How much did your wedding cost?

**Doublebase** · 06-20-2007, 06:27 AM

We're currently looking at places for the reception. The one her and I really like is about 200$ a head. Ridiculous. Her parents are giving us 10k. Which is really generous considering they still have 2 kids in college. The rest is up to me. I want to do it for under 20k. I was thinking more like 70$ a head. What did you spend? I'm asking about everything. Down to the flowers and the DJ. Anyways you found to cut corners?

**DontStop** · 06-20-2007, 08:49 AM

That is pretty generous! Your parents aren't chipping in?

**Doublebase** · 06-20-2007, 08:58 AM

Originally Posted by DontStop

That is pretty generous! Your parents aren't chipping in?

Traditionally the grooms parents take care of the rehearsal dinner. My parents will do that and probably help with the wedding some.

**largepkg** · 06-20-2007, 10:12 AM

Dude, you're in for an awakening if you think $70 a head is possible. Actually, if you take alcohol out of the reception and cocktail hour then it might be.

My wedding was 3/18 and for the cocktail hour and reception we were at $145 a head. That was for a 1/2 hour outdoor ceremony, 1 hour cocktail hour(included 6 passed Horsd’ouvres, and 4 stations), and a 5 hour reception. The dinner was 6 courses, and we had open bar with top shelf liquor and full table service.

It's easy to quantify a per head charge but wait until you add all the other expenses in. It'll be enough to choke someone.

**Doublebase** · 06-20-2007, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by largepkg

Dude, you're in for an awakening if you think $70 a head is possible. Actually, if you take alcohol out of the reception and cocktail hour then it might be.

My wedding was 3/18 and for the cocktail hour and reception we were at $145 a head. That was for a 1/2 hour outdoor ceremony, 1 hour cocktail hour(included 6 passed Horsd’ouvres, and 4 stations), and a 5 hour reception. The dinner was 6 courses, and we had open bar with top shelf liquor and full table service.

It's easy to quantify a per head charge but wait until you add all the other expenses in. It'll be enough to choke someone.

6 course meal is a lot. I was thinking more along the lines of a buffet. My sister's reception was 66$ head and it was very nice.

**Jodi** · 06-20-2007, 10:40 AM

When I got married we spent as little as possible on the wedding but still made it nice. I had the full blown traditional marriage but no way in hell was I spending my entire savings. Including honeymoon........9K was all I spent. I see no reason why I should be paying tons of money for a person to come to my wedding for them to eat and drink. I still had the full meal thing with the cake etc.. but I did not do open bar. I had limo's a beautiful gown, photographer the whole works. I can't even fathom the idea why anyone would spend so much money on a wedding. You have to live afterwards. What's the point of dumping everything you own into a single day? Makes absolutely no sense to me. It goes by so fast you won't even remember it and after a few years you even forget all about it. Stupid spending IMO.

**MeatZatk** · 06-20-2007, 10:53 AM

we made a few CD's and skipped the dj thing. Had more of a buffet style meal buying stuff from Costco. We also had the reception in her parents backyard (big yard). I think we kept it to about $4000.

**Doublebase** · 06-20-2007, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by Jodi

When I got married we spent as little as possible on the wedding but still made it nice. I had the full blown traditional marriage but no way in hell was I spending my entire savings. Including honeymoon........9K was all I spent. I see no reason why I should be paying tons of money for a person to come to my wedding for them to eat and drink. I still had the full meal thing with the cake etc.. but I did not do open bar. I had limo's a beautiful gown, photographer the whole works. I can't even fathom the idea why anyone would spend so much money on a wedding. You have to live afterwards. What's the point of dumping everything you own into a single day? Makes absolutely no sense to me. It goes by so fast you won't even remember it and after a few years you even forget all about it. Stupid spending IMO.

In order to get what you had I have to spend that much. Open bar is only 2k. Wedding with around 130guests is very expensive here. The halls we looked at are around 3 thousand just to rent. Not including anything.

**MeatZatk** · 06-20-2007, 10:54 AM

oh, and we had a friend who works for Bud donate 3 kegs as the wedding gift.

**Jodi** · 06-20-2007, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by Doublebase

In order to get what you had I have to spend that much. Open bar is only 2k. Wedding with around 130guests is very expensive here. The halls we looked at are around 3 thousand just to rent. Not including anything.

PA is probably a HELL of a lot cheaper than Boston so I don't think you are looking hard enough

My sister is getting married and she's having 200 guest and has kept it to 14K and this is at Endicott College in Beverly MA. NOT CHEAP! It took me several months of shopping around to find the best deals. Why waste your entire savings on one single day is beyond me. If I had to do it all over again..........Vegas

**largepkg** · 06-20-2007, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by Jodi

When I got married we spent as little as possible on the wedding but still made it nice. I had the full blown traditional marriage but no way in hell was I spending my entire savings. Including honeymoon........9K was all I spent. I see no reason why I should be paying tons of money for a person to come to my wedding for them to eat and drink. I still had the full meal thing with the cake etc.. but I did not do open bar. I had limo's a beautiful gown, photographer the whole works. I can't even fathom the idea why anyone would spend so much money on a wedding. You have to live afterwards. What's the point of dumping everything you own into a single day? Makes absolutely no sense to me. It goes by so fast you won't even remember it and after a few years you even forget all about it. Stupid spending IMO.

I couldn't agree more. I was in an uncomfortable situation. Her side of the family comes from money and my side doesn't. Her parents agreed to pay the majority (and when I say the majority I mean 90-95%) of the cost so I couldn't argue. I did say to them that it would make a hell of an engagement gift for us rather than giving it to some country club but to no avail.

Her family would've been extremely embarrassed for her family to come to anything less than what we had. I know it sounds awful but that's the kind of people most of them are.

