said:
Im embarrassed to answer this one lol…especially considering finance is my day job, and obviously my hobby…but I want my fiance to be happy since we are only doing this once. Im getting married in July, 2012 and having small heart attacks on a regular basis when I think about the cost…
Her parents are contributing $20,000
My parents most likely $5,000
We are contributing about another $20,000
Total Cost = $45,000…which does not include the honeymoon.
LOL nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm sure the wedding will be beautiful. Aslong as you aren't over extending yourself I say go for it.
No definitely not overextended, I have the money for it…but many would still disagree lol.
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9:24 am
October 29, 2011
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Dominique Brown
| | Washington, DC | |
| Member | posts 510 |
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MoneyIsTheRoot said:
YourFinancesSimplified said:
MoneyIsTheRoot said:
Im embarrassed to answer this one lol…especially considering finance is my day job, and obviously my hobby…but I want my fiance to be happy since we are only doing this once. Im getting married in July, 2012 and having small heart attacks on a regular basis when I think about the cost…
Her parents are contributing $20,000
My parents most likely $5,000
We are contributing about another $20,000
Total Cost = $45,000…which does not include the honeymoon.
LOL nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm sure the wedding will be beautiful. Aslong as you aren't over extending yourself I say go for it.
No definitely not overextended, I have the money for it…but many would still disagree lol.
There will always be someone who disagrees with you. They will get over it! :-)
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1:11 pm
October 30, 2011
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Miss T @ Prairie Eco-Thrifter
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Ours cost around $15000 I think but we got a lot of help from our parents which was great. It was all paid for ahead of time. I have no regrets. It was amazing.
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12:51 pm
November 1, 2011
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David @ BROKEandFAT
| | Denver, CO | |
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Our wedding was close to $20k. It was quite awesome and it made my wife happy. We are still married after 10 years and 4 kids. I do not regret it and she wanted a nice wedding. We ended up paying about $5k after the parents pitched in. After going to Vegas for a few weddings and visiting Hawaii I could go for a small wedding on the beach that would be cool. 
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