As spring becomes more than a blip on the horizon, talk of weddings, receptions, and dresses seems to be a big topic of conversation.
Over at LBee and the Moneytree, she had a great post about how much should a wedding dress cost and how much should one spend.
My response was that my dress cost $100. Yup, one hundred smackaroos. And I loved it and felt all princessey and stuff 😉 I’ve mentioned before that I hate spending money on clothes, and my wedding dress was no exception. I wasn’t going to spend an umpteen amount of dollars on a dress that would only be worn once. My dress was beautiful and my husband loved it and his was the only opinion I cared about ♥
Everyone has different dreams and ideas for their big day and that’s fine. I’m not here to say that you shouldn’t buy the $2,500 wedding dress. If that’s what floats your boat, go for it as long as you can afford it!
But it sucks when you see people go broke over paying for a wedding and a reception. If you got married 10 years ago, and you’re still paying off credit cards to finance that wedding…well, that doesn’t make a whole lotta sense.
To me, the big day is about the bride and groom, period. You guys are pledging to spend the rest of your life together and that’s all that matters.
I’ve known people who have been engaged forever, and haven’t set a date yet because they can’t afford a big wedding because they feel they have to invite Aunt Edna, once removed, and their cousins who have cousins, who have kids, who are now married, etc… you get the picture.
If you are planning your wedding, remember to keep everything in perspective! A wedding is just one day, but debt can last forever 😉
Are you planning a wedding? If you are already married, did you have a big wedding?
My wedding dress will likely cost around $1200. Of course, if I can find the dress of my dreams for $100, I’ll definitely buy it!
$1200 is still a good price! I’ve heard of people spending $10,000 and up on a dress. That just blows my mind…
I TOTALLY agree with you! I just don’t get the whole extravagant wedding thing. I’d rather take the money and have a freaking fantastic honeymoon. But I guess everyone is different.
That’s what we did! Small wedding and reception and we went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. Totally worth it 🙂
I agree with you. I feel like you need to be more conscious of what you are spending even if it is a wedding. No reason to get into huge debt because of it.
Exactly. Weddings add up so watch your dollars!
I don’t want to spend a ton of money on our wedding. If I can get it below $10,000, then I’ll be super happy!
From what you’ve described to us so far, your wedding is going to be absolutely beautiful Michelle 🙂 And most importantly, you can totally afford it!!! Win-win! 🙂
Over the years I’ve watched people spend a ton of money on their wedding. Often times the parents were paying a big chunk of it. I remember going to one wedding that was about 500 guests, quite lavish, only come to find out a few weeks later that the bride had been having an affair with the best man. What a waste…
OMG, that’s terrible!
I went to college with a girl who spent a ton of money on her wedding and reception and then 2 years later they were divorced. They were still paying off the wedding/reception and were making mortgage payments on their brand new house.
My wife spent around $1000 on her dress even though her Mom was pushing her to get one for 3 or 4 times more. You have to go with what makes you happy without spending a truckload of money. We were able to stay within our budget which is key to do. My Step-sister, on the other hand, spent over $60K on her wedding and could not take a honeymoon for three years because they maxed out their cards. Of course, they whined about it the whole three years.
“You have to go with what makes you happy without spending a truckload of money.” You nailed it John. When planning their wedding, many people forget this key concept. And then they go over budget 😦
$100! That’s fantastic!
When I’d counsel new brides and grooms the first thing we’d do is set the budget. The problem wasn’t so much setting a good budget as ignoring it later when all the pretty, expensive stuff was rolled out by salespeople.
Yeah, I could imagine that happening 🙂
I agree with you – it blows me away how out of control the whole industry has become, but I guess if you can afford it and want it, then there’s no harm. As a guest, it’s pretty fun to go to lavish events, but I’d prefer a simple wedding for myself.
Yup, Bridezillas ain’t just a tv show! There’s a whole industry catered to wanting everything to be perfect and cost thrown out the window. It comes down to what you can afford. If you can’t afford a $25,000 wedding, be okay with that and have a wedding that you can afford.
That’s fantastic that you found a dress you love for $100. It’s been more than 20 years since my wedding, so I had a perm and a pouffy dress. 😀 Thankfully, I still love my husband and he still loves me w/o the “mall” hair. Everyone has different dreams for their wedding and I fully support big or intimate weddings, but absolutely agree getting into massive debt is not a great way to start a marriage.
Yeah, I lucked out with getting the dress at that price!
I’m with you; whatever people want to do for their weddings is totally up to them. But it’s sad that people feel they need to go into massive debt for their special day.
LOL, on the mall hair!! 🙂
I told the bf I’d be happy to elope to save us a whole bunch of money. He’s a little more traditional so he’s not into that, but the truth of the matter is, it’s the commitment that matters to me, not the ceremony, or the ring or the dress.
I love what you said: It’s the commitment that matters. Yes, yes, and yes! I think people forget that…
We thought about eloping at one point, but I really wanted my dad to be there and walk me down the aisle, so we ended up doing a really small wedding. It worked out 🙂
My husband and I got married on about $60 total, including my dress, which was on sale at Burlington Coat Factory for $25. It’s a dress that I can dye and wear again to formal Navy events. We didn’t even get rings (I don’t wear jewelry) and we got married at the courthouse. We’re both shy so we were ok with passing on a ceremony and a reception.
That sounds like it was the perfect thing for you guys 🙂 Hey, we got married at a courthouse too!
We actually did pretty good for our wedding. It happened before all the lifestyle inflation kicked in and we were still pretty broke. I think the whole think, including honeymoon was around $5K, and I couldn’t have been happier. I think you should have what you want, but I totally agree that is isn’t worth going into years of debt to pay off a wedding.
$5K isn’t bad at all! That’s what some people pay just for the food at the reception 😉
I wouldn’t want a big wedding, and I think with age, it will only be smaller. Being a princess at 20 is fun but mid 30s I have other priorities. My sister spent about $20K on the wedding and an easy $7-8K more on the honeymoon, I spent $6K for a 6 months motorcycle trip around the US and Mexico, 180 days of amazing memories. I’d like my wedding to be special but with 40 or 50 guests top so I can enjoy everyone’s presence instead of spending the whole day saying hello-thanks for coming-bye.
Yes, we had just enough people at our wedding/reception that we could interact with everyone and a good time was had by all.
Your motorcycle trip sounds like it was totally awesome!! 🙂