Weddings are such a pain!
Luckily ours is almost done. For the past two months Matt and I have been working on getting the plans together for it. We got the dress, he has his suit, we have the place, the priest, the guests, the reception, the maids and men, the flowers are almost done, and we are waiting to get the final word from the manager of the restaurant that we want to go to.
It's been really stressful, but I see the light!
We got married in my Mum and Dad's living room on Boxing Day.
The celebrant took the group photo of the 8 of us - me and Gary, Mum and Dad, my brother, my Mum's twin sister and her husband, my 'aunty' from next door.
We then sat down to Christmas Dinner, postponed from the day before!
No stress.
Orignally Matt and I were going to have a wedding on the beach, and have our closest family come. Of course, things went horribly wrong. We were going for small, but my Mom wanted her whole family to come so she could parade me around. As you can figure I did not very pleased and nearly called off the wedding so we could elope.
Now we're having a small wedding in a garden, then we are going to a restaurant for dinner, and then a pub for the party :D Most of this is free or really really cheap for us. The whole wedding for us will be under 1k, which is great considering the average wedding is like 30k. Woo!
Still it's a stress, and we were leaning to a Vegas trip :D Come on! Elvis!
Quote from: "Stasha"The whole wedding for us will be under 1k, which is great considering the average wedding is like 30k. Woo!
30k? What on earth for? Don't people have houses to buy?
I personally would rather elope and then have a bbq for family and friends after XD
30k seems a bit steep... Of course, there are some outliers that totally scew that figure I'm sure! Million dollar weddings and such perhaps.
I don't know... Maybe big weddings are an east coast thing? (Or more of an east coast thing I should say). I haven't been to a wedding Washington that cost more than $5,000 I should think.
Of course in Japan its easy to pay for a big wedding... Each guest is charged $100-$300! (Of course, you're not CHARGED, you're just expected to give it...)
Quote from: "Jane"Quote from: "Stasha"The whole wedding for us will be under 1k, which is great considering the average wedding is like 30k. Woo!
30k? What on earth for? Don't people have houses to buy?
That's what Matt and I thought.
Quote from: "Eimi"I personally would rather elope and then have a bbq for family and friends after XD
30k seems a bit steep... Of course, there are some outliers that totally scew that figure I'm sure! Million dollar weddings and such perhaps.
I don't know... Maybe big weddings are an east coast thing? (Or more of an east coast thing I should say). I haven't been to a wedding Washington that cost more than $5,000 I should think.
Of course in Japan its easy to pay for a big wedding... Each guest is charged $100-$300! (Of course, you're not CHARGED, you're just expected to give it...)
Hmmm.... *Rubs chin as she ponders*
Do as me and my hubby did: Wedding at the magistrate's office, with both set of parents as witness, then dinner at reastaurant and night in hotell. Of course I was eight month pregnant and wore a yellow-flowered summer dress that now looks like a tent to me!
The most expensive part of our wedding was the ring. Real dimond-ring.
$30k?!?!
I HAD a huge wedding with a bridal party of 16 or so and several hundred guests, and it did NOT cost $30k.
Though I had to google that statistic and I guess these people are not very bright at planning, because I found a breakdown of the "average" wedding.
http://www.costofwedding.com/ (http://www.costofwedding.com/)
Wedding Attire $2,710
Wedding Ceremony $2,627
Wedding Favors & Gifts $1,166
Wedding Flowers $2,048
Wedding Jewelry $2,148
Wedding Entertainment $991
Wedding Photography & Video $3,836
Wedding Reception $14,737
Wedding Stationery $881
Wedding Transportation $426
(With this disclaimer: This does not include cost for a honeymoon, engagement ring, bridal consultant or wedding planner. Understanding average wedding cost now can help you with your wedding budget later.)
$2000 on jewelery JUST FOR THE WEDDING?! And $900 worth of STATIONARY? LOL I'm assuming those are invites...I hope.
Scary. Very, very scary.
Luckily I'm going to tell myself that the kind of people who responded to this survey are the ones who would care about big huge weddings, and not people like me who hand-made their invitations and paid a friend $300 for photos. ;)
My husband spent 850 dollars on my engagement ring. He got a solitary diamond at a reputable place online for a lot less than most. He then went to a local jeweler, picked out a setting and had two sapphires placed on either side - his birthstone. All this was around 850 bucks. I was so proud of him! It's a beautiful ring, with a diamond that, I think, is either .3 or .4. It's just the right size for my finger! And the sapphires remind me of him. :) I think we spend around 200-300 dollars on BOTH of our wedding bands, and only that much because we got the comfort fit.
