The $1.56 Wedding

[jeffrey]

A couple from Scotland spent less on their wedding day than most people dole out for their morning coffee.

Artist Georgina Porteous, 36, and 39-year-old singer-songwriter Sid Innes budgeted just $1.56 for their big day. Yep, you read that right. The pair are dedicated to recycling and self-sufficiency, according to the U.K.'s Metro News, so they vowed to keep the day they exchanged vows super simple.

So how did the couple throw a great fete for 70 guests for such a paltry price? Porteous and Innes said their "I do's" in a barn on their property behind their cottage. Porteous spent $1.56 on a vintage ivory wedding gown that she found on freecycle.org, a network of exchanges and gifting, while Innes wore an old tweed suit. The couple’s rings were handmade by Porteous using antlers she found in her garden. Her mother officiated the ceremony and a neighborhood reverend donated his services for free in order to make it all official...

http://shine.yahoo.com/love-sex/couple-spent--1-56-on-their-wedding-%E2%80%94-could-you--181747605.html

[riverwed070707]

Ya because everyone finds antlers in their garden... also, they didn't have any food or beverages? While I'm not at all wedding etiquite police and believe much of what people put themselves out to do for the sake of being polite is over the top when it comes to weddings, I do think its pretty distasteful to invite 70 people and, presumably, have them all stand for the ceremony and offer nothing to eat or drink. I applaud them for not spending a small fortune but certainly they could have spent $500 to make their guests feel welcome or, alternatively, just invited immediate family.

ETA: OK I didn't realize there was more to the article. A potluck wouldn't be my choice for a wedding, but I suppose if you did that in lieu of gifts it wouldn't be so bad, especially if it was just close friends and family.

[scfr]

This is an inspirational story. While it is unlikely that many couples would want to go to the extreme that this couple went, it would be nice to see couples using them as inspiration to pare their wedding costs down and find creative ways to have a nice wedding without spending a fortune. It always makes me sad to hear about couples starting out their married life in credit card debt because of wedding costs, or parents losing sleep because they feel they must give their child a high-cost wedding.

And they actually spent $111 ... read further down where they mention the cost of the marriage license.

[AsiaTraveler]

The part of the story that makes no sense to me is the $1.56 for a dress on Freecycle. Freecycle is, as the name implies, supposed to be free.

But kudos to them for keeping the costs down! We spent about $3,000 total for our wedding, employing many of the same relationship-based and barter-based deals. We had no money, so going big was not an option.

[Permanent Temp]

I read about this too and kudos to them! My husband and I spent about 4K on our wedding but most of it was to travel back home to the family so we could have it with them. Next biggest cost was food and decor oh and the photographer (and second shooter) that we got at a discount because he was just starting out. I wore my mom's dress used the family church etc etc. We were lucky to have people donate services like the pastry chef in the family who made the cake and so on and so forth. I don't get the point of really expensive weddings either.

It's supposed to be a celebration of love and a marriage not a show or a fancy party with fancy food. We stayed within our means and made it all about the celebration and it was great. I'm so glad everyone had a great time and we have memories that will last a lifetime.