how big was your wedding?

[BarkingGhostar]

Mine was small. Just me the the little women, and the judge. Cost was the court fees. No feeding the lizard of ceremony.

 

[kranky]

About 11 people - backyard wedding. That was more people than I wanted but you have to have witnesses for it to be legal, so might as well allow a few more people to come.

Mine was very close to that. About 15 people.

On another board, I was reading about a guy who was debating what to do about his daughter's wedding. He wants to put $100,000 towards her wedding but feels he would then need to give his son $100,000 as well to "keep things even". But if the daughter wants the money instead of the big wedding, he'll only give her $25,000 which of course would mean giving the son less money as well to "keep things even". But then he wonders why what the daughter does should affect what he gives the son...

How do people make stuff so complicated?

 

[KK]

Just me and the wife and the preacher dude. maybe there was a witness too, don't recall.

 

[Anubis]

How big was it?

Mine looks like it is going to be small. (14 people, all family). Knowing this, it looks like we do not have to spend all of our money on food and the rental hall.

Also, how much am I looking at for a photographer?

if you are getting married in Boston hit up NESOP for a photog. you can get a student to do it for next to nothing or you can ask them about recent grads/ people who have resently started out on their own who will be much cheaper then someone else.

and yes just make sure you own the photos. Simply ask upfront its not a big deal. Most are fine with it. However some larger named people/studios wont.

also when you getting married?

 

[Anubis]

wait....you mean people who attend the actual wedding do not always attend the party after (with a band and everything)?

I did not want lots of people because I did not want to spend money on the food during the party. It's something like $120 a head and for every 12 people, you need to spend another $160 for a server.

Or am I missing and event in between?

yes some people only go to the church and dont to to the reception. its not uncommon.

a lot weddings go from the church -> reception and then do the intros/speachers and dinner then party

others have a longer break inbetween and do a drinks beforehand where everyone can mingle and such. its more formal but more laid back at the same time

 

[mvbighead]

Wedding in Mexico (2 years ago) ran us about $1200 per person for an all inclusive for 9-10 days. We paid for ourselves, and invited a few friends and family (everyone paying their own way). We selected an all inclusive that offered good rates and had overall good reviews. Many of our guests came down for 4-5 days and stayed for about $800. All in all we had about 14-16 people, and everyone had a great time.

Had a reception back home at the local brewery where we met shortly after we returned home from our trip. Smartest decision we ever made. Basically discussed the plans with their events coordinator, and we selected appetizers and quantities. Food was as good as any wedding (probably better). Had an open bar for 2-3 hours, and was kept informed by their bar staff as to what the tally was up to every 30 or so minutes. 120 people or so, and a tab of about $3000. Other places were quoting $50 a plate, plus $1000 for the room, plus this, plus that, and this. Had a great time here as well.

All in all, we spent about $5-6k on our wedding, reception, and honey moon. It makes absolutely no sense, IMO, to start off married life by amassing 10-30k in debt. And if someone is footing the bill for you, great. Just know it is one of the largest rip-offs ever.

 

[woodman1999]

147 People, 12 in the wedding party (not including the wifey and I) plus a ring bearer and 3 flower girls and 1 jr. bridesmaid.

We spent $5,500 on the photographer, no video taken. Included the album as well as all the pictures on DVD's after 1 year (gave people a chance to buy them first in different sizes and such and have them professionally printed).

Also, remember that after the months of planning you do, the day is going to go by in the blink of an eye. Best and quickest day of my life.

 

[ichy]

Not married here, but when my best friend got hitched I'd say they had around 200 people there. I believe he told me the budget for the wedding was $30k. I might be a little off on the number of people since that night was probably the drunkest I've ever gotten in my life.

It's been three years and they're now divorced BTW.

 

[bigrash]

Getting married in October. Expecting a little over 300 people.

 

[Meghan54]

5 people....myself, my wife, two friends, the preacher. Married on the beach.

Of course, both of us were hitting 50 at the time, so having a bunch of "guests" seemed just moronic.

 

[Fausto]

Big. My wife is from a large southern family with lots of local political connections so there were people who "had" to be invited. I think we had 300+ guests.

 

[Saint Nick]

Getting married is a bad, bad idea.