I will say I'm extremely glad they are that way because we took it to the bank on gifts! I nearly shit myself when I read the spread sheet total!

**Doublebase** · 06-20-2007, 11:12 AM

I will probably end up in debt after my wedding.

**largepkg** · 06-20-2007, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by Doublebase

I will probably end up in debt after my wedding.

No offense but if you do then you're a dumbass!

**NeilPearson** · 06-20-2007, 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by largepkg

No offense but if you do then you're a dumbass!

I agree... that is a dumb way to start out.

My wedding was about $5k (we only invited about 25 people)

My divorce is going to be much more expensive

**Doublebase** · 06-20-2007, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by largepkg

No offense but if you do then you're a dumbass!

I've would never go into debt over something like that. I will probably only make out with a couple of grand. My sister said some of our family members only gave like 25$ a couple.

**Jodi** · 06-20-2007, 11:31 AM

I only walked away with 2K from my wedding and 125 guests. It certainly was no money maker and I refused to go in debt because of it. Don't be dumb. Spend the minimal.

**largepkg** · 06-20-2007, 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by Doublebase

I've would never go into debt over something like that. I will probably only make out with a couple of grand. My sister said some of our family members only gave like 25$ a couple.

You said it not me.

I had one lady give us $18. She's a co-worker of my wife and a struggling single mother so she gets a free pass. Otherwise, you'd shit at some of the checks I got. The best thing, none of them bounced!

**Jodi** · 06-20-2007, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by largepkg

I couldn't agree more. I was in an uncomfortable situation. Her side of the family comes from money and my side doesn't. Her parents agreed to pay the majority (and when I say the majority I mean 90-95%) of the cost so I couldn't argue. I did say to them that it would make a hell of an engagement gift for us rather than giving it to some country club but to no avail.

Her family would've been extremely embarrassed for her family to come to anything less than what we had. I know it sounds awful but that's the kind of people most of them are.

I will say I'm extremely glad they are that way because we took it to the bank on gifts! I nearly shit myself when I read the spread sheet total!

Yeah my family nor his had any money. We had to pay for the whole thing ourselves. I'm certainly not complaining about that, though I was frugal.

I even went the frugal route for divorce. We did it ourselves.

**maniclion** · 06-20-2007, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by Doublebase

We're currently looking at places for the reception. The one her and I really like is about 200$ a head. Ridiculous. Her parents are giving us 10k. Which is really generous considering they still have 2 kids in college. The rest is up to me. I want to do it for under 20k. I was thinking more like 70$ a head. What did you spend? I'm asking about everything. Down to the flowers and the DJ. Anyways you found to cut corners?

Yeah, don't get married.....

**I Are Baboon** · 06-20-2007, 01:24 PM

Ours cost a fortune and it was awesome!

**tucker01** · 06-20-2007, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by I Are Baboon

Ours cost a fortune and it was awesome!

Ditto.

**Jodi** · 06-20-2007, 02:56 PM

Hey my wedding was awesome too I just didn't have to spend a fortune on it

**maniclion** · 06-20-2007, 03:10 PM

We bought a car instead of getting married....

**tucker01** · 06-20-2007, 03:11 PM

Originally Posted by Jodi

Hey my wedding was awesome too I just didn't have to spend a fortune on it

Yeah I am sure ours would have been a blast either way. We just had the funds to play with, without hurting ourselves financially.

**Dale Mabry** · 06-20-2007, 03:13 PM

Originally Posted by Doublebase

In order to get what you had I have to spend that much. Open bar is only 2k. Wedding with around 130guests is very expensive here. The halls we looked at are around 3 thousand just to rent. Not including anything.

I was just at a wedding in the Northeast 2 weeks ago. King's caterers was $80 a head with open bar and buffet style grub for 150 or more people, but the groom talked them down to 130 people. I liked the food, my GF didn't. I thought the DJ sucked, but I was hammered so I didn't care. I think King's caterers is in Levittown.

**maniclion** · 06-20-2007, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by Dale Mabry

I was just at a wedding in the Northeast 2 weeks ago. King's caterers was $80 a head with open bar and buffet style grub for 150 or more people, but the groom talked them down to 130 people. I liked the food, my GF didn't. I thought the DJ sucked, but I was hammered so I didn't care. I think King's caterers is in Levittown.

I can't believe you are contributing to the delinquency of a fellow man!!!

**Bakerboy** · 06-20-2007, 05:35 PM

I think marriage is over rated. I don't know anyone who has every lived up to their vows. True story. lol

**Dale Mabry** · 06-20-2007, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by Bakerboy

I think marriage is over rated. I don't know anyone who has every lived up to their vows. True story. lol

I have lived up to every vow I have ever made...But I have been against making vows since the early 90's.

**Doublebase** · 06-21-2007, 08:11 AM

I just chatted with the owner of one of the reception halls we are looking at. We trimmed everything down. She quoted me at 140p/p total, food, drinks, tax. And 6k to rent the place. This would be on a Friday night. Cheaper on Friday. So at 130 people thats 18200 + 6k to rent the place. 24200. Add another 2k on that for misc. To much. I told the lady to call me back if she can get me in there for under 20K.
BTW open bar is 29$ a head. 130 x 29 = 3770 for open bar. Ridiculous.

**Plateau_Max** · 06-21-2007, 08:24 AM

I went to a friend's wedding last may so just over a year ago and the gift thing wasn't a huge deal but I was one of the groomsmen and the tuxedos the groom picked out for us to wear cost just over $100 to rent so I was pretty erked by that because not only was i paying over $100 to be in HIS wedding but I still had to buy them a gift on top of that.

So I guess the moral of the story is, it can be costly just to GO to a wedding sometimes too

I'm gonna marry a girl with rich parents. VERY rich parents. That's my master plan.

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