How much did your wedding cost?

We saved a lot where we could and we got a 30k wedding for 10k. We got a place called the wayfarers chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes in 98. We had 80 people at the chapel but 200 for the reception. Wedding dress was about $600 and my family friend catered the reception for just cost of food.

I would like to also ask for the people to say if they got divorced or not.

So me 10k and divorced.

We did a non-traditional route and got married in Vegas:  bought a package at the Paris Hotel/Casino and paid for dinner for $20 with I think was under 1k plus the cost of the trip.   Everything looked really legit, I was disappointed it wasn't cheesier

Then we had a reception at the American Legion in town and paid for crappy buffet dinner, hall rental, open bar and I think it was about 2,500.  We paid 1k for the band, which is our biggest single expense and totally worth the money.  I was never a dreamer about my wedding day and there were points where I wished someone had said "You know, you can pick out something nicer..."  Our goal was a killer party.

One thing we didn't get was flowers or professional photography, we just took what was offered in the hotel package. That can really add up.  If I did it again, I might spend more on photography (hire someone for the reception).  I would never spend big bucks on flowers, no matter the circumstances. 

Still married, 11 years next month!

People still talk about it as one of their favorite weddings ever.

I go to a lot of weddings, professionally. In my limited experience, the more fuss over the expensive crap to impress other people, the less likely the marriage will survive. If you're in a socio-economic strata where a 50k party is normal, then go for it.

But I really shouldn't comment, as I make less than half of what everyone else here probably does, and I drive an 08 cobalt.

Edited to add: still happily married.

Edited by TheClaaaw 2013-02-05 2:27 PM

We had about 40 guests under some big trees on the UC Berkely campus...then a nice dinner and reception at the faculty club.  If I remember right it cost us about $20.00 per plate in 1993.  The renting of the faculty club was a gift to us, so we had about $2000 or so when bar tab, flowers, dress, etc was figured in.

We're stil happily married.......we're family now, divorce would never even be considered.

Aww.....pretty.

that number is VERY regional.  my photog was around $1800 and my photos are wonderful.

Not sure on the total cost, but we got really lucky with the rehersal dinner.  My wife had a friend that owned on of the nicer restaurants in town.  He rented it all out to us for about $5K.  Full menu (including some special requests) open bar and he had one server dedicated to just me and my wife.  It was so, so much better than the typical go-to places and a fraction of the cost.

My Dad paid for our honeymoon and didn't tell my Mom.  Although he's pretty cheap, he insisted on us getting the nicest/beachfront room at the resort - which we definitely wouldn't have been able to afford.  Still the best vacation ever (if you don't count stuff with the kids). 

Still married.

Around $17K. We had about 80-90 people.

The open bar was by far the biggest cost on top of food - at least $3000.  But then, all of our family was coming from quite a distance and had to pay for hotels, airfare/transportation so the least we could do was let them drink on our tab.  Good thing too, it was a colder day than they expected and the venue made lots of beautiful spiked hot chocolates to keep people happy while we were off doing photos and such. We rented a tent and some tables, linens, and a heater

We did have some help.  My mom bought my dress, my friend made the cake as a gift to us, a friend dj'ed (who is pro dj at clubs on the weekends) for a fraction of his usual cost.

We were married in October 2010 so not that long ago.  We paid for ourselves, we had the money saved - sure it could have gone on our down payment on our house too but we were still in great shape after the wedding. 

I know my sister didn't spend near what I did but she didn't have as much available funds and it was a hardship in the end to put everything together ... so it does come down to what you can afford.

Not including rings, we came in a little under our budget of $10k.  Split pretty much even three ways between her parents, my parents, and us (although we didn't ask anyone to pay).  One thing we went cheap on was the photographer, and it was a huge mistake.  We used the friend of a friend who does photography on the side.  Our pictures were horrible.  The expensive photographers might look like a waste, but in hindsight it's a cost I wish I would have ponied up for.

