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azaretsky
member
$$ Spent on a wedding
azaretsky
member
A friend just told me that another friend is going to spend at least $70K on their wedding... and they're not rich by any standards. So, here're my questions:
1) How much was your wedding? (I know it depends on a lot of things, but humor me, please)
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it?
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much?
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: $$ Spent on a wedding
I'll start:
1) How much was your wedding? (I know it depends on a lot of things, but humor me, please)
$18K
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it?
We split it between my parents, his parents and us, but my parents gave us the bulk of the money
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much?
Not comparing to spending $70K!!
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing?
Yes, DH and I thought about that a lot when we were buying our house. "If only we didn't spend that $$ on the wedding..."1) No clue, I didn't pay for any of it.
2) My parents paid for all of it. His parents paid for the honeymoon.
3) No, I don't think so. We did not have a lavish wedding by any means, but it was big -- about 250 people -- if I did it again I would have a much, much smaller wedding.
4) In addition to the wedding/honeymoon each of our parents gave us $5,000 for our downpayment... mine gave us the money first, his matched it when they found out. My parents told me the "gift" would be the same regardless of what kind of wedding we have.
I'll start:
1) How much was your wedding? (I know it depends on a lot of things, but humor me, please)
$30K
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it?
My Parents
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much?
Not really. We had a gorgeous wedding
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing?
Yes. But I also wouldnt trade that day for anything1) not exactly sure but it was under $10,000
2) My parents paid for the wedding, my husband's paid for the rehearsal dinner which was probably an additional $3-4000
3) no
4) while it would be nice for my student loans to be paid off now rather than later, they will eventually be paid off and I'll never get another wedding (hopefully, don't plan on getting divorced) so I'm glad I did the wedding.
Oh gosh, it was 6 years ago and yet I barely remember.
I want to say we did it for under $10,000. We all chipped in - we paid for a lot of the smaller things like invites, cake, photography, etc. My parents paid for the larger stuff. His parents paid for traditional rehearsal dinner, honeymoon, but also the flowers.
I don't think we spent too much. I'm happy with it.
Including the honeymoon, we spent $7000. We covered a $1000, his parents gave us a $1000 and my parents gave us $5000. I don't think we spent too much at all! If I could go back, I would add in some more photography and get a different dress, so maybe I would tack on another $1500.
Edit: It was a small and intimate wedding though. It would have been in the $20,000 category with a 100 guests.
1) How much was your wedding? (I know it depends on a lot of things, but humor me, please) Spent about 23-24k. Had 100 guests.
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it? DH and I covered it alone.
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much? I think we spent too much considering that we got pg right after and I wish we had that money back so we'd be in a better financial situation.
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing? On one hand I wish we would have saved it but we tried our best to be thrifty and have a nice wedding for less $$ given our circumstances/preferences. I don't regret having the wedding we wanted but it would've been nice to save that $$.
1. Wedding was about $20K
2. DH and I paid for the whole wedding and FIL covered the rehersal dinner.
3. I could have spent less but I didn't go into debt with the wedding so overall I'm happy with the amount.
4. I wish I had the money now but I would do it all over again if I had the chance.
1) How much was your wedding? (I know it depends on a lot of things, but humor me, please)
$33K
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it?
Both sets of parents and us.
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much?
Not really. We had a gorgeous wedding, and there isn't anything I would change that would have made it cost less.
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing?
1) How much was your wedding? (I know it depends on a lot of things, but humor me, please) - $25K
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it? My family paid 1/3 and we paid the rest.
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much? No, especially not in NY.
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing? - My wedding was everything I imagined. I don't regret a thing.
Make a pregnancy ticker
1) How much was your wedding? (I know it depends on a lot of things, but humor me, please) Just over 12,000
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it? My parents paid for it, DH's paid for the rehersal dinner
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much? No, considering I only had 2 months to plan and didn't have time to shop around. Had we been engaged longer it probably would have cost double that.
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing? No my parents still offered to help us with our house, but we wanted to do it on our own. If we ever run into financial problems I know they will help.
