FAO married people

semi-pro waster said:
It might be possible to do but they'd have to be very careful with what they choose for the wedding and would miss out on a lot of 'traditional' things to do so. If they've got a lot of useful friends who are happy to pitch in with the catering/band/venue etc then it becomes a slightly more realistic proposition.
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My sister in laws was only a couple of grand because family was able to help lots.
They had a registry office wedding (not a bad place actually), uncle runs cricket club so post wedding vows and evening venue sorted for free, brother is a dj so entertainment sorted, she has friends with smart cars (nice 7 series and some other nice looking barge).
Their parents paid for honey moon.
All in all they didn't spend much but had a great time :)
 
cm1179 said:
just need a bit of info to tell my friend that he's nuts if he thinks he can get married for less than a grand, i can only assume (and hope) he's winding me up

i thought the average marriage these days was circa 20k
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we got married for less than £1k in 2008 (exc engagement ring)
clothes, wedding rings, registrar, coffee and pastries, 3 course meal and champagne for 13, wedding night in a 5 star hotel
we actually recieved more in monetary gifts than we spent out

bought our first house in 2009 - the wedding money my parents would have spent, became house deposit!

not spending £kkk in yoqur wedding doesnt make you any less married!
i would change what we did for the world
<3
 
Wedding : £10,000 (80 guests)
Honeymoon: £5,000

I don't regret spending any of it but I would recommend to anyone considering it to take an extended honeymoon. We had 4 weeks touring the US and Canada and it was utterly brilliant, 2 weeks then back at work - good god no! She did get the wedding she always wanted though and we saved money wherever possible. I did spend £1600 on a kilt but I have worn that at 10 weddings since in 2 years so think I'm getting my moneys worth :)
 
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£16-18k including honeymoon (1 week in Tuscany). Then dropped £36k on a house deposit 9 months later. Hurrah for being good with money at 24

That's was for 130 people at the church/reception dinner and then about 20-30 just in the evening.

If you want i think i've got a full breakdown of the costs.

The wifes dress was only £300, the 5 bridesmaids all had £150 in dress and shoes each, 6 suits came to £800 to hire, the flowers were £1200, the photographers were £1250, the reception hall/food/drink came to £5500 (a bargain tbh) DJ was £350, Magician was £150 (mate at work and went down a storm).

And this was the Bridal car (pic is not from my wedding)

DSCF0045.jpg
 
MrLOL said:
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Well your wedding day won't become about your special day. It will become your parents special day, and your friends and family's special day. You will be constanting having them give you "input" as to what they would like, choice of venue, choice of colours, choice of food etc..

You end up being dictated so much its no longer about you want, its about what everybody else wants. And on the day, you end up spending that much time hob nobbing with friends and family and guests you spend hardly any time together as a couple. Its spent with everybody else.
[..]
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That, I think, is a key point.

The lavish displays of wealth commonly associated with marriage are a throwback to marriages between families rather than marriages between individuals. The extravagant wasting of money was a display of family power, like the feasts that were held in those days.
 
1980

My suit - £30
Her dress - £50
Her ring - £22
Registrar - £10 (apparently I still owe my Dad)
Posh car - £0 (Uncle Cyril)
Photographs - £0 (Uncle Les)
Cine 8 - £0 (Uncle Harvey)
Wedding Dinner - £3 a head for 30 people (cheap because Mother In Law was the Manageress)
Reception - £0 because we got 500+ people
Reception food - £0 (I had around 12 Aunties + other Aunties who I called Aunty)
Disco - £0 (Mate)
Live entertainment - About 5 bands £0 (all mates)
Honeymoon - About £100 (we spent a week going around war sites in Europe)

We're still together after 30 years + 6 years courting

I win
 
Dr House said:
LOL but think how much more fun they would be if they did:D
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It would be a massive win, that's for sure.

A little while ago, I saw a couple who had got married over the road from where I work leaving in an elegant carriage pulled by a couple of lovely horses. That beats the usual hired car, so they won big points in the wedding display game.

But they would have got a lot more points for riding off down the road on elephants.
 
Morba said:
That's more to do with ability and want to spend that, rather than it being easy :p
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I dont really understand it my self. I would much rather take 10 to 20 people out for dinner and be done with it.

One example, the driver we use in India makes around 150 pounds per month with tips and stuff. For this he works 7 days a week and often sleeps in the car for a week at a time when he is taking tourists travelling.

But he spent around 3k on his wedding which was his life savings along with money that was borrowed form his dads savings:rolleyes:
 
We got married in a castle with Mary Queen of Scots in attendance, I'm pretty sure it was less than a grand. Coolest wedding I've ever been to :)
 
Morba said:
Show of wealth? Even when it's not real?
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Generally the girls father feels it’s his duty to give his daughter a proper wedding, one girl in my class in uni spent 90 to 100k on her wedding and she came from a normal lower middle class family. That would have literally been her dads life savings
 
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Dr House said:
Generally the girls father feels it’s his duty to give his daughter a proper wedding, one girl in my class at unit spend 90 to 100k on her wedding and she came from a normal lower middle class family. That would have literally been her dads life savings
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He'd be proper miffed if she got divorced.
 
MrLOL said:
Well your wedding day won't become about your special day. It will become your parents special day, and your friends and family's special day. You will be constanting having them give you "input" as to what they would like, choice of venue, choice of colours, choice of food etc..

You end up being dictated so much its no longer about you want, its about what everybody else wants. And on the day, you end up spending that much time hob nobbing with friends and family and guests you spend hardly any time together as a couple. Its spent with everybody else.
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I honestly feel for you that you had that kind of experience. Maybe we were lucky with our wedding. While my parents stumped up 1/3 and hers stumped up 1/3 they didn't dictate single thing to us. They came with us for suit fittings or dress shopping or whatever but everything was down to us and everyone (and I mean it) had an incredible day with everything we chose.

At no point did we argue about anything or get annoyed at anyone for getting in the way or trying to tell us what we wanted. Considering that our parents paid for so much we were very lucky to be allowed to whatever we wanted which is why it was such a great day for us.

The photographer who was at the wifes place getting snaps of everyone (bride, 5 maids, mum, dad) getting ready hair/makeup couldn't believe how calm everything was. It was apparently quite surreal. We ended up celebrating our wedding with 130 church/reception guests who were only invited because we wanted them there. If we didn't like them they didn't get invited no matter who they were.

In the end we spent about £6k on the wedding ourselves, we had an incredible day, one of the best weddings we think most of our guests will ever go to and to top it off we got £7k back in cash and vouchers and many more thousands in other gifts (we didn't have a home yet so had nothing and so needed everything).

If my family had caused issues similar to what you describe then we would have probably done something similar. Fortunately it didn't even cross their minds.
 
I remember a lot of the posters in this thread being very anti-religious, and that sure as hell didn't stop them from spending thousands on a meaningless ceremony.

I can never understand why people choose to spend such a monstrous amount of money like that. For how much you spend you get nothing. Love isn't diminished if you don't choose to marry.

You could've got your kids through one of the best universities in the country, you could've got a mortgage, you could've got a brand new car, you could've had a once-in-a-lifetime experience in the world... I can go on and on. Instead it's on a ceremony that stresses the hell out of both families and is a massive strain mentally, physically and financially.

Madness.
 
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