Our daughter just got married. I wrote her a check for $20,000, and told her to do whatever she wanted, and invite whoever she wanted. I think she spent most of it on the wedding, including 200 guests
If you are male.,the cheapest and best, long term as well as short, is to take a nice vacation with your honey, in lieu of a wedding.You can do it for far less and be perfectly happy with it.
-ERD50
Do I think it would have been wiser to spend less and save some of the money? Yes. But I'm a guy. It's what they wanted and as their dad I was glad they were happy. And glad that DW was happy as well. It's honestly hard to relate as to why it matters so much to some young ladies. But it does. And that's okay.
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Twin daughters. One married this past November and then the other January. I paid. Gave them each $26K. They wanted a nice wedding. They could have chosen to keep the money, a portion of it, or spend even more out of their own pocket.
Both weddings served sit down meals at the receptions. One wedding served alcohol and one did not. Both daughters spent right at the full $26K. These were nice weddings/receptions but were nothing way over the top.
Do I think it would have been wiser to spend less and save some of the money? Yes. But I'm a guy. It's what they wanted and as their dad I was glad they were happy. And glad that DW was happy as well. It's honestly hard to relate as to why it matters so much to some young ladies. But it does. And that's okay.
Muir
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It just seems like the 20 Somethings" getting married today have such illusions of grandeur.
My better half and I are finally getting around to getting married in September after having been engaged for 17.5 years (I tell people I finally passed the probationary period.. ha
We think we are gonna bring it in for under $5K. We're in our forties so are keeping it low key. We rented out a nice little Victorian era B&B for the weekend in the town we just moved to and are getting married in the garden there. 12 immediate family members only (because all our friends live out of town and asking them to fly in is like handing them a bill for thousands of dollars).
She is buying her dress and the cake locally. She hired a music student from the local university to play violin during the ceremony and I bought my morning suit cheap off of the internet.. ha The B&B is catering the dinner afterward and we're bringing our own wine and aperitifs. We are even going to make our own wedding rings at a class run by a jeweler. We've specified no gifts and paying for it ourselves. Going to let her dad pay for the flowers (and that'll probably be the most expensive part )
That sounds lovely--nice you can get what you want. And no one wants to rush into a wedding .
Is it really costing you $5k for 12 people?
Well, that's being "optimistic".. ha Probably $3.5K for 14 (including us) is more likely but we're trying our darndest to spend more !!
That includes three B&B rooms for two nights for our elderly parents and her inlaws. And we want to give little mementos to the guests for coming. Any ideas in that regard ?
I suggested a bunch of those "I went to Koogies wedding and all I got was this lousy t-shirt"
That got vetoed for some reason, so I gave up... ha
A bottle of wine is always a nice gift & congratulations .
Very nice, Koogie, to pay for some of the guests' rooms.
I was going to suggest puppies as wedding mementoes but bottles of wine make more sense.
Well, that's being "optimistic".. ha Probably $3.5K for 14 (including us) is more likely but we're trying our darndest to spend more !!
That includes three B&B rooms for two nights for our elderly parents and her inlaws. And we want to give little mementos to the guests for coming. Any ideas in that regard ?
I suggested a bunch of those "I went to Koogies wedding and all I got was this lousy t-shirt"
That got vetoed for some reason, so I gave up... ha