1) How much was your wedding? My guess is about $25k. This is bad but we paid for stuff as we went, and I didn't keep accurate track, justr tried to make smart choices. I picked up a bottle of booze each week, so I think I ended up spending about $1500 on alcohol but I don't k now exactly because I did it gradually.
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it? DH and I paid for our own wedding.
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much? Nope.
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing? Worth every penny.
I didn't care about a wedding. I would have been happy going through a drive thru in Vegas with Elvis. But DH's parents were THRILLED that he was getting married and they got to have a Jewish wedding. So our wedding was almost like a gift to them. They weren't pushy at all but we told them to invite whoever they wanted, asked them to pick out the food, asked for input about flowers, ceremony, etc. Whatever made them happy. They absolutely LOVED our wedding and I have to say I had a blast myself.
It sounds weird, but FIL said after the wedding that now DH was married and happy, and they had this wonderful weekend with their close friends and family, that they could die happy. Sounds morbid but MIL was not well. She passed away a couple years ago. But every conversation I had with my ILs since we were married they mentioned how wonderful our wedding was. Worth every penny and then some to make them that happy.
DMoney will be a kickass big sister
I'm getting married May 15 of next year so not married yet. I'm estimating our wedding will cost $15,000. My parents are footing the bill for everything except a hotel for the weekend for the bride and groom party which we are paying for. I don't think we spent too much. I stayed within the budget my parents gave me and the wedding is pretty simple nothing too extravagant. We spent the majority of money on good food and alcohol.
<$4,000
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it?
Our parents split it.
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much?
No. We did just enough so that our families were satisfied. No friends were invited. It was purely a ceremony and dinner reception to appease the relatives.
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing?
No. We received $32K in cash (which we used for part of a downpayment the next year) plus gifts, so I think we came out on top. DH still regrets wearing shoes though.1) How much was your wedding? (I know it depends on a lot of things, but humor me, please) $50,000
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it? my parents paid for it. DH and I paid for our honeymoon
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much? my wedding was amazing and I wouldn't change a thing
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing? my parents paid for my college and my grandparents wedding gift to us was $10,000 to use for a down payment.
1) How much was your wedding? (I know it depends on a lot of things, but humor me, please) total, around $5,000
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it? My parents paid for somethings, ILs paid for some and we covered the rest.
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much? Not at all, we had a huge wedding and I did a great job making sure I kept the cost down.
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing? We paid for things in cash as we needed it so we never went into debt over the wedding.
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2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it? My parents paid $4000 and DH and I covered the rest.
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much? No.
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing? No, we got a good bit back in wedding gifts, so we had money for our down payment anyway. It was all about even in the end.2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it? My parents gave us a budget of 10,000 and anything over that we had to cover. MIL and FIL paid for rehearsal dinner and honeymoon
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much? Not really, I think I over-paid for my ceremony music, but that's about it
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing? No, it was such a perfect day and a perfect way to start our lives together.1) We spent about $6000 for our wedding (and it was in Santa Barbara so I am quite proud of that fact).
2) My parents covered dinner and my dress. MIL covered the photographer. DH and I covered everything else.
3) Nope. Everyone says they had a good time, great dinner, and a great cake.
4) No. I wanted a nice, small wedding. And I don't think that I overspent.
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to be over, it's about learning how to dance in the rain." -Unknown
Married 3-1-08 | Nathan 11-24-08 | Kaelyn 11-30-10 | Alicia 8-17-13
1. We spent aobut 12-15k
2. My parents (Mom) made the cake and bought over favors, etc.
3. We had a blast at our wedding.
4. I might have overspent by about $2-3k, but I am proud that we pretty much paid for everything ourselves, and our wedding was everything I had hope for.
1) How much was your wedding? (I know it depends on a lot of things, but humor me, please) About $70K (not counting rehearsal dinner or honeymoon)
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it? My parents paid for most of it, but we also chipped in for the DJ and photographer/videographer. DH's parents covered the rehearsal, and we paid for the honeymoon.
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much? No. There is nothing I would change. It wasn't even an over the top wedding; I think that's just how much things cost in my area.