We had immediate family only, no friends, by no choice of our own, because of complicated family situations. I have regretted it ever since. We have no photos, had to spend months explaining to friends why they were not invited, no happy memories from that day. One of the most stressful days of my life. Wish I could do it over again. Seems a little retarded but one of the most special moments of that day for me was telling AT I got married. Only real congratulations we got got from anyone. Nobody else was really happy for us but you guys.

Probably the most depressing post on the forum to date.

So is a lifetime masturbating in Mom's basement, bro.

Good way to get prostate cancer, quick.

 

[Fausto]

Getting married is a bad, bad idea.

So is a lifetime masturbating in Mom's basement, bro.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I'm getting married on Saturday.

We have 192 RSVPs and will probably end up over 200 based on talking to some people who haven't responded officially yet but will likely come.

We just bought a house, so we're spending our money there instead of the wedding (neither of us think it's logical to have a fancy wedding).

It's going to be in a park pavilion in Madison, and the weather looks great so far (clear with high in upper 70s)

Food is being done by a co-worker who worked in the food industry for years (we're paying cost of food)
HomeBrewerDude is making beer for the drinks, so we'll have that, another half barrel, and wine / drinks available (friends helping as bartenders... so cost of non-HomeBrewerDude alcohol is about $600)
Another co-worker is doing the ceremony.
She has friends doing photography, DJ, and flowers.

Because of the generosity of friends, I think we're going to come in under $5k for everything. We'll see how it goes

 

[Fausto]

I'm getting married on Saturday.

We have 192 RSVPs and will probably end up over 200 based on talking to some people who haven't responded officially yet but will likely come.

We just bought a house, so we spend our money there instead of the wedding (neither of us think it's logical to have a fancy wedding).

It's going to be in a park pavilion in Madison, and the weather looks great so far (clear with high in upper 70s)

Food is being done by a co-worker who worked in the food industry for years (we're paying cost of food)
HomeBrewerDude is making beer for the drinks, so we'll have that, another half barrel, and wine / drinks available (friends helping as bartenders... so cost of non-HomeBrewerDude alcohol is about $600)
Another co-worker is doing the ceremony.
She has friends doing photography, DJ, and flowers.

Because of the generosity of friends, I think we're going to come in under $5k for everything. We'll see how it goes

I assume my invite was lost in the mail?

 

[NutBucket]

Ours was about 50 people. I think we ended spending about $10k when all was said and done. There were some travel expenses involved as we did a pseudo-destination deal (about 400 miles away) and we paid our photographer's expenses as well (she had to travel much farther).

Had we stayed local, the reception would have easily been 300-400 people, blech.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I'll never understand why people want to invite hundreds of people to their wedding, but whatever floats your boats.

 

[ShawnD1]

Reception was at my parents house, photography done by my cousin, cake and flowers by a family friend.

In the days of digital photography, why not tell everyone to bring a camera to give you copies of their pictures?

You might end up with a hard drive full of pictures. Some might actually be good!

 

[rh71]

All in all, we spent about $5-6k on our wedding, reception, and honey moon. It makes absolutely no sense, IMO, to start off married life by amassing 10-30k in debt. And if someone is footing the bill for you, great. Just know it is one of the largest rip-offs ever.

I didn't know what to expect, but you happen to get a lot back. Spent $27k, got $18k back. Don't spend what you dont' have and you're not really in "debt". I would never have spent for a wedding on credit (can you even do that?). A one-day event would so not be worth monthly payments after the fact.

 

[Gibson486]

Well...we were going to do the ceremony in the boston common, but they have all these rules about amplified sounds, setting up chairs, decorations....screw that....

 

[Jadow]

230 people

 

[CrazyAznDriver]

150, nice size lots of gifts

 

[chin311]

4 people total

just right.

 

[thegimp03]

Our wedding was about 225 people it was pretty evenly split at about 75 people from each of our families/friends of the family and 75 of our own friends. I won't say how much it cost, but our families were generous and paid for it in a mostly "traditional" sense - my parents threw two rehearsal dinners, one with just the bridal party and one with my extended family because they had traveled a long distance, and also paid for the flowers at the wedding/reception, while her parents paid for the wedding reception. My wife and I still look back and partly wish that we were "guests" at the reception because it was such a crazy party with an open bar the whole night and an amazing DJ.

 

[darkxshade]

The cost of a wedding is negligible next to the cost of divorce