The bagpipe player was a tiny splurge, but totally awesome.

Oh yeah, the photographer was very expensive - about $2000.  He was great - a friend's SO, but i was shocked.

ETA - It was also super helpful - my dad's friend made us wine for the tables as a gift. Saved some of that open bar cost with a pretty low corkage fee.

I'm guessing 35k for EVERYTHING from beginning to end.

Rehearsal dinner, dress, venue, food, drink, gifts, cake, entertainment, photographer, videographer, honeymoon, etc.  I asked the wife, and she said 25k, but I don't think she included the rehearsal dinner and honeymoon (and maybe dress)

We had to pay for it ourselves (well, mom and dad paid for the rehearsal dinner).

What is a bit aggravating, is that it's an industry they have you over a barrel because it's so emotional.  I personally think they can name a price and get away with it.  I mean, 3k for a dress?  800 for a CAKE????  Then they just ding you on every little thing.  Chair covers?  Add $5 a chair.  Plating fee for them to cut YOUR cake and serve it?  $8 a person/plate.  You almost have to get numb and just write checks or you go insane.  So glad it's over.  ALSO, so glad it was an absolute amazing time.  If it was anything less than perfect?  I would have been upset - yes, high standards, but that's a lot of money.

I can tell you one thing (or recommend)  Some of the BEST moments had little to do with the wedding and I highly recommend.  I would have to say one of the most memorable moments for us was when we had all the extended family (that were not invited to the rehearsal dinner) hang out in our wedding suite eating a cheap-ish catered Italian dinner and having drinks and just catching up the night before the wedding.  The suite was huge and had a living room, dining room, bar, etc...  So it could fit 30 people easy and we just had fun (it normally was 3k a night, but the wife got it for 1500! - nice to have Vegas connections).  It wasn't the formal wedding/reception stuff - just a room party!

EVERYTHING is expensive.  But photographer, videographer, and flowers where what shocked me the most.

I figure, don't skimp on the booze and food, because that's what people remember and have a good time with.  Not centerpieces.  A good photographer - it would suck if you had a wedding and the photo's sucked.  I would have gone cheaper on the dress, but that's not up to me.  No one remembers a dress other than it was white.  But they remember doing shots at the open bar!

No one remembers what a cake looks like, but they remember if it tasted good. 

We hustled for our wedding.  Called in all our favors to get the venue fee waived, deals on rooms, traded services for the photographer.

Cheap cheap cheap here. We had the option of an expensive wedding or a decent wedding and some money toward new furniture for our new place, we both agreed we would rather have the furniture. Was still a very nice wedding and a great party afterward.

My wife's dress was $150, and yes, she looked amazing!

ETA: total for wedding and furniture for living room, dining room and bedroom was still under $6k. Most expensive was the food. And yes, still married. 

A lot.  I don't know for sure, but probably $25-50,000.

Amy's dad first came to us with the choice:  A big, expensive, blow-out wedding.  Or we could do something small and he would give us cash to start our lives.  We didn't hesitate for a second, "THE CASH!"

But after second-thoughts, he chose the big, expensive wedding.  Amy's family had gotten together four times in the 2 years before we got married:  To bury her mother, to bury her 10-yr-old cousin, to bury her aunt, and to bury her grandfather.  Four funerals in the span of 2 years and her dad wanted everyone together for a happy occasion.

So we went all out.  Big reception in the Hilton hotel.  Guests in the rooms.  Open bar that cleaned out the building.  A non-wedding band that rocked!  (Amy gave them a list of songs; 'under the boardwalk', 'the chicken dance', 'my life', etc.  "These are the songs you want us to play?"  "No.  These are the songs that if you do play them... I will kill you.")  The club downstairs emptied and many people crashed our wedding.  The hotel had to end the party at 2am by cutting off the power in the room.  They tried ending it on time, but I think 'Bigfuzzydad' kept paying them off to let it keep going.  It was off da hook!  (Can I still say that?)

That was 20 years ago.  20 years...