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing? No. It didn't affect our timeline for buying our house and since I was employed at a university, I got tuition remission for DH's MBA classes. We have great memories of our wedding, and we still hear from friends and family that they loved the food and cake, so we don't regret any of our choices.
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it?
We paid most of it, but my parents split the cost of the food (about $900) which helped immensely.
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much? At the time, I was so bitter having to pay that much, but now looking back, I realize it was next to nothing by wedding standards and I'm glad we did it to appease our families (ok, mostly DH's). That way, it freed up our cruise to be honeymoon only, and not a wedding too as I'd originally planned.
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing? No
1) Our wedding cost approximately $125k (yikes!)
2) My parents paid for 80%, DH's parent's contributed 10%, and we paid for 10% (including the honeymoon, which was $10k).
3) It was an incredibly beautiful wedding, I don't regret a thing.
4) Most people would say we overspent, but neither my parents nor my DH and I feel that we did. My mom used to be an event planner, and that played into the scale that everything was done on.
1) How much was your wedding? (I know it depends on a lot of things, but humor me, please)
No clue. Honestly. We decided to never add it all up - it was a lot. We never really set a budget (probably a bad idea) and just paid for things as we went along. But we paid cash for everything and didn't go into debt for the wedding - that was important to us.
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it?
Both sets of parents contributed a little bit, and we covered the rest.
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much?
No
We had a destination wedding, so it was a 3 day event - and it was the best time I've ever had. I loved every single thing about my wedding, and friends and family still talk about how it was the best wedding they've ever been to. I don't think you can ask for anything more than that 
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing?
Um... nah. We already owned a house at the time, and we still love to talk about how wonderful our wedding was. I don't think those memories could be replaced.1) How much was your wedding? (I know it depends on a lot of things, but humor me, please) About 40k
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it?
My dad paid for almost all of it. My mom paid for my dress, MIL paid for 1/2 the rehearsal dinner and DH and I paid for the other 1/2 of rehearsal dinner and the honeymoon.
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much? Sometimes, but we had an awesome wedding. Our 4th anniversary is actually tomorrow and I still have people tell me how much fun our wedding was and how it was the best wedding that they have been to.
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing? We actually bought our house before we were even engaged and it wasn't as though my dad was just going to cut us a check instead. He's most of the reason it got so over the top. But he loves a good party!
1. Somewhere between $25K and $30K. Wed didn't keep track as we should have.
2. My mom covered the wedding and reception, his parents covered the rehearsal dinner. I don't know how much the rehearsal dinner was at all.
3. Not really.
4.Not at all. I had a wonderful wedding and memories to last a lifetime. I didn't any my mom to spend more than she was comfortable with spending.
2) Did your parents cover it? His parents? You two? Did you split it? My parents gave us about a 1/3, we paid for our guests, my dress & bridal party gifts but my IL's footed the rest.
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much? I spend a lot of money on my dress but I wouldn't have changed anything.
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing? I wish we could go back and not take as much money from my parents as times are tough and they could really use it.
1) How much was your wedding? Around $85,000, including rehearsal dinner, for about 100 guests.
2) Did your parents cover it? My parents contributed about $15,000 and we paid for the rest.
3) Looking back, do you think you spent too much? Not really. I guess there are a few items I think we could have scaled back on and nobody would have notice.
4) Do you wish you would have saved that money instead and now you'd have it for the downpayment/mortgage/education/other useful thing? Every once in a while I wonder if we should have saved the money for some other purpose, but I loved our wedding and don't regret spending the money.
1) between 12-15k, i cant remember
2) we paid for it with help from my parents
3) nope, i think we did goof
5) i would do it all over again
Wow! This is almost my answer word for word, but ours was pretty evenly split between my mom, the ILs and us.
Sarah - 12/23/2008
Alex - 9/30/2011
"I say embrace the total geek in yourself and just enjoy it. Life is too short to be cool." - Shirley Manson, Garbage
I was just married on Friday....
1.) I would guess around $5,000 max.
2.) We paid for all but maybe $500.
3,) No, I think we had a beautiful wedding on a small budget.
4.) Nope. We bought a house in May, so we had already used some savings towards that.