How much did your wedding cost?

[yourbeliefs]

As an avid Howard Stern fan, recently on the show Jason Kaplan talked about how he had to take out a $15k loan to help cover costs for his wedding. He already had $30k available for cost, but apparently that wasn't enough. After being close to 2 weddings (my sister and cousin) I can say that my wedding will be a very intimate ceremony, with just close friends and family being invited to a nice dinner, as opposed to a wedding at a church and then ceremony following. But since not everyone is like me (thank GOD or else our country would be in BIG trouble,) how did your wedding go? Was it a huge extravaganza or a nice intimate affair, and what did it put you back money-wise?

 

[VinceT3]

mine was big 100+ people.. 30k+ cost.. only got 17-18k back.. so not worth it.. would never do that again..

 

[Hemi 6.1]

65 people $175 per person, a little over $11,000 food, cake, Hall, music, plus $1200 for pictures,$1000 flowers. Less then $15,000 Got about $4000 back as gifts. Not the biggest bargon, But OH well, atleast I'm still getting Laid!:

 

[cjwct]

I am currently planning mine and looking at 15k; not too happy about that but we all know that as men, we do not have a say or a choice in this ordeal!

 

[charper1]

had about 350 people back on the mid 90's and it was about $40k or so (don't do this! go small and stay simple)

 

[SatinKzo]

I don't get these big over the top weddings and such. Maybe I'm cheap. (this was 6 years ago)

I am going from memory:
Church: (big old methodist, all stone, late 1800's architecture): $100 for 2.5 hours and we are not members of it. Members get it free.
Pastor: From another church, $50 for ceremony
Rehersal Dinner: $850
Banquet hall/catering/DJ-Music/open bar: $3000
Gifts for wedding party(gift cards) $200 total
Honeymoon $1000 (used priceline, got a package deal for Flight, 7 night hotel, rental car)
Photographer: a friend, but we did pay them $200
Dress: Not really sure, but it wasn't crazy
Tux: insignificant
Cake: a friend from a catering company baked it for us for the price of ingredients.
Cake stuff/candle/table decorations: $300
Got about $4000 back in gifts and money. Had about 200 guests (counting kids)

Prices vary wildly around the country so it's tough to compare. I just know we were very budget conscious and did our best to keep emotion out decisions. My best argument to my wife was "you are the object of this for the most part, let's not get crazy with fancy decorations and stuff that takes attention away from you"

 

[riffjim4069]

$200 for chapel and minister, $75 for a dress on sale at the DEB Shop, $25 for license and gas, and $300 to feed a dozen people at Macaroni Grill. The roles of usher, setup, music and best man were all played by me. Roughly $600 bucks and everyone agreed it was a very enjoyable, and relaxing, time.

We bought 20K worth of Nortel stock at 47 cents per share with the money we didn't spend on a big wedding, which we later sold 2-years later from $4.00-$6.00 per share.

I would highly recommend keeping it small and only involving extremely close friends and family.

 

[TheForce]

My wedding was 40 years ago. anniversary is this Saturday. Then it was about $1500. Had about 100 family and friends.
Paid for by motherinlaw.

We had a large Catholic wedding for our daughter. Since most of the guests were invited on the Groom side, they volunteered to split the cost and arrange the religious ceremony. The total was $20K with us paying for half. We had just over 200 guests. Then the extras started, They wanted a better band and fancier limo extra bar etc and I wanted a good photographer and I did the wedding video. I had FOB duties, so I hired two cameramen, shooting with my equipment and then did the editing myself. I also hired an expert in wedding video editing as that specialty is not in my list of skills. That out of pocket cost $5000 but I ended up with about a $12,000 photo / video package. So, all total it was $30K I estimate.
The wedding was outside and was presided by a Catholic Bishop and we had the reception at the World Golf Village.

My wife got a case of the nerves in the final days so she hired a wedding coordinator just to manage the days events. That way my wife was able to focus on relaxation and being with our daughter and spending more quality time with her mother. It was a well spent $200 for the day. Otherwise the two mothers and our daughter did all the planning. The groom planned the honeymoon. And the father of the Groom planned the reception entertainment.

Contrary to other's suggestion, yes, I would do it again and I'm not a party person at all. I think it was a good, fun event for both families as it became a nice family reunion on both sides with relatives visiting from around the country, making it a week vacation. Hey, we live in Florida and many of the family coupled it with several days at Mickey Mouse land.

 

[DishDave]

Around $7000.00 for and $35000.00 for the divorce

 

[cparker]

30 years ago...
Got married in my living room. Just family. I cooked in the morning while wife cleaned and decorated the house. Her sister does cakes so she brought one over.
No band. The judge was a friend of my father-in-law.

Total cost, about $150 plus $100 for the judge.

Now... I officiate at weddings. People usually pay me $150 to $200. A lot of folks were... or are... looking for ways to NOT do those huge, expensive weddings. I marry people on boats, in parks, at fire halls, ... their choice. I've done a couple of ceremonies in churches where they could rent the church, but the minister wouldn't perform the ceremony because the bride and groom weren't members of the church. And the ministers from those churches were always very congenial to me ... they just had a rule about not doing marriages for non-members.... kinda weird.