Our entire wedding, not counting the ring, was probably around 5k, most of which was paid for by my mother because she offerred to. I think I paid 400 bucks for my dress (which was more than I really wanted to spend). It was about a 1000k dress but was put on the clearance rack. I went into the bridal shop and left in about an hour. My mother said she had never seen someone pick out a dress so fast. My criteria? sleeves, no longer than 3 quarter length, a bust line that wasn't too low, and a high waist. It fit those requirements, and it was one of the cheapest dresses there, so I took it.
By the time we got married, I was just ready to be married. I could have gotten married in jeans and a t-shirt for all I cared. Unfortunately, my mom refused to let me do that and since she was paying for most of it, I let it be more formal than normal. It was still pretty small. I think we only had about 30 guests. Most of our friends were in Texas and we were getting married in my home church in Georgia.
In the end Matt and I feel the same way. We just want it over with.
But still with a wedding I get to wear my wedding dress (http://picasaweb.google.com/shaihulud5/MeAndMatt/photo?authkey=_dZF6gq0KDg#5179974913271794466)
Quote from: "Stasha"In the end Matt and I feel the same way. We just want it over with.
But still with a wedding I get to wear my wedding dress (http://picasaweb.google.com/shaihulud5/MeAndMatt/photo?authkey=_dZF6gq0KDg#5179974913271794466)
Oh, very pretty! I could never get away with wearing something like that. I weigh too much. ^_^
Kurt and I got married twice. In the same day. :-D
Quote from: "Bree"Wedding Favors & Gifts $1,166
Is this some sort of hobbit thing? You give stuff away at your weddings?
Quote from: "Jane"Is this some sort of hobbit thing? You give stuff away at your weddings?
I don't know about other countries, but here generally the bride gives gifts to her bridesmaids and maid (or matron) of honour.
Quote from: "Amanda N"Quote from: "Jane"Is this some sort of hobbit thing? You give stuff away at your weddings?
I don't know about other countries, but here generally the bride gives gifts to her bridesmaids and maid (or matron) of honour.
My brides maids are getting corsages, and I only have two brides maids (including the matron). See tiny.
Quote from: "Stasha"Quote from: "Amanda N"My brides maids are getting corsages, and I only have two brides maids (including the matron). See tiny.
I had a maid of honour, a bridesmaid, and a bridesman. :-D
I almost made my friend Brad a "bridesman" but he refused to and preferred to be Matt's groomsman.
Quote from: "Stasha"I almost made my friend Brad a "bridesman" but he refused to and preferred to be Matt's groomsman.
Well, my husband already had a best man and two groomsmen. Besides, this friend is like a brother to me. :) He walked down the aisle by one of Kurt's groomsmen...but didn't link arms. :-D
There.
I got my appointment with the seamstress taken care of, and I got the date officially scheduled with the restaurant and wow, now I don't have anything else to worry about for a while.
Can't wait for it to done and over with thought.
I was fortunate in that my mom did most of the planning. :)
If I get married I want to sign the papers and be done with it. Maybe I'd dress up and we'd go out for dinner and a play or something. But really, I hate the idea of a ceremony in front of lots of people with special clothes and roles for people and cake and...it's just fluff, and it's the kind of fluff that, I, personally, would not want for myself. Our commitment is ours, personal between us, and we can get that done without anyone there but us; I don't need or want anything public for others.
If/when it happens, my Dad siad he'd by me a ladder so I could elope in style by climbing out of a window!
Yeah, Kurt and I were pretty frustrated for a while and were thinking eloping would have been a good escape.
Quote from: "Avril"If I get married I want to sign the papers and be done with it. Maybe I'd dress up and we'd go out for dinner and a play or something. But really, I hate the idea of a ceremony in front of lots of people with special clothes and roles for people and cake and...it's just fluff, and it's the kind of fluff that, I, personally, would not want for myself. Our commitment is ours, personal between us, and we can get that done without anyone there but us; I don't need or want anything public for others.
Matt and I wanted the same thing... but his mom and my mom would not let us.
We had our grandparents', and my dad's permission to elope to Vegas...
I kinda wish I did, but I like my dress to much, and I get to be with my friends, so it's all cool. :rr:
Dude...that afro smiley looks like Kurt! Sorta...well...when he doesn't cut his hair.
(https://www.triadweyrs.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm1.static.flickr.com%2F6%2F7609691_5763051b98.jpg&hash=bf2bcdee03382ebb7b3a220eb9a42890d4bb114d)
Wow! Now that's an afro :D
Yes, he let it get too long there. :)