Keep Your Cash

Sunday, October 08, 2006

How much should a Wedding cost?

My Fiancee and I are planning a wedding next April or May. We will not have a lot of outside help due to the financial situation of our parents. Her mother and her will contribute about 1 to 1.5K towards the wedding. I do not want to go much into debt for the wedding. I think that the cash I have would be better used for a downpayment on a house, but she wants a "beautiful" wedding. I plan to contribute about $5K total. My family and friends will probably come up with an extra 1K. Out total budget is going to be about 7-7.5K. We plan to cut cost by doing a daytime wedding and inviting about 150people. I heard that the average is about 20K. Do you guys think I am being cheap?

posted by MIDAS at 9:05 AM

4 Comments:

  • I think that that 20k average includes a lot of crap that most people don't even really notice at a wedding (like fancy napkins.) However much you need to get someplace to have the wedding, someplace to eat, and something to feed your guests, is all that matters. I think $7k is very reasonable. Things don't have to be expensive to be nice.

    By Blogger Kira, at 10:24 AM  

  • kira, very well put.

    My wife and I opted for a bigger diamond and a smaller wedding. But we are more practical types.

    By Blogger Harold Owen, at 8:15 AM  

  • Spend what's right for you and your goals. My hubby and I married and honymooned in 2001 on a similar budget. It helped that friends and family helped contribute in lieu of gifts (such as the wedding cake, photography, DJ). It was a modest wedding for 85 or so guests, but I wouldn't do it any differently. We were even able to spend 2 weeks in Europe by focusing the experiences important to us.

    Don't feel that you have to spend a ton of money to have a wonderful wedding.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:32 PM  

  • 7K??? Good luck. I hope someone's parents/aunt/godparent has a ranch/golf course/farm venue. You could probably get the catering and flowers and dress, but good luck getting any venue that can be described as "beautiful," unless you skip the food or booze (cheap) or do it on a Tuesday (cheap). 7K is a reasonable budget, however, for a very small wedding, say, under 50.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:12 PM  

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