$$ for weddings

[jeanie 0]

For those of you who are getting married soon, or have been married recently...how are you financing your weddings? Are they going to be big or small? Casual or formal? This is my second, I've got children and sort of a cash shortage...and weddings, even small ones, are EXPENSIVE! Looking for some good tips!

Thanks

[Nasturtium 500]

Depends, are you getting married in the US or abroad? If you're getting married in the US, you just choose what you really want... figure out what is important to you. If you want to get married on the beach and that is important, then you spend your money on that and have a small wedding that doubles as a honeymoon. You go in the off-season whereever you want and don't worry about the other people or what they want. it's not their money or their wedding anyway. If the dress is important then you spend your money on that and then have an at-home wedding somewhere. If you're one of the people like me who likes a bit of everything but is picky, I reccomend getting exactly what you want or just not doing it at all. I have found when I try to compromise something, I just feel dissappointed and would rather not have it.

[ayesha4akram 0]

I had planned before, but since I thought he was coming earlier, I had to postpone things.

The islamic ceremony is free and the Sheikh who will marry us will also be one of the witnesses at the civil ceremony at the courthouse (which is also free)...then it's party time . My friends a I are trying to plan something simple (within a low budget). No poofy dresses or anything like that, just simple insha Allah. I keep telling my friends, as long as the fiance shows up and there's cake, we're set .

I'm thinking along the lines of reserving a gazebo at a park in San Juan, near the beach. It would make a lovely scenery for pictures .

[rouguewave 7]

We just got married Feb 9. We travelled to Stowe VT and had a civil wedding there. Although we (five of us) live in VA, we travelled (drove) to VT so that my family could attend. Instead of staying with family members, we found a nice Bed & Breakfast inn that had a special "Elope in VT" package rate that included the room, wedding ceremony (including license), and little special things (champagne, chocolates, flowers) for the bride & groom. We ordered a lovely wedding cake and treated (paid for) dinner prepared by the inn for the attendees.

I own a tuxedo, so I wore that. My wife bought a beautiful, moderately priced wedding dress. She (and her daughter) got their hair done at a local shoppe the morning of the wedding.

Although the philippine family (wife & kids) had seen snow in their short time in the US, they had never seen the 2 ft accumulation that VT had. It snowed the day of our wedding, which made for a beautiful setting outside.

It would be hard to breakout the costs seperately, but combining a family visit with the wedding was part of the planned economy. We came in on Friday, got married Sat, and returned on Sunday which made it hectic but obviously more economical. All together, the cost was about $2500-3000.

[doodlebugg 10]

We got married in Cairo so that's all set, though like you I have children and they did feel cheated in a sense so we'll have a smallish party once he's here at my home. Nothing fancy and I'll wait till he's over jetlag but just close family and I'll order from some place that serves middle eastern food.

[eau_xplain 2]

We had a civil wedding first and just went to lunch with our "witnesses" after the ceremony.

Then we had a church ceremony for our relatives and friends to celebrate our marriage with us. We had the reception in our backyard, bought the food, made our own wedding invitations, wedding program, the church decor, bridal bouquets and corsages, bought the drinks. I bought my wedding dress on ebay (for $25 ) but we rented the tuxes for my husband and our two boys. . We also bought some of those disposable cameras and placed them on the tables for the guests to take pictures with. We spent between $4-5K which was not bad considering we had about 100 people celebrate with us. It was very informal and more like a (Filipino-style) fiesta.

[sereia 0]

we got married at the local courthouse then went to dinner on the beach after. definitely a cheap way to do it! we plan to have a wedding down the line but i'm debating whether i want one in america AND morocco or just one in morocco. you can get way more for your money if you have one in egypt, is that something to consider?

start saving, girl! put aside ANYTHING you can every month.

[Nutty 2]

Since my husband and I married in an office and went to the mall for the party (the fancy Siam Paragon!!! in Bangkok) we didn't have expenses (other than the fees to get married) and the food court.

[~~~water~~~ 0]

We had a civil marriage at a beautiful old courthouse, then in 3 months were having a wedding receptions , at my parents with arabic food and music. They live in the country so the location is great and free... big plus biggest costs Arabic Band(my dream) and the food. Were doing a lot ourselves catering the kabobs and a few friends are doing huge arabic salads/entress

Its hard though realyl exspensive. Just make a budget and stick to it. Thats what I am trying

[SandyNJack 5]

We are hoping for a small church wedding. Just family and friends we want to be there. Then after a meal at a nice place. Probably have some flowers, photographer and a cake plus the meal. Will use my tax refund to pay for everything. I already have the dress so we will need to get him a suit if he does not have one with him.

[lion_lioness 0]

We had a small wedding - but had everything I wanted (ceremony, photographer, dj, sit down reception, favors, invites, etc). If you're planning in the NYC area, I can get you an estimate for everything for less than $3k (max 30 people). IM me if you want more info. I did my parent's 25th, my wedding and two friends - so now I have some family/close friends in the business and friendly with the restaurant.

If you're not in NYC area, do everything you can yourself - that's what I did and save lots of money.

[polarbear 0]

We had it a week later at a friends house (she has a beautiful garden) and cleared out her living room for dancing after. I have wonderful friends who helped me cook that afternoon and btwn all my friends I ended up getting everything other than decorations and food free. Someone had tables and chairs from a recent event, things were donated, ect... I also work in a kitchen and have a pastry background, so they let me make my cake at work for free, didn't charge me a thing. Dress, I got lucky

Bottom line, try to call in favors or inlicit help from friends to do as much as you can yourself if you are on a budget. Just spend money on the parts that are really important to you. Also, keep it small if possible - I had 30 ppl total so it was doable to do things myself

[terrie/kamal 0]

I think i spent less than $500. for everything. My husband bought me a beautiful caftan from Morocco. I made our invites, had the wedding in the backyard of our home. Had friends there, and then had some friends help with the food. I made the majority of it, and we had a small get together at the bar i hang out at. It was a lovely day. Everything including the weather was perfect for October.

My wedding cake was a sheet cake from Walmart and wonderfully tastey, i might ad. It can be done. I had been planning for about 2 months. And if he wouldn't have been here by then, it wasn't something that i couldn't postpone. My wedding flowers were made of wood. They were wooden roses. I got something 100 of them for $30.