How much did YOUR wedding cost?

[whitestripe]

(if you don't mind sharing, that is)

I know there is a similar thread that's been started, which asks how much a wedding SHOULD cost. The thing is, I know if I asked that question I would get the normal replies of 'it's up to you' and 'everyones different'. What I am interested in is the cost of other people's weddings, and what you got for the price. A church? A restaurant? A party in the park? Did you hold it on an island? A band? How many bridesmaids? What were your gifts to the guests? Honeymoon?Did you have a registry? etc etc.
We have friends who have gotten married, but I could never ask them how much their wedding cost. Most people on here are open to sharing so I thought I would ask here.
I am a long way away from even starting to plan our wedding, but I want to know what we would be looking at in cost terms so we can pay in cash.
Thanks in advance!

[Ima saver]

We got married at home. Friends brought covered dishes to share after the ceremoney and one brought a cake. We had a little party with liquor and a bar tender. We spent a total of $100 and had a great time!! Best $100 I have ever spent!! (That was 32 years ago)

[disneysteve]

I don't know for sure since I didn't pay for it. We got married in 1992. I do recall that the reception was about $75/person. Then there was the band, the photographer and video, dresses, tuxes, the rings, dinner the night before, gifts for the bridal party, etc. I'd estimate the whole shebang was in the 20K-25K range.

I wouldn't count the honeymoon as a wedding expense but we went to Sandals Royal Caribbean in Montego Bay, Jamaica for a week.

[mommyof4]

$2500 total, and we had a great time, lots of people, great home made Italian food, and an open bar. That was 19 years ago, too.

[jIM_Ohio]

This is a trick question.

I won't know how much my wedding cost me until I die and someone can add it all up. LOL.

[MonkeyMama]

Good point - hehe.

Well, it was the year 2000. About $7500 for 75 people. Probably around $60/head for dinner and appetizers. Venue was free for dinner (because it was Sunday. IT cost more Saturday). Ceremony was around $700 to reserve the place, and the officiant. Public golf course BTW, pennies compared to anything else we looked at. But just a gorgeous venue - almost everything provided. We had the ceremony and dinner there.

My mom spent $1k on flowers (which I thought was a bit much) and the dress cost like twice as much as the dress itself to alter. (My warning to wedding gown shoppers - get something easy to alter. I was proud how little I paid until the altering stage. Bought the dress at a discount warehouse).

I bought the bridesmaid dress (1 - kept it simple) and we rented tuxedos. We had a nice rehearsal dinner at the same place.

We hired a DJ and bought a cake.

That is really about it. We have a lot of photographers and musicians in the family. So we didn't pay for anything else. Even the florist and DJ were friends so we got decent discounts. They all did a GREAT job. My best advie is hire GOOD people so you don't have to stress.

Oh, just some simple favors.

We didn't do the limo thing at all. I just don't get that. The best man drove us home in his crappy car. LOL. But it was fun! (Reminds me, we didn't pay for makeup and hair dos and all that jazz).

ETA: We did the invitations ourselves, had a "free" honeymoon (used relative's miles and timeshare) - 10 days in Florida, and we did spent about $1k on the rings, which I did not include in the $7500. (Remembered these details after reading other posts).

Our parents paid for reception (food), flowers, rehearsal dinner and tuxes. So the portion we paid for literally did just about pay for itself with gifts.

[creditcardfree]

I'm going to say about $5000 in 1996. We did try to be careful about expenses...my sister was engaged at the same time and married exactly four weeks later!!

We skipped some things that didn't seem important, such as party favors. I borrowed a slip for under my dress. We bought candles for reception tables, set them on mirrors and put rose petals on the tables. I think we borrowed the cake serving pieces. I decorated the basket for cards. We got a free hotel room from our banquet hall. We didn't go on a honeymoon...just didn't have the money.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

2005, 55 people, $17k for everthing. Including honeymoon, travelling to wedding site (hawaii), gown, flowers, harpist, etc. Photos were the most expensive.

[tmango]

10,000ish in2006, for about 100-120ish people. (really its for 2 people,but you get the jist). It would have been cheaper, but we splurged on a live band, which was probably 30-40% of the budget.

hehe, we bought centerpieces one piece at a time at ac moore with the 30% off one item coupon.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by tmango

hehe, we bought centerpieces one piece at a time at ac moore with the 30% off one item coupon.

