How much did you spend on.....

[Donzo]

Your wedding?

I read an article recently that discussed the fact that we spend over 50 Billion per year on weddings in the USA.....!!!!?

My wife and I had our wedding at my house(our house later that day). We had a pastor come to the house to perform the wedding and had the reception right there in the back yard - plenty of food and booze for all!

Total cost $900.

We invited the neighbors to cut down on complaints -- it worked!

I have attended many weddings over the years that were IMO SUCH a WASTE of money! While I enjoyed being there I could not help but think.......how this money could have been better ..... spent/invested.

Just curious how you like minded folks got hitched.

 

[peggy]

For the actual wedding? $46.00. Twenty for the license, twenty for the judge, and six for two certified copies of the marriage certificate.

For the "reception" at our house a month later, about $200.

 

[bssc]

$0 for both of my weddings. My ex-FIL footed the first one, he was a dentist. My parent footed the second.

 

[Sam]

Total cost $900.

For the "reception" at our house a month later, about $200.

It not fair to give dollar numbers without giving the time (year). $900 in 1899 is a lot today!

Edit:
$5,000 - 1986

 

[Khan]

~$200 - 1977

 

[bssc]

$0 - 1982
$0 - 1997

 

[DangerMouse]

1993 - Only cost was 83 UK Pounds for the wedding licence. Got hitched at a registry office wearing jeans. Never had a reception or any other celebration.

We also do not have wedding rings nor do I have (or want) an engagement ring.

The concept of needing to be a princess for a day is something I can't comprehend.

 

[W2R]

I asked my parents to let me just get married with witnesses in front of a justice of the peace, or in their beachfront yard in Hawaii with a minister if they insisted. But oh, no... my mother wanted me to have the opulent wedding she wished SHE had had (but that I didn't want).

Since I wanted my parents to attend, I capitulated. I ended up going across country to a city I hadn't lived in since childhood, where my parents insisted I must have my wedding. Attending were close to 300 people (almost all of whom I didn't know, since they were friends of my parents) in a very large church with a lavish dinner reception afterwards. Although it wasn't quite as big as Princess Diana's wedding, it was right up there.

My wedding ring cost $12 (in 1975). It actually was gold, though it was very thin. My engagement ring was inherited from my grandmother. My dress was handmade by my mother. My shoes were simple flats from Payless. But the church, the feast, the preparations? I have NO idea what they cost, since my father paid for it all. I imagine it must have been a fortune. I would guess $30,000 ($100/plate? there was a lot of champagne, and live music and huge quantities of orchids, pikake jasmine, and other flowers flown in from Hawaii.. sigh..) but I really don't have a clue.

Said marriage lasted 23 years but is now kaput.... My current friend Frank and I are determined to avoid marriage since we have "been there, done that" and have no desire for state or religious sanction of our personal commitments to one another.

 

[73ss454]

I can't remember what DW and I spent since it was 35 years ago. I do remember opening the envelopes at the end of the night and paying the balance in some back office of the reception hall.

6 years ago DW and I paid for our daughters wedding, the total was 60K.

 

[REWahoo]

6 years ago DW and I paid for our daughters wedding, the total was 60K.

Better put on your hard hat and Kevlar vest...

 

[SecondCor521]

For us divorced folk, maybe we should divide the cost of the wedding by the number of years the marriage lasted?

Anyway, mine was about $3,000 all in -- in 1993 for about 400 guests -- a church wedding with cake/punch/nuts/mints. Marriage lasted about 15.5 years. Her engagement/wedding set was around $5,000 IIRC, which in the divorce action became her separate property. Yes, a residue of bitterness there.

2Cor521

 

[Khan]

For us divorced folk, maybe we should divide the cost of the wedding by the number of years the marriage lasted?

Anyway, mine was about $3,000 all in -- in 1993 for about 400 guests -- a church wedding with cake/punch/nuts/mints. Marriage lasted about 15.5 years. Her engagement/wedding set was around $5,000 IIRC, which in the divorce action became her separate property. Yes, a residue of bitterness there.

2Cor521

$200 - 7 years

Living alone - priceless

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Lets see...we went to the county hall and bought a license and had them perform the ceremony there in a really nice little alcove they have set up for the purpose...I think it was under $60.

We went out to dinner with our parents afterwards, might have run $120.

The following weekend I cooked an entire 16lb rib roast with a handful of side dishes and the whole family came over...might have run me about $250 total for that.

