This is ridiculous!

Post Reply New Topic

I'm trying to plan a cheap little wedding. I don't wanna go over $1000. But even that's too much. I would prefer to keep it at $500 or less, but now that's looking close to impossible.

On my item searches I've seen some really nice inexpensive stuff. But as soon as I add the word "bridal" or "wedding" to my item search, I see the exact same nice inexpensive stuff, but priced way higher than the original price! WTF?!

For example, there is this really nice dress I like. The seller makes it in any color you want. It's about $173 for almost any color.
But if you want that dress in White, you have to pay $360.

Luckily, I found another seller who makes the exact same type of dress and won't charge more for white fabric. She only charges $198 for any color you could want.

But I have not been so lucky with other things, such as PLACES to get married AT! Sure, I can bring a group of people to eat at picnic area for little or no charge just fine, but if I wanna bring a group of people to get married and eat there, I've gotta shell out $300.

What a bunch of bull****.

Yeah..... marriage is like death. If the word 'Marriage' is involved, there is greater profit to be earned. Same thing with 'Funeral', or 'Memorial'. If you want to conduct a Marriage, do it outdoors, in a public place like a municipal or state park . Only claim that the gathering is a 'Private Function', or a 'Private Reception', not specifically a 'Marriage', to forego shelling out any extra $$$.

When I was planning my wedding, my mom helped and she paid for it. I had to spend my money on it and she is paying me back. I can't cash a $500 check right now because I was too lazy to put it in the bank and now it's no good. I can't put it in or it will make a mess for them. My mom lost $3500 because her work didn't need her so she kept being called off and now they are behind.

Maybe you have to do justice of the peace and get married by the judge or go to some chapel whatever those places are called and get married by the minister. You have no guests and no food, nothing. Just you and your husband. You can invite a few people to watch and that's it.

That's what I wanted initially.

But nope. My fiance requires a ceremony and reception that includes his family. His mom was PISSED when one of her sons eloped. My fiance does not want to cause his mother any more distress about not being "included." One of her other sons decided to have a "small ceremony." His mother actually got mad and then started secretly planning a big ceremony with his fiancee's mom behind their backs.

I don't want someone to throw a party for me. They'll only do it their way, not my way.
If I have to have a wedding, I wanna do it my way.

We will get married in an outside place. But as I somewhat mentioned earlier, even picnic areas are expensive. But hopefully, we will luck out and find a cheap (or free) pretty place. I won't have to spend any money on decorations if we get married in a forest, because the forest is naturally beautiful!
Of course, only the ceremony will be held in the forest. The food and merriment will be somewhere else, like at someone's house or something.

Fiance refuses to set foot in a church. He is fervently non-christian.
We will not have a judge marry us. Fiance's best friend will get a license and marry us.
We will not hire a photographer. Plenty of family members own digital cameras.
I am baking my own cake. Fiance's family will help out with the food. We probably can't afford catering anyways.

That way, I get what I want: The ability to check "married" on my paperwork.
The family gets what they want: A big party and food.

as to place:

1. churches are free (i did my second one in a unitarian church. it was free. i'm a buddhist).

2. the woods, the beach, the park, etc: all free. you don't have to announce you're getting married do you? just go there, take the people with you, do your business, have your party, and go home.

3. glad you found someone reasonable on that dress.

another area that does the same thing (i have way too much time on my hands ) is i guess what you'd call sex toys. any object that's marketed as somehow enhancing your sex life will be like those fabeled army hammers: priced a thousand times higher than something basically the same but marketed as whatever it's use was before someone in marketing got creative. ditto stuff just for babies. (i mention these because, you know...wedding, then sex, then babies...)

4. everything doesn't have to be new, everything doesn't have to include, well, everything others say you "need" for a wedding. what you need: the marriage partner, the people who are invited, someone to do the ceremony, something to wear that makes you look nice, some refreshments and a place to enjoy them, maybe some live music. that's it!

again: it's no ones business why a group of folks are having some refreshments in a place. (i guess if you want to ensure that absolutely no other human being catches a glimpse of the event except those you specifically planned for, a public place might not do. but i went to a wedding up in the woods near mount shasta. it was lovely, and no one was there but us guests, the couple, and the officiant).


and finally: congratulations!

I remember when my sister had her wedding. It came to $10,000 dollars. I sat around until the wedding day, secretly wanting my parents to give me $5000 so that I could go to London.

Oh yeah, I definitely ran into this when planning my first wedding. Google searching "wedding" anything will not get you anywhere except in debt! I was extremely frugal in planning my wedding and I managed to have a formal affair in southern California with 30-40 people for $4,000 top to bottom - including apparel decorations, food, cake, the works. Clearly more than you want to spend, but still a miracle.

My second wedding was pretty informal - city hall ceremony, house party at the in-laws place - and cost a couple hundred.

If you have a website that you made, have you ever thought of putting a donation button like alex has done.... maybe that might help get your target money that you wanted..... advertise yourself like i'm trying to do with my artwork and a couple of youtube videos.

I've also came across this website from the MSN website but I personally IMO don't seem to like the idea of it, but its up to you personally... http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Col ... P49446.asp << But since you aren't really into the traditional weddings this might seem like a good idea from the idea, i thought of that while watching one of your latest videos. (apart from the fishtank evidence vids)

Also, you could try and google the "cheapest weddings" and you might get luck with it but i'm afraid weddings in general sucks.... I remember my mum actually had to spend most of her money on my auntie's wedding which they ended up getting divorced a couple of years later which was a disappointment and a heart breaking moment for us...

I hope this is helpful information for you?


superboyian.

Oh, I've searched up budget weddings and stuff like that. Most of the stuff I find is just common sense. I can't believe people don't think of this kind of stuff already.
The other stuff is like, "Weddings on a $10,000 budget!", like $10,000 is cheap!

Just checked out the link. It's great! A bit traditional, but it did give me some ideas and insight.

My other cheapo ideas to make this day truly unique and special and cheap:
Handwritten invitations (on pretty, but inexpensive, paper)
Ipod playlist music; No DJ
No flower girl, ringbearer, bridesmaids or groomsmen
My flower bouquet will be pulled right outta the ground; roots, dirt and all. (Won't that be so fun and different? ) I'll tie it together with a ribbon I already own. I know a place where many flowers grow free and wild. I just have to worry about the bees and bugs. I always loved the "natural" look.
Tattooed wedding bands. (Okay, this isn't really to be "cheap" but rather to be different. Please, no lecture on permanence, what if the marriage doesn't last, blah blah blah. It will last, I know it.)

Yeah $10,000 is cheap for most people

Some of my tips: I did not have a DJ at my formal wedding, we just played the music from a laptop hooked up to an amp. A couple of people happened to already have amps so we just used those.

My wedding flowers were silk. Cost me less than $200 and can customize them in any color or whatever you want! I also got my cake from the local grocery store. They do wedding cakes for about $100.

We bought nice looking invitation paper for $30 and printed them at home on a computer.