I lost count of how many times we went to AC Moore in preparing for DD's Bat Mitzvah in September. Sometimes I went alone. Sometimes DW came with me and we each had a coupon. I just kept going back and buying one item. Those 40 and 50% off coupons really added up the savings, though.

[cptacek]

I kept track of mine:
wedding list: Cptacek's Personal Finance Blog

[ScrimpAndSave]

This thread depresses me.

[tmango]

to be fair, although I would not count on it, some weddings (if you have generous guests) pay for themselves. Obviously, the higher end you go this doesnt apply, but a reasonably priced wedding, might just pay for itself in wedding gifts.

Of course I would not recommend this as investment advice.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by tmango

to be fair, although I would not count on it, some weddings (if you have generous guests) pay for themselves.

This ties in to my other thread about who paid for your wedding. In my case, and pretty much all of my friends, the bride's family paid for the wedding. Of course, the gifts went to us, so that didn't help pay for the wedding at all.

When my daughter gets married and we pay for the wedding, the gift money won't come to us. It will go to her and her husband.

[pearlieq]

Originally Posted by tmango

to be fair, although I would not count on it, some weddings (if you have generous guests) pay for themselves.

You know, I've heard people whisper about this, but I've never actually seen it happen in practice. The closest I've ever seen is with certain Asian friends of mine, but the rules seem different there. For your average American wedding, I think this might be kind of an urban legend.

Even if guests "cover their plate" or a bit more, there's still so many associated costs that I don't see it as really plausible that a couple could actually profit on a wedding. Maybe if you had a super casual, super cheap wedding you might come out a bit ahead, just because people usually have a minimum gift they give for a wedding, regardless of the type. But especially as the event gets fancier and the costs rachet up, I'd be surprised to see anyone actually turn a profit.

[tmango]

although i was not responsible for the cost of my wedding, (inlaws paid), it would have been a net zero cost for my wedding, had we forwarded the gifts to the in laws.. so its not necessarily an urban legend. It did happen to me.

Although I would agree that it is not entirely commonplace.

[calina]

My brother's wedding back in 2000 cost $60000 in total (1200 guests). I don't know how the cost got so high... and how they managed to afford it all!

[swanson719]

My one year anniversary will be in a week. My in-laws footed the bill because I wasn't going to pay for everything my wife wanted, and she's an only child, so she's always gotten what she wants. That being said, her parents gave her a spending limit of $20,000. Pictures alone were nearly $6,000; however, this was a professional photographer, far beyond the quality of those you might see in the mall or a small shop. We had the catering and flowers done by the same company, which cost about $6,000 as well for the two combined. We weren't all that into flowers given a February wedding, and got more than we needed on the catering. There were roughly 150 people there, so about $35 a head on the food. The rehearsal dinner had 30 people, and cost about $20 a plate at a local mom and pop restaurant that had a decorated banquet room. The rental fee was included in the plate cost. The dress was $500, the tiara $75. Invitations were card stock we bough then took to a printer for $1.75 each, with 250 invitations - so $450 or so on them. We had originally planned for 3 bridesmaids and groomsmen, but ended up with 2. Still paid for 3 gowns, at $200 each. 6 Tux's cost $125 each, with the grooms free, so $600. The reception hall charged $1500, but provided a free bar for the first hour. Keg beer was $180 total. The limo was another $450. The table decorations were hershey bars with a custom wrapper we had printed up and put over the original wrapper - something like $250 for all the candy and wrappers. The church was $250. We didn't end up being able to take our honeymoon because I got deployed, but it was to be to Cancun, and was already booked, and that cost $150 for a plane ticket because it was a time share family had. Groomsmen gifts were pocket watches, flasks, knives, and a customized lighter. Bridesmaids, I don't even remember. All told, we ended spending $19,750 ish. There is no way we would have ever spent that kind of money if it was on our own dime, but my in-laws offered, and it's hard to say no to your bride to be.

[whitestripe]

Originally Posted by ScrimpAndSave

This thread depresses me.

why?

[bobsandley]

I read to today in the Sydney Morning Herald of a couple who spent $64,000 aussie dollars on their wedding....which is outrageous. I hope they enjoyed it. My wedding two years ago cost $10,000 aussie dollars MAX including a honeymoon.