If you were getting married today, or you had to help pay for a wedding for your chil

If you were getting married today, how much would you spend?

  • Under $5000 You can have a great day for a little cost with a bit of planning.

    Votes: 35 34.0%
  • Up to $10k I'm cost conscious, & know I can still get all the trimmings in this price range.

    Votes: 27 26.2%
  • $10-25k

    Votes: 23 22.3%
  • $25-40k

    Votes: 12 11.7%
  • Over $40k I only want the best.

    Votes: 4 3.9%
  • Price isn't important to me. Mum & Dad will foot the bill.

    Votes: 2 1.9%

  • Total voters
    103
  • Poll closed .
Close friends got married, both took a different route.

The traditional approach: One of them go married in 2003 and I have estimated they would have spent approximately $40k :eek:.....I know the parents assisted but not sure to what extent. Didn't help there were big families on boths sides, approx 220 at the reception...

The alternative: On the flip side, the other got married back in 1999 in NYC. They had invited me to go but couldn't really afford it at the time. They had some close family and friends (~10) attend. And had a honeymoon all in one.

Being quite tradiitonal, I saw at the time, the NYC thing as a bit of a gimmick, but have seen the merits of that now.

This year, my sister got married in the Greek islands to here English finace..It was on the island that my Dad was born in. It was a fantastic event, relatives from Australia, England and Greece. However the cost was not that much different to a wedding here. And the work that my parents (and myself to a lesser extent) acting as default wedding planners was significant.

Lesson: All weddings, wherever you go , will cost you. Just ensure the marriage is a winner..
 
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I chose 10-25k because I know I'd want to spend at least $5000 on my dress. Screw the rest of the wedding. I just want the dress. Hehehe
 
I chose 10-25. Because once you have +100 guests venues cost more.

Avoid bridal shows. They push expensive 'concepts' you wouldn't have thought of in the 1st place! People get so carried away.... let it dominate 18months or more of their life obsessing about one day.

"A wedding is the bride's one and only day to express herself". No way. You express who you are by the way you are in the world and each time you extend the hospitality of your home. That says more about who the couple is.

It is a special day but the marriage is far more important than the wedding.

Some of the modern marriage celebrations are a bit showy and competitive....it is an industry all right!
 
I just got married - October 07 and it cost us $31k, which aslso included the honeymoon.

We paid for most of it, but my wife's parents wanted to contribute some so we accepted, but we still conrtibuted to the majority of the costs.

We always had budgeted around the $30k mark so i was happy we didn't pass it by much. I dont think our wedding was a lavish one at all - we just ensured we had a quality reception (cost the most at $7k), and the wife's dress was $2.5k.

We also had a photographer and a video man which all up cost about $4k.

The problem is when ever you go buy something for a wedding, and the seller hears that word, they add a huge mark up. We decided to get everthing we wanted because we plan for this to be our only ever wedding, so why not go all out....
 
I chose 10-25. Because once you have +100 guests venues cost more.

I once went to a wedding of 12 people; including the bride and groom.

Great day for all concerned.

Ours was 50 people; a lot of disgruntled distant relatives. They are still relatives and still distant, and me, my wife and our pockets are still happy.
 
I once went to a wedding of 12 people; including the bride and groom.

Great day for all concerned.

Ours was 50 people; a lot of disgruntled distant relatives. They are still relatives and still distant, and me, my wife and our pockets are still happy.


Our wedding was 20 people including hubby and me! If we included all the rellies and friends, we would have had over 250, so we went the 'small is beautiful' route!

After a few glitches in the morning (flowers and hair), I just took off my glasses - figured if I couldn't see if anything was going wrong, then I had nothing to get stressed about - and it worked! It was wonderful - we got to talk to everyone and catch up with news from people who came from interstate. We had an absolute ball - and were the last to leave!

And the $$ we saved with having a smaller celebration went to paying down our newly-acquired PPOR. :)

Cheers
LynnH

P.S. I voted 'Under $5000' - though that was back in 1978!
 
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I once went to a wedding of 12 people; including the bride and groom.

Great day for all concerned.

Ours was 50 people; a lot of disgruntled distant relatives. They are still relatives and still distant, and me, my wife and our pockets are still happy.

50 people is just lunch. On my dad's side. :D No kidding.

Well done on keeping it in focus. Bet you had a rockin' day.
 
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My wedding will be in April 08 and we've done up a budget. All up it'll be about $40K. The reception dinner will cost the most as we're having about 340 people. She has a big family so over half of that is just her family alone. 10 people a table at $700 a table adds up.

However, the good news is that at vietnamese wedding reception it is a tradition for guests to give money for good luck and typically the money you receive there will cover the cost of the reception and leave you a little bit spare. So all up I'm expecting the wedding to cost about $5-10K. :)

That's right...typically asians give 'red packets' and they're usually quite generous so you for asians, shouldn't really have a too cheap weddng.

I spent aboout $25k inc honeymoon back in 2002. I would expect to spend an extra $5 ro $10k if it was now with the inflation.

Our family, relatives and friends were very generous and we were actually better off after the wedding....so I'm so glad I went all out. I also received a lot of gold jewellery from family.

Budget $5k to $10k for photography alone.

Consider Sundays and Winter weddings as it's usually cheaper. Winter in brisbane isn't that cold. We got all the decorations thrown in and the string quarter.

I also saved a little by making my own menus, favors, placecards, order of service, invites etc....a bit more personalised and it's fun.

