How much did you pay for your wedding?

[ColorMePanda]

What did you pay for the officiant, location, garments, invites, rings, honeymoon, etc.?

Just curious. I highly doubt my partner and I are going to have $1,000 to blow on it.
We have always wanted something simple and private anyway. But I have just been starting to worry now if we will have enough money for a decent wedding.

We are hoping to have a civil wedding outside.
We only want a few people.
I was thinking of making our own wedding cake.
Not sure what to do for a honeymoon yet.
And I was thinking of just wearing a cute short white summer dress with my hair curly/wavy and maybe a tiara.
And have him wear some casual like a nice button up shirt with dress pants.
Then I was just thinking of having the reception like a family gathering at a house (not sure whose yet) and have it kind of like a reunion type thing where everyone can bring there own homemade food.
Then I thought we could have fun and make our own invites.

Does any of this sound good? Do any of you have advice on how to save money with the wedding but also at the same time have a cute wedding?

 

[bobshynoswife]

My wedding in April is going to cost a ton of $$$ because it has to happen in Nigeria! LOL. Leaving aside the airfare though, I bought a dress online for $240 (will cost around $100 to alter, I imagine). Our rings were about $700. We plan to have a civil ceremony and I'm not sure how much that costs in Lagos, but not too much, I am sure. Our only guests will be my fiance's parents, brother and sister in law, and best friend and wife. So the 8 of us will go out for a nice restaurant dinner which we will pay for. Again, not sure the cost of restaurants there, but likely will cost a few hundred dollars for a nice meal. Our honeymoon in Lagos will be at a nice hotel, which again is expensive (I don't know why I thought Africa was cheap!). Misc expenses will be a bit for a bouquet and other flowers. I'll do hair and make-up myself and his friend will take photos. Oh, I need shoes and jewellery as well. He's also buying a nice suit in London, and I don't dare ask what he plans to spend. I just know he will look FANTASTIC!

We will be having another wedding when he lands here, which hopefully will be in 2011. Our plans for that is to have 35-40 family and friends at a restaurant here in St Albert. We can do the renewal of vows and a nice dinner. Then a honeymoon to Jasper. Will probably cost us in total around $4000.

I assume your wedding will be in Canada? The license is about $65 I think, and then it will be around $80-100 for a JOP to officiate. Wedding cake will be MUCH cheaper to make yourselves, and I don't think it would be bad to do a pot-luck at someone's home, but I do think you should pay for beverages. Your other option is to just have an afternoon reception, and serve cake and champagne, and not do the whole dinner thing.

Personally, I think people spend WAY too much money on weddings. Something that unites all of us on this forum is that we don't take our partners for granted since we have to spend so much time apart and jump through so many hoops to be together. I would think for most of us here, it is the marriage and life together we want, not so much the wedding!

 

[Girlash]

I had just the kind of wedding you were planning on...

- Simple, solemn civil wedding with 30 guests (very close friends and family) in the backyard
- The Justice of Peace won't accept a fee so I just whipped her up a delicious dessert.
- A friend of ours made the wedding cake for free
- Buffet reception (bought the ingredients but our friends cooked the whole thing, again, for free). Cost: $200
- A $90 white dress I bought at the mall, my husband had on a dress shirt on sale for $15 at Old Navy and an old pair of dress pants
- Made the invitations myself (a computer, a colored printer, photo papers and a little bit of creativity is all you need)
- Some $200 worth of booze (still have lots of leftovers after)
- Wedding bands around $300 each (there are cheaper ones but we bought the ones we liked since we're gonna wear them forever anyways)
- Decorations and souvenirs from the dollar store. Cost: $50
- Honeymoon? That happens everyday *wink* LOL. Actually, we just went camping in a nearby beach. Cost: $20 a day

All in all, we spent more or less $1500. It was fun and memorable. Really, it doesn't matter how much you spend as long as you're both happy in the end Wish you all the best!

 

[Asta]

marriage right - 135$
chapel rent - 75$
wedding officiant - 260$
wedding rings with insurance for life: - 500$ (mom-in-law present)
wedding dress - 35$ (not real wedding dress, just a nice one which i liked)
small white sweater - 30$
late lunch at Tuckers buffet for 10 ppl - parents' in law pressent
groom's pants, tie and small stuff ~ 60$
bride's bouquet + groom's flower - 55$
bride's shoes - 12$ (i was lucky!!)
3 photographers of our own
own cars
i guess thats it.
many thanks to parents in law :-*

so overall - 1170$ plus..

