Thinking about a wedding is stressing me out!

When I got married we had something super small at our church and my husband wants to have something bigger for our 5 yr anniversary (in 2 years), but i'd rather get a Tiffany's ring with all the money we'd spend. Weddings are a waste of $$$ IMO.

Good luck Lady Di with the planning. Have you ever seen Peter Perfect on the Style channel? There was a dress shop from Houston on there the other day. They're used but look super nice (and i'm sure they're a lot cheaper). Let me know if you want me to look up the name of the place for you.

 

They actually re-did their website for them on the show too so here you go:
marry go round bridal

 

I would second this recommendation. My wife and I had a very good experience with Safari Ranch. The on-site chapel was booked but we were able to use the gazebo at the Palm Pavilion for the ceremony. We also customized an off the menu dinner with very little added expense and received an upgrade to a full open bar - all for around $45 a person on a Saturday night.

The wedding venue and reception took up the majority of the budget, but we were able to save in different areas by providing our own flowers and centerpieces and buying and altering a wedding dress found on Once Wed (they have Pronovias dresses). Also, between the couples' showers and wedding gifts, we were able to recoup a lot of our money spent.

 

Mainly friends and relatives..both my parents come from large families, same with my brother in law. I met so many 2nd/3rd cousins and all I never knew, they knew me because I was one of the few that was in America. And of course there were plenty of people who I didnt know but knew my parents and my bro-in-law parents. And there were people who were totally unrelated to us in any fashion just show up for a free meal...we had the wedding take place in a small town that was the middle point of the two villages where my parents grew up.

We probably would have gotten a lot more strangers just show up had it not been raining. At my cousins wedding that was a few months earlier (same place) my grandma was saying they had closer to 2k people there. The most expensive thing was of course the food bill.

And of course indian weddings the main ceremony is on one day but there were individual things we had to do on the previous days so it was really like spread out over a series of 4 days.


Yeah my dad basically said to my sister not to even think about getting a divorce.

 

I cannot believe you are talking about our wedding on this website!!

 

uh oh

 

+ 1

The Misses and I got married in Las Vegas in 2001. We found a nice place called The Little Chapel of the West (Mickey Rooney got married there seven times and Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thorton got hitched there, too). We invited friends and family from New Zealand, Houston, Maryland, New York and London. We spent a total of $4000 and stayed a few different casinos. We had our reception at a suite at the Monte Carlo (an underrated place, by the way). It was a great and surreal experience.

 

You're Mexican? This is easy. Just hold it at the Knights of Columbus and serve enchiladas. Boom!

 

The ad stated that it was never worn - however she had it cleaned and pressed, then altered. She had a tailor take a size 12 into a way smaller size (0 or 2, I don't remember exactly). All in all, she ended up with a $1300 dress for around $400.

 

For all day and night, the little bride to be was thinking
How will I ever afford this big extravagant wedding?
The road to true bliss, isn't paved in a week or a day
Nor should you expect, this day will make your love fray
For as long as you're happy, joyce and prosper will come
Love is like a coal, burning strong after all flames are gone
Nurture your beginning, with nothing but brilliance
When you look back on your wedding, there won't be any repent

 

Well it's really only a ranch in name only. I think it used to be something else and then they converted it to a wedding reception place. The main ballroom is the Austin Ballroom; really nice but it's for large receptions. And they have like I think 4 other reception halls varying in size.

 

When one door closes, another opens
Feeble rejections leads me to greener pastures

 

The image of "Weddings" is so commercial nowadays that it doesn't make any sense to me anymore...IMHO, $20K doesn't show your love, it just shows you're willing to keep up with the Jones' and buy into the trainwreck they call marriage...oh wait...scratch that last part...well, maybe not...

When I was married back in the mid 90's, it cost about $10K and I thought that was ridiculous...Trust me, it cost way the hell more than that to get divorced...I'm just saying...

 

Well, most wedding are for everyone else. Alot of the people dont even like you even in your family. Some just want to come to a big party on your dime. I'm a simple man and my wife is simple also. We had a picnic on saturday at the park in clear lake and had our ceremony right after service sunday. After the pictures, cake eating and punch drinking, the next day we went to san juan ,pr for 2 weeks, st thomas for 2 weeks and hawaii for 2 weeks. If we had to do it again, we would have done it the same way. I have 20,30,40k to spend ona wedding if i wanted, but its about the lifetime together vs the day. I read somewhere that people spend 1000 hrs planning a wedding. Think about that. If a person works 320 hrs a month, that means a person spends 3 months work of 40 hr work weeks planning a wedding.

 

My wife is actually Mexican-American, so I'm familiar with the big family wedding.

I am recently married (Aug08), and went through the same thought process that you did, Lady.

At first, we were both in the camp of let's have something small, save the money, and not go into debt. After we started planning, and making a guest list, our mindsets changed. Sure, it's one day, but the memory lasts forever. Marriage is something that is important to both of us, and so is tradition. We both grew up and have attended big weddings, and remember how joyous they were. Regardless of what some people say, this is your day, and money comes and money goes. If you want a big wedding and a big party, then by all means you should go for it.

Our wedding ended up costing 35k+, not including the honeymoon. It doesn't come without stress, but I don't regret a single penny of it. Even now, when I'm still making payments on it and expecting our first kid in 6 months!

Last thing, don't be afraid to ask for help from your extended family. Ask for sponsors, these things add up. If you need any help/advice, I can put you in touch with my wife.

Good luck, and remember to enjoy the process.

 

OMFG!!! WTF costs $35K?