I have often wondered what a wedding would cost as I see the wallets of many cry out in vain after the big night has ended. I stumbled upon this article talking about weddings in general and there is an interesting breakdown of what is spent. Here are some my cost-cutting solutions for the cheap in mind.
http://www.ottawasun.com/life/2009/07/07/10045831-sun.html
Kaching!
Weddingbells.ca reports wedding spending is up – $17,300 in 2007 to $19,038 in 2008 to $19,274 this year. Check out the budget breakdown:
Reception venue………$7,282 – This is crazy. Really? $7K for a venue? Highway robbery. Do yourself a favour. Find yourself a good friend with a nice house! Cost – Let’s say $2,000 for the beer you’ll have to buy your buddy afterwards.
Bridal gown………….$1,083 – I guess I, as a man, cannot comment on this.
Wedding bands………..$1,557 – A band at your wedding is a must have! Especially if it’s a band which rocks! Ah…but I know what they are really talking about…the rings.
Photographer…………$1,682 – Ok, what the heck. This is ludicrous. Really? $1,600 for a photographer? Come on. We all know we have friends who like to dabble in all things photography. Ask one of them to read a book on the subject and to help you out on your big day. Let me put this point out there for you all…Nanny’s sole wedding photo is of her and Granddad under a tree. That’s it. You know what? That’s all you need. Cost – $100 for the printing of photos and the case of beer for your buddy.
Wedding cake…………..$335 – I propose begging your Mom to make 300 cupcakes. Hmm…I wonder if that would still come out to a costly sum of $335? Cost – $150
Florist/Decor………….$881 – If flowers really are a must, do yourself a favour and get all of your friends to pick some from a garden on the way over! Cost – $0.
Transportation/Limo…….$569 – Really? REALLY? This seems like an extravagant expense. If you want a limo, you should have got one for your prom buddy. Cost – $0.
DJ/Musicians…………..$805 – Now here’s an interesting one…DJs. I remember Ferda and James mentioning how for the same amount of money spent on their DJ, they could have easily picked up an iPod, loaded up a bunch of tunes and had someone manage it for awhile. I also remember Matt and Sophie’s wedding consisting of six CDs on the stereo with a listing of what was playing on each one in case someone wanted to skip ahead to some Billy Idol. Do you hire a DJ at your house party? Nah. So why should you bother at your wedding? Besides…spend that cash on some live music action. Cost – $0.
Honeymoon……………$3,632 – Hmm…I can’t really comment on this one. I guess, depending on where you go, it could cost this much but I would think if you wait for an all-inclusive deal somewhere you can cut this price in half. Cost – $1,500
TOTAL………………$17,817
Revised Cost – $6390 including a honeymoon.
Hire me to cut your costs!
4 replies on “Pricey Weddings”
Those are some creepy looking puppets. – maureen p.
Why should anyone fork out that much money for one day and potentially go in debt? It’s really the guests that are able to fully enjoy the festivities as the bride and groom are way to busy to fully kick back and party. Do yourself a favour…..go to Vegas (like I did) or somewhere else, then come back and have some informal parties with various friends and family around the province.
Heh, sorry man, I love playing devils advocate. (and that is a hell of a lot of money)
But, back yard BBQ, cupcakes, and dandelions.
I have a feeling Vero might not be entirely ok with all those cost cutting measures.
The wedding day is stereotypically way more important for the bride than it is for the groom.
I am all for a back yard BBQ wedding, but I don’t know many girls that would be ok with that, girls tend to want a storybook Cinderella wedding, and it may be something they have been thinking about since early childhood.
It also makes my only wedding etiquette rule I know of a little fuzzy, ie. spend at least the cost of the meal on a gift.
There aren’t many $4 wedding gifts I would feel comfortable gifting.
I am sure there are a lot of things you can do to cut down the costs of the wedding, but they also take… time.
Wedding planning from what I hear can be stressful, paying a DJ $800 to handle the music, speakers, lights, etc… may just feel worth it to get that part of the planning done and out of the way so you can worry about the next thing on your list.
M
So what Matt is trying to say is he is definitely not one of the friends that would offer up his pad for the wedding. 😉