All right, ya'll. If you don't want to hear about wedding insanity, avert your eyes. I'm letting it rip.
I am shocked and appalled by what it costs to get married in this country. According to several sources, the average wedding in America costs $27,000. TWENTY SEVEN THOUSDAND DOLLARS! That is ABSURD. ESPECIALLY when you consider that the median household income in this country is $43,318. REDICULOUS!
I have been hoping to have the reception at a certain nameless historic property in the north valley. We were told two months ago by the owner that the facility plus tables, chairs, linens, and flowers, would be $3,500. This was confirmed one month ago when I took Mr. C there to see it.
Tonight, I was told that it would be at LEAST $5,000, that I would have to hire a professional wedding planner ($1,000 just for that day) AND that they won't even know if they can have weddings (zoning issue) until the end of the year, IF everything goes as planned (which it never does.)
Um, excuse me? I may be a bride, but I'm not an IDIOT.
The problem is, I'm now 9 months away from my preferred wedding date (the weekend between graduation and bar review) and most of the other venues I considered are booked.
Time to get creative.
This reception venue bullsh*t is just part of the problem. I am not poor, but neither am I rich. My parents are being incredibly generous in what they're contributing to pay for this debacle, and I'm putting every BigLaw penny I've earned this summer into the pot, too.
And despite this princely sum, WE CAN'T AFFORD TO GET MARRIED. When you add in the ceremony (over $1000 at the church I grew up at), dinner, cake, wine, fees, photographers, florists, a DJ, a dress, and a reception venue, all priced in the LOWER THIRD of what's available in NEW FREAKING MEXICO, one of the cheapest states in the union, we're pushing the edges of the budget. Even cutting out the photographer, DJ, wedding planner, and alcohol, it's well over $10,000.
Come on.
My goal is to do this entire thing for under $10,000 without falling prey to all this wedding industry baloney. A wedding lasts for approximately five hours; it's NOT WORTH sacrificing our financial future over.
If you have suggestions- local vendors (Santa Fe/Albuquerque), cost cutting tips, sanity hints, or anything else, please share- I'd love to have them and I'm sure I'm not alone.
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7 comments:
I say you take the money and buy a house. I know....not much help/
Good luck with it all. I don't know how people do it! We just went on top of a mountain with our dog and a minister. That was 13 years ago!
Thinking about stuff non-traditionally helps...do you really really want a traditional wedding gown? Maybe something fabu not from a bridal boutique. Do you have to serve a meal or can you have a cocktail hour instead? Can you elope? (not entirely kidding about that one). I agree with Scout, invest the $$ in your future rather than one day...
A simple bouquet of one flower that you love, with a beautiful ribbon around it could be a less expensive flower option (if I'm ever asked to get married, I want to carry tons of peonies from our garden...)
I know a couple who asked everyone to make a song request as part of their RSVP to the reception. Then the couple spent about $75 on iTunes to gather up all of the song requests, borrowed speakers from friends in a band, rigged up the trusty iPod, and played a mix of songs they liked and songs friends/family requested all night at the party. No DJ necessary! You don't really need some 20 year old dork telling you it's time to do the hokey pokey anyway.
Catering menus for a cocktail reception are generally a lot cheaper than the dinner selections. You can still get a nice carving station, seafood hors d'oeuvres, enough yummy stuff to feel like a dinner without the waiter fees and jacked up dinner prices.
I got hitched in Wisconsin, no good local tips for you. Good luck with everything!
I had a friend who got married in a park (in Durango, not here) who used a wedding planner. The wedding planner got her all sorts of discounted stuff so perhaps if you contacted a few and explained the situation you might actually save money with one.
Good luck!
Hang in there... I love the idea of a cocktail party, it's actually what we're planning on doing when we return to Oz for the people that we couldn't invite to the wedding before we left (we only had 17). Maybe that's an option, something intimate for the immediate family and then a more casual party for everyone else?
Yeah it's tough. I won't tell you how much I paid to get married out at Prairie Star restaurant 11 yrs ago. The ironic part is that my favorite part of my wedding was the small (50 people) rehearsal dinner we had the night before at a local hotel. The one thing I did save money on was my dress. The day after Thanksgiving all the bridal shops here had huge clearance sales (I don't know if they still do this). I purchased a $1000 dress for $400. Good Luck!
I'm getting married (in about nine months too!) and am trying to figure out the same stuff. It looks like we're going to do a destination wedding in Jamaica but it won't end up saving a lot of money. Good luck!
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