Tips For Saving On Weddings

[lynclarke]

OK- this is probably not a popular thought but when we got married our criteria for the guest list was - who would we turn to if we had emotional, financial, or spirtual problems? Or conversely who had we turned to in the past? Well, that narrowed down the list!

Spend the money on the marriage not the ceremony. The important issues like family time, thoughtful vows, and a stable life without debt is a whole lot more significant than whether or not your mother's co-worker said the flowers were pretty or one of your college buddies (who you will never see again) enjoyed the party. IMHO lynclarke

[gakline]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

If you are a gal, shop last seasons dresses, mine was 400, down from over a grand.

I agree on the dress part. I recently got engaged and 2 1/2 weeks later on a lunch hour on Friday I went to Filene's Basement for their annual Bridal clearance event. I wasn't really expecting to find anything. Instead I found a beautiful dress for $249 that is brand new, no flaws and will require almost no alterations. The original price was around $1200. This was all in under a half hour. We don't even have the hall reserved yet!

[lynclarke]

Not to be a pessimist but do remember that the divorce rate is OVER 50% now!! For a lot of people the debt from the wedding/honeymoon lasts longer than the marriage.

I watched one of those Bridezillas shows the other night. The bride spent $60,000 on a VFW hall looking, do-it-yourself kind of weddings. It would cost nearly $700 a month for 10 years to pay off that kind of debt (at 7%). There must be some rich daddies out there.
lynclarke

[shelbylovesmelby]

Originally Posted by lynclarke

I watched one of those Bridezillas shows the other night. The bride spent $60,000 on a VFW hall looking, do-it-yourself kind of weddings. It would cost nearly $700 a month for 10 years to pay off that kind of debt (at 7%). There must be some rich daddies out there.
lynclarke

Ya know I've even heard of someone renting coach buses to transport everyone from the ceremony to the reception hall. That rental probably cost more than my entire wedding did.

[jennyroberts]

My biggest recommendation on an inexpensive wedding? Go rural!

My husband and I were faced with multiple family expectations for our wedding. We priced a church wedding with catered reception for approximately 100 guests in Austin, Texas - the cost would have been over $10,000.

Instead, we chose a small town halfway between our respective hometowns of Austin and Dallas - thus limiting the drive for some of our guests. Across the board, costs were signifiantly less than they would have been in the city. Costs for catering and the cake were less than half that quoted in the city - we actually had several choices, and the quality was comparable. Likewise, there were minimal fees associated with the reception hall, and the church allowed us to use their premises for free (with a close family friend of the same denomination officiating) And since we were married just after Christmas, the church was already beautifully decorated with 8 large christmas trees with lights across the dias. Costs for hair styling and manicures/pedicures for the entire bridal party the day of the wedding? $20 per person! We purchased beautiful flowers for the bridal party - but the local florist offered to reuse flowers from a town function the day prior for a minimal fee to decorate the church. We rented out two nicely appointed ajacent bed and breakfasts (8 rooms total) for the wedding party for two nights for approximately $850. Included in that price were all the fixings for the rehearsal dinner - my husband and his best man provided the steaks and we had a cook-out (we still have guest tell us how enjoyable that meal was!).

In the end we had a bigger wedding, were able to splurge on a wine bar and DJ for the reception, and still spent a fraction of what we'd expected....just by being flexible and planning our wedding outside of the city.

[ScrimpAndSave]

I dunno...my wedding budget is TOTALLY out of hand...