Philadelphia

[glatt]

That reminds me. It's been a few years since I've been to a wedding.

I guess it's those in between years. All my contemporaries have already tied the knot, and the next generation isn't quite there yet.

[Chocolatl]

The national average for an American wedding is $25,000. I can't even wrap my head around spending that much money on a single day!

My friend's wedding was on a working farm. She wore a skirt and blouse instead of a bridal gown, and simply asked that her bridesmaids wear floral, summery dresses. It was a far cry from the "typical" American wedding, in a very welcome way.

[Perry Winkle]

My wife and I spent ~$2k. Caterers, booze, rented a cool old house on a ranch. Just a weekend of fun.

A few years ago, I went to a wedding for the daughter of some close family friends. They spent north of $150,000 (or was it $250k?). It was stupid but awesome, in the stricter sense of the word, in a way too.

[glatt]

I forget what we spent 20 years ago, but I bet it was around $3-4k. This was in northern New Jersey, so nothing there was cheap.

I think it was something like this:
Dress: $800
flowers: $600
Rented house: $1200 (awesome place)
caterer: $2000
beer and wine: $500
Photographer: $600
Rehearsal dinner was probably about $1500 for the tent and food.

so that's $7,200. More than I thought. And maybe the caterer was a little more than that, so it could have been more like $8,500 total. Jeez.

[Lamplighter]

From about the age of 5, we told each of our 3 daughters that
when it came to time for their wedding, they were to elope.








(we ended up with 2 church- and 1 home-weddings.)

[Clodfobble]

We seriously cheaped out, and I actually regret it a tiny bit. I do mean seriously cheap:

Dress: $99 (still quite happy with this, it really was the exact dress I wanted)
Flowers: $500 (mother-in-law bought them for us)
Cake: $175 (my aunt bought this for us)
Church rental: maybe $400?
Pianist: $150
Reception rental: $175 (this was the "business party room" at the apartment complex next to the church, but it was nicer than it sounds)
Photographer: $300 (I paid a friend of a friend cash in exchange for her giving me all the negatives, so I could order reprints as I saw fit. I thought the whole wedding photography crap of "we give you just the 45 best shots, and you can order reprints from us at $5 each" was complete bullshit. Mine was her first wedding and she is now a very expensive wedding photographer in town, so having my wedding pictures in her portfolio definitely helped her out as well.)

Catering: Ah... yeah. I think we had like one fruit tray and one tray of cocktail shrimp. This is the part I am most embarrassed about--the reception was just a bunch of people milling about with all the food gone in about ten minutes. I was so sick of the planning process by the time I got around to thinking about food that I completely punted it. It was mid-afternoon, I rationalized, they would have cake and that would be enough...

Rehearsal dinner: I can't even remember. It was at a low-key Italian place, and I am 99% sure we didn't pay for it, but I can't think of who did. My mom, probably. Would have been about $10-$12 a plate, for about 30 people, I think.

[gvidas]

That "average wedding" price figure is artifically high. It's based on the 'reported cost' from frequenters of wedding-planning websites / magazines. Very few Clodfobbles contribute to their dataset. Also, I think it's the mean average, not the median -- so Sean Parker's $5 gazillion dollar wedding nudges the figure up more than it should.

A few months ago I skimmed this article on the subject, so my recollection could be hazy.

[Chocolatl]

Interesting read, gvidas. The article states that the typical wedding is more in the realm of $15,000, so I stand corrected!

[Griff]

We spent about $2K bitd. Dress, tux, hall, church, flowers, blue grass band, and pot luck. Pete went to a Texas wedding this Summer and was pretty much appalled, but the girl has had the princess treatment her whole life, they weren't about to stop on her wedding day despite a money confrontation with the new in-laws.

[Sundae]

I honestly cannot remember what we spent on my wedding, but I do remember that my parents took out a £1k loan to cover their side of things, and were still paying it off when we separated. I felt horrible about that. But the more times it was mentioned the less I began to care. You can only beat your daughter up so many times... That was spent on their clothes, travel, accommodation and drinks at the bar (for the guests as well as the 'rents!)

His Mum bought the cake, which was custom made by Choccywoccydoodah.
We borrowed the money for flowers, which did not turn up due to a personal emergency/ poor communication at the florists; they actually paid us the same amount we were supposed to pay them for the flowers. And that paid back the friend we borrowed it from and gave us some spending money for the honeymoon!
And I got my dress on sale. £625. Cheapest wedding dress of anyone I knew, but the most talked about. The shop I bought it in was going into administrative receivership.

We printed our own stationery - J was an artist and I did the words and put in much time on the sticking and assembling front. My sister spent something like £500 just having her stationery printed and matching and formal. I doubt we spent more than £100 on the raw materials. Then again I can't be smug; she's still married and I'm not.

Our two big expenses were the location and the photos.
Civil ceremonies were in their infancy. I was NOT going to be married in church and I did NOT want anyone looking down their nose at me because it was "only" in a Registry office. So we went to a desanctified priory. And it was gorgeous.

And both J & I were very camera shy.
So I went to about five different photographers before settling on the one I did. Everyone else I knew just went to the one in the town centre. We went all the way to Marlow.
We had a formal set and two informal ones (one black & white and one sepia) to capture the day.
Left 99.9% of them behind when we separated, but I love the ones I still have - the ones with family in them.

[Chocolatl]

We spent $12,827 on our wedding -- I still have the spreadsheet on my computer.

If I could do it all over again, I'd do things a lot differently and probably save a lot of money. There was a pall over our wedding because my grandmother passed away three weeks before, and then all sorts of things went wrong the day of. If I ever win the lottery, I'm definitely springing for a vow renewal.

[Clodfobble]

I have an oddly strong aversion to vow renewals. Just about everyone I know who has done it has gotten divorced just a year or two later. Like they knew things were getting shaky, and they were trying too hard to prove otherwise. Plus, I feel like there's an implication that the vows weren't really serious the first time around.

However, I'm thinking I might do a big party for Mr. Clod's 40th birthday, which would pretty much amount to the same thing in terms of friends, family, food, cake, and general revelry, just without the repeat ceremony.

[Lamplighter]

<snip>Plus, I feel like there's an implication that the vows weren't really serious the first time around.

Me too !

My wife (just before our 50th anniversary) wanted to go down this road,
and it set off a squabble that still re-surfaces from time to time.

But, at least now she smiles and begins with "I know you won't do it, but it would be nice if..."
I then smile and begin my reply with "I meant it the first time..."

[bluecuracao]

Originally Posted by Chocolatl

After a quick walk around the market, we walked down to the historic area. I had hoped to go see the Liberty Bell, but it did not occur to me there'd be a line. Unfortunately, there was a long line and we were on a time crunch, so we just took a gander at the Old City Hall then headed back to the hotel....

You guys were just 3 blocks away from me! I was either trying to wake up or working around that time, though, depending how early it was. Judging from the shadows on Commodore Barry, it looks like it was pretty early.

Glad you got see at least one historic site, and on such a beautiful day. Two days later, it was practically the Apocalypse.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by bluecuracao

Two days later, it was practically the Apocalypse.

Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies, rivers and seas boiling.
Forty years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanoes.
The dead rising from the grave.
Human sacrifice, dogs and cats, living together, mass hysteria!