Marrying the perfect woman for me?

Priceless.

 

[bbbamI]

$30.00 ----- 1977

30 years is a long time...but then I think about my DH's grandparents. A few months before they died (they were both in their 90's) they celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Supposedly theres a direct correlation between the cost of the wedding and the likelihood of divorce.

Which makes perfect sense.

 

[sgeeeee]

$33 in 1975.

 

[Sam]

Supposedly theres a direct correlation between the cost of the wedding and the likelihood of divorce.

There is? And what would that correlation be? The likehood of divorce is inversely proportional to the cost of the wedding?

 

[Linney]

our cost: $250 - 1997

Most of our expenditure was $150 for the rental of a covered stone pavillion at the local state park (hey, we got married in August in the northwest and you never know when it will rain).

My parents' wedding gift to us was to pay for the food -- Costco salads and cake, plus hotdogs for kids and grilled salmon for the adults. Most of the decorations were free. Nature provides a wonderful background so we just added lots of lots of (borrowed) candles and some ferns. I made my dress (score! $4.99/yd fabric) as well as my husband's matching vest . My aunt is a great amateur photographer who volunteered to take all the pictures. Total cost was probably around $500. It was a great wedding for us.

What I'm most proud of is that we made it a very inexpensive wedding for our guests as well. We didn't want wedding gifts -- it was a 2nd marriage and we already had all our household items. So we asked everyone to bring a kitchen gadget with the instructions removed. At the reception my husband and I had to try to figure out a use for each gadget. We got a few of them right but mostly our guests got a big kick out of stumping us with their creative finds.

 

[youbet]

Lets see.......1970........a couple hundred bux I suppose, including our one day honeymoon.

We both took Friday afternoon off from our jobs. I needed the time to clean up my little one bedroom walkup on the northwest side where she'd be moving in with me. Met at her church Saturday morning along with five friends and the preacher made it official in a ten minute ceremony. Took our friends out for breakfast and later checked into the OHare Marriott where we spent Saturday night. Sunday we drove to Evanston and picked up her stuff from an apartment she had been sharing with two girlfriends. Monday.....back to work!

The best thing about eloping? Our mothers didn't speak to us for months! Both dads thought it was just fine!

Shortly, it'll be 37 years. It's gone by fast. Very, very fast.

 

[SteveR]

1st wedding FIL paid the bill. It had to have been $20-30k---1975...it lasted 17years.

2nd wedding was at our house and cost $500.

3rd wedding was at our house and cost $2500 (professional photographer, rented tables, catered for 100 and booze. Getting married in your own backyard in the fall .....Worth every penny.

 

[Gillette]

According to my money software, not including rings, the wedding was $19,777.71, in 2005. It was a great party.

 

[Payin-the-Toll]

Spent $2600 in 1972, so I guess you could say we did it up big time- Live Band, champagne fountain, catered meal, etc. We had both graduated from college, didn't have kids, had a ton of friends and relatives, and partied a lot. Guess it just seemed like the right thing to do. Borrowed the $2600 from my grandmother and was so proud when I paid her back 2 1/2 years later. Yeah, Mr. Bigtime financial guru here didn't even think or know about interest. Often wondered if Granny thought I was a chump, but later figured out a lot of cousins were 'borrowing' and not paying back, plus I was her 'favorite'. Oh, still married with 3 daughters--1st daughter married in 2000 and I coughed up $10k. Second daughter getting married in April 2007 and spending about $16k--I said sorry, but the standard's been set, I'll only give you $10k. Third daughter owes us $20k (extended education), and I can't wait until she asks about $ for her wedding--cause all I'm gonna due is knock $10k off her debt--money was borrowed between 2001 & 2003, and no payments have been paid yet--bummer.

 

[F-One]

We eloped (27 years ago)

Ring (including engagement ring) $400.00
Marriage license et al $80.00

FIL gave us his princess $12000 the following week-end to put down on a house

(1st time I'd spent more than 5-10 minutes with them)

 

[Charlotte]

About $100 in 1996. We eloped, went to the JP down at the courthouse. Our only costs were 2 simple gold bands and the filing of the marriage license. The money that would have gone to a fancy wedding, instead went to the down-payment on our first house together. We started out our marriage pretty stress-free and do our best to keep it that way.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Dress - $100 or so.

Flowers - $50

Photos - $100

Food & Cake - $75, reception for the 11 guests at our house.

1993, 11 guests in all. If we had it over again we'd go even smaller.