Seems to be getting more common that the bride and groom rent a hall or get a banquet room in a restaurant, set up a nice background, I come in and marry them and then everyone sits down to dinner. Normally they still have music and dancing after dinner.

I've had the opportunity to see some VERY nice weddings done for very little money. Hay, if you HAVE it... why not spend it, right? But if you DON'T have it, then why pretend and start out with that kind of debt?

cparker
Ordained Clergy
Church of Spiritual Humanism

 

[Ronnie-]

I got married on the beach. I paid $350 for the pastor to drive there and have a wedding arch put up. I needed no other decorations since we had the water, sun, and sand, nothing to set up, nothing to clean up. She wore a white sun dress, and I wore a white button up, khakis, and sandals., so not much spent there. Wedding party was small, best man and maid of honor. We only invited our imediate family, so the reception didnt cost much either.

I would say overall costs for the wedding and reception, was $600 ( plus whatever I spent on gifts for the best man)or so. I LOVED it this way, and was glad to find a wife that went along with it.

I saw what my parents spent on my sisters wedding. WAYYYY over the top in my opinion.
The rented out Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile, Alabama. Wedding was on the garden terrace at the Bellingrath Mansion over looking the river. Flowers everywhere, and i would say 200-300 people. Very nice, that kind of thing just isnt for me.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

First time $10K, 250 people, covered polka band, Polish food fit for a king, and drinks, and the hall. Local judge (friend of the family) did the ceremony at the hall in front of all the guests. My parents payed the bill.

Second time around, got married by the son of the first judge at city hall, rented out a local bar, the owner did the Polish cooking, hired a DJ, and ran a tab for about 75 people. We partied at the bar till 3:30 AM (yes afterhours), and then walked down the street to our house with the remaining 20 guests and partied till 4PM the next afternoon, when the food and energy ran out. Total cost $1500. Second party was much better.

 

[snathanb]

I think we spent, at most, $1000, including the dress. Our wedding was a private ceremony with only immediate family at an LDS temple. The reception afterwards was at our church gymnasium, friends and family provided decorations, cake, punch, etc.

 

[SmokeFan14]

I got married on the beach.

Me, too, friend. 2002, Myrtle Beach, SC: "Smiling Faces, Beautiful Places. The cost to me was around $100.00 (license and ordained local minister).It rained 2 days straight before the wedding (probably a sign). It quit long enough for us to say the vows...and WHAM! Buckets of rain, again (probably a sign) ..Still nice, though..But the honeymoon's been over ever since..

 

[NightRyder]

Less than $1k in 1976 dollars.

NightRyder

 

[HD MM]

First time $10K, 250 people, covered polka band, Polish food fit for a king, and drinks, and the hall. Local judge (friend of the family) did the ceremony at the hall in front of all the guests. My parents payed the bill.

Second time around, got married by the son of the first judge at city hall, rented out a local bar, the owner did the Polish cooking, hired a DJ, and ran a tab for about 75 people. We partied at the bar till 3:30 AM (yes afterhours), and then walked down the street to our house with the remaining 20 guests and partied till 4PM the next afternoon, when the food and energy ran out. Total cost $1500. Second party was much better.

You don't say! With that name Paul? Seriously I don't believe you!

 

[HD MM]

2006
$15k (not including the bar bill)
Ceremony: Local Catholic Church
Guests: 180
Reception: Firestone Country Club in Akron, Oh.
Food: Sit-down dinner including your choice of Chicken Marsala or Prime Rib.
Bar: Unlimited (Us Irish sure like to party )

The wife and I are lucky, in that we only ended up paying for the invitations, flowers, dress and rings. The parents took care of the rest.

 

[Ganthet]

Before I tell my tale I'd like to state I'm not bragging or trying to impress anyone. Here goes:

The ceremony we kept small. We got married at the chapel of the university I attended outside of Chicago. (Lewis University in Romeoville for any curious Chicago satguys)

For the reception we wanted something BIG. We rented the Field Museum of Natural History in downtown Chicago (Across the street from Soldier Field). We had about 250 people attend. The final bill for everything (Museum, catering, entertainment, cake, rented parking lot, insurance, limos) came to around $70k. Most of which was footed by my beloved in-laws.

Would I do it again? Sure - assuming I have the same financial backers It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. And few people can claim a wedding photo with the largest T-Rex ever discovered in the background.

 

[navychop]

First wedding- thousands, but not crazy. FiL paid for most. Second wedding, very little. Married at friend's place on the Potomac. Largest expense was probably paying preacher to show and do. Next year marks 20. People still ask if we're newlyweds. Life is good.

 

[navychop]

I think we spent, at most, $1000, including the dress. Our wedding was a private ceremony with only immediate family at an LDS temple. The reception afterwards was at our church gymnasium, friends and family provided decorations, cake, punch, etc.

Yes, there's a lot to be said for Temple weddings. Automatically, the invite list is trimmed considerably. And for effect, and solemnity...
-signed, perpetual IG