When hubby proposed, he could only afford a small diamond ring but promised to upgrade later. I think about 2 yrs later, I didn't get one but 2 diamond rings. A 1/2 carat Tiffany Style solitaire and a three oval diamond eternity ring totalling 1.5 carat. Shopped around for the bets loose dismonda at the best price wholesale and had them custom made. 3 times cheaper than the high end boutique shops and places like Tiffanys.

Now, I don't wear any jewellery...it's too vauable for everyday wear. But I don't believe it's a waste of money either. Something that I'll treasure forever and maybe a family heirloom.
 
My now Wife and I spent $5K on our wedding. A civil ceremony at a lovely park, and a cocktail party at a small venue for reception. Kept the party to close friends and immediate family, which kept things at a reasonable level. Had a fantastic time, and everybody who came said it was the best wedding they have ever been to.

We always thought that the wedding was about the bride and groom, not about catering for hundreds of people. Also, we figured the traditional sit down wedding kept people from mingling and making something out of the evening. So we broke the mould and it worked.

There is absolutely no need to meet anyone elses expectations but your own, and while you may get someones nose out of joint somewhere I reckon you will be much happier doing things the way you want to do. This is why we get $40k weddings, its all about the show, not about the couple.
 
We got married almost 28 years ago and it cost us circa $3000 then for 70 guests which we paid for ourselves. To put it into perspective, at that stage I was earning around the $4/hr mark.

Now days I would prefer my children to have a smaller wedding on one of the islands and fly everyone up to it. In the end I would like to think that it would be cheaper and would leave a nice nest egg for a PPOR:).
 
All up, we probably spent somewhere between 5 and 10K. But much closer to the 5K side. that's including rings and all.. except the engagement ring. We didn't pay though.

We only ever wanted something small. We had a civil ceremony in Albury, and paid for accomodation for a few people, then a few months later, had a reception here in canberra, that we got out of for under 3.5K.

one of rhiannon's relatives told her it was the best wedding he'd ever been to. We enjoyed it, it's what we wanted, that's what mattered.

The engagement ring has definitely cost more than all the rest of it together, but it's perfect. We only just picked it up 3 weeks ago. (No bad debt for us! layby all the way)
 
I see you are from Canberra as well. My wife sarah has a 2nd hand wedding dress which i'm sure she would be happy to let go. The dress is size 8 from memory. We live in Girlang. If you think it may be suitable PM either me or 'Poppy'

Jase

Thanks for the offer Jase, however don't think I'd ever fit an 8! Have a mountain bikers lower body.
Ended up ordering the dress I wanted - negotiated a good deal without gouging the retailer (good service).

Doing our home made invites this weekend - I think biggest tip I'd give anyone getting married is DIY the invites - I've had quotes come in over $10 per invite to get them done :eek:
 
What Mooze said.....

Seeing as I'm Mooze's other half, I'll have to say up to 10k also.... After all, she's the boss! :)
 
About 14 years ago it cost us about 3-4K to get married. I made all the bridesmaids dresses (in a former life was a dressmaker and worked at Lincraft at the time so got the fabric cheap. I had an old boss (dressmaker) make my dress but I sewed all the lace onto it. We hired a function centre and arranged for a local spit roast caterer to come into it to feed everyone with the strict instructions that seconds were allowed (my husband didn't want anyone leaving hungry as he always does at weddings). We then went to the 'Mouses Houses' in the Gold Coast Hinterland for our honeymoon with a $500 dollar credit card that I promptly chopped up when we returned and never owned one again until a couple of years ago when work needs forced us into it. As the eldest of 6 kids (5 girls) I also felt that I should lead by example (drummed into me as a youngster and the eldest) as I knew mum and dad would would be retired, or close to it, by the time most of the younger ones got married. Hubby's parents paid for the alcohol at the reception though and mum paid for the singer at the church.
 
A year ago we had not one but two weddings and believe it or not together they cost less than $5k :eek:

Australian wedding $7k - gorgeous sunny ceremony by the beach followed by sit-down reception for 80 guests. Negotiated food to $40pp by pruning mains choices to 2 really nice options instead of 3-4 ordinary ones, and serving the $220 delicious double-choc mud cake for dessert. Ignored alcohol package offer of $30pp - sized up our guests and opted to pay consumption instead which came in at around $15pp. DIY invites, cars, photography, video. Flowers <$200. Dress off the clearance rack with alterations < $500. Men wore own suits. Rings < $1k. Weekend getaway in the mountains. By coincidence, gifts from parents covered all costs.

Singapore wedding ~$20k - scheduled three months later to ease stress. formal church wedding followed by grand reception at Sentosa resort for 180 guests, small by Asian standards - hotel package cost ~$18k which was almost covered by red packets from guests. DIY photos again. Honeymoon in Vietnam. Eventual cost to us including flights a few thousand.

Both weddings went beautifully and my talented wife hunted down some incredible bargains from small suppliers. The part we're absolutely thrilled about was that our immediate family on both sides were able to attend both weddings. Not only that but all the in-laws are happy to think the wedding in their country was the official one. The real secret lies with us :)

Big tips : Keep a centralised planning file that both partners can access. And be prepared to break with tradition if it suits YOU.
 
........."From the roses flown in from Colombia",.....................

Flying in roses from Columbia? :eek: Now that's got to be one of the silliest things I've heard, but good luck to them.

See ya's.
 
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