 

[Silver_Spirit]

We paid about £300 for our wedding, the main cost being the church. I got wedding dress off ebay (traditinal for £25!) and wedding rings off amazon (£12 each) I got family to help out with food and the cake we got made from a friend we have in our village who used to make them for a living. For all the cutlery/glasses/decorations i went to our pound shop and my sister in law gave us some leftovers from her recent wedding too.
We only had 40 people and with everyone chipping in with money for the honeymoon we went to france for a week, it didn't cost the 'standard' wedding fees, and the only reason it was over £100 was because of the church!!

 

[racoon]

Wow, it can be cheap! =))
Thanks for estimates!

 

[Rocky636]

Hey guys, it will be a matter for visa or interview?

 

[sbwv09]

I'm not sure which country you are in, but David's Bridal in the US is having the 99 dollar dress sale on. I got my dress there for less than 100 dollars new, and it's very beautiful. I'm getting married on a budget too (in TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!). I also love doing crafting things, so I'm making all of the flowers and stuff for the wedding. The most expensive thing will be the city hall chamber fee and, of course, all those lovely immigration fees

As for the visa issue question.. I wouldn't think you would get in trouble for not spending 10,000 dollars on your wedding, as long as you can prove your relationship is genuine. I know of a person who basically was in a 'mail order bride' situation who spent over 10,000 on the wedding, so I don't think that an elaborate wedding itself is proof of a true relationship

 

[damien martin]

i did my wedding on dec 08th 2009 in the phillipines so i spent arround 9000 cad but it was worth it!
1,100 wedding rings each
4000 cad for the reception for 120 people
and the rest was cheap hehe
oh and our honeymoon on a private resort was 1000 cad for 3 days

 

[nyssa]

30 people, Casa Loma & hotel/bar/restaurant reception. $7000 est.

 

[canadianwoman]

We plan to have a civil ceremony and I'm not sure how much that costs in Lagos, but not too much, I am sure.

Our honeymoon in Lagos will be at a nice hotel, which again is expensive (I don't know why I thought Africa was cheap!).

Africa can be cheap, but Lagos certainly isn't. The only people who can afford to travel, stay at good hotels, and eat at good restaurants are businessmen and government officials, so it is like there are two completely different economies - one for the poor majority, and one for the rich minority. As foreigners, we automatically get exposed to the 'rich' one.

Civil ceremonies are not necessarily cheap. Bribes.

 

[psionator]

honestly, you get married once in a lifetime (hopefully). this is a very special day, and a very good reason to splurge your money.
my brother's wedding was $20 000 CAD.

 

[wrandy]

We also planned for a simple family dinner kind of wedding (civil)... was hoping to spend as little as we can... but when the time comes, you want everybody to enjoy.... the plan went bigger and bigger... from less than 30 ppl to i think about...or even more than 300 people... We ended up spending almost all my husband's budget... about 10 grand (from wedding commissioner, food, ring, wedding dress, shoes, husband's attire, hall rental)...

My brother on the other hand got married by the judge. Spent i think 300 bucks! Judge payment and rings... Didnt even bother for food... mom cooked a simple dinner...

Then, after they witnessed my wedding, they planned to have a "wedding celebration"... as it turned out, they were not satisfied.... now, they were to be wed again... for the third time back home....

I gess it all comes down to your planning... It has to be planned right so you wont be spending money with stuff thats not really needed.

Also, with what you gus are comfortable with... Like my sister always says, when the food is good... the occasion will also be good...

 

[fruittropics]

My husband and I had a simple ceremony at city hall which cost us about $160 I cannot recall exactly how much. After which we brought our family and friends to a simple restaurant which we both LOVED.
Then we ordered a cake which cost us $30 but it was custom made we drove out to get this.
Had tea and cake and some treats and great conversations and fun at our parents'/well ours too home.
All in all it cost us $200 including parking at city hall because daddy in law paid for lunch which cost only $300.
It was simple and it was very us. We decided it was better to enjoy ourselves rather than have something extra and grand to please others.

That said, we're planning to have a small nice party in a boutique hotel hopefully in Singapore after I land and he gets his citizenship. With family here and chinese red packet money, I'm sure we can make it decently lavish.