how much did your wedding cost?

[ogri]

hi all. just being really nosy so you can tell me to mind my own business if you want.
ours was about £2500. i bought my dress brand new off ebay. hubby did same with his kilt suit. we had a lovely buffet in a beautiful hotel for 60ish. we had a great band. we danced all night, despite being 5 months pegnant. the party went on all night and well into the next day.
i wish i could get married to do it all again, great day.
thanks for your replies.

We spent as little as possible. We had our wedding and DD's christening in the same service so that saved some money - but more importantly meant that the relatives who had travelled from the USA and SE Asia could go to both ceremonies. We did get married in a church which was £250 our reception venue cost £30 (We had the village hall) Our catering was £500, bar was £150 and the band was £60 - it was my Brother in Law's band they didn 't want to take anything but we insisted on at least expenses. My dress cost £50 in the boxing day sales (big saving)DH's tie and waistcoat cost more than that! Bridesmaid's dresses and shoes cost £40 total - we did lots of sale shopping. We went to the Wye Valley for our honeymoon and stayed in a gorgeous cottage which was £230 for 10 days, DD was only 10 weeks old so we wanted to stay in the UK. With all the little extra expenses our wedding including the reception came to just under £2000.

We had a fabulous day and no amount of extra spending would have made the day anymore special. I still felt like we had spent a lot! I guess we are just mean!

Emma x

it really annoys me when people suggest that just becos ur wedding was expensive it means it might not last!!!! we were lucky to be able to afford ours due to a mixture of generous inlaws and my own savings and we are still together!! our wedding yes was expensive but it was extremely tastful and classy not at all gawdy.

define gawdy.

Different strokes for different folks.
I've already stated how much ours cost, and I wouldn't do it differently if I had my time together. That how me and my DH wanted our day to be and we were lucky to have support from our families.
Having money doesn't define how much you spend, just take celebs - you get those who marry on the beach in secret with a few guests and hardly spend a penny, then those that go all out and have everybody and their dog as a guest. BUT it's a personal choice and I really can't stand it when people suggest we "wasted" money or we wont last. Why does a cheap wedding last longer than an expensive one? Comments like that are really spiteful.

gawdy as in Beckham-esq

Oh sorry to anyone offended by my post about splashy weddings lastign less long.
Of course it's just a silly piece of meaningless stats tho I do think it's sweet how happily wed my cheapskating colleagues are still.
munz I know it seems a lot but £50 for the bells is a bargain really, 6-8 or even more skilled people giving up two hours of their saturday afternoon for as little as a fiver each.
I pay my hairdresser £30 for an hour!
(can you tell i used to be a campanologist!!!

12 years ago, it cost about £2000 included as follows:

dress (designed & made for me by friend)
2 bridesmaids - off the peg Laura Ashley dresses
morning suits for 6 & midshipman's outfit for pageboy
flowers
one car
photographer (our wedding was his final portfolio before qualifying)
church
60 guests for sit down reception
100 guests for evening do
wedding night in hotel
week in gite in western France inc flights & hire car (gorgoeous)

I can't believe that people pay such ridiculous amounts. The best weddings that I have been to are the ones where the couple are 'themselves'-ie relaxed & in charge!!!!

We spent nearly 10k and wish we had bought a house instead! Mind you had a great honeymoon in Cancun!

6 years ago -

3,000 including honeymoon
buffet by friend, garden by in-laws (national trust standard), dress/jewelrey etc from bluewater..., his suit - italian suit company, flowers, none in church, just mine and button holes, disposable cameras (and friend to help), wedding cake from sainsburys, decorated by friend as wedding gift

honeymoon - return flights to Seville, backpacked down to marrakesh, staying in hotels - back up to spain, gibraltar and general bumming around...

really cool

oh yeah - bridesmaid dresses (3 year and 4 year old girls) from Oxfam at £3 each, their hair decorated with ivy from garden, and car by neighbour who imported cars from europe....

don't think we spent over £700.00 incl honeymoon.
I was only 17 when organised itdh was 21 we were determined to do it ourselves but family got together and paid for ther photographer and the function room it was a cricket club hut LOL.

Very embarassing when think back to it my dress even had a huge bow on my backside with big puffy sleeves hired thankfully.
Me and dh have a right laugh about it now I won't even get into the catering

About £10K, way OT on the budget but actually that was taking the cheapest option on it all (dress a standard dark greay dress and coat costing £195 in John Lewis) and having an out of season (March) bash!

Partly coz of exceptionally large family, partly coz bridesmaids got bigger and I had to rebuy their outfits (would they let me have old ones back to sell? would they hell!, then only one agreed to do it on the day anyway, one was best woman and one just refused- sisters!)

I think because both my sisters wanted non 'proper' bashes, one in Kenya and one in Reg Office (we married in a water mill) we got conned into doing the big thing- actually, I know that, they put that in our guest book!

We wante a £4000 do abroad, but mil got too upset.

Did anybody else pay? !!! My Mum wouldnt buy me a £35 veil so i had to go without (we had a three month old baby and I was broke from it all), and MIL paid £1000 off the bill as a 'wedding gift' then asked for it back two years later, as apparently it was meant for us to buy a house and didnt get used for that (she had actually given us the receipt where she had paid towards the hotel, but anyway) Best bit is we HAD bought a house just two weeks after the wedding, WHAT was she on about?

We didnt give her the money. We didnt have it.

My wedding cost about £12,000. I think anyway, I paid for my dress and stuff like that. Dh paid for his stuff and one car. My parents paid for reception and other car and stuff. Dh's parents paid for our honeymoon. We had a lot of help from people but al in all it was about £12,000 I think. It was also the best day of my life and we're about to celebrate our 1st anniversary. Yay us!!

Around £30,000, a lovely day but a complete farce, we separated the following year as you can read in the tabloids today!!!

When I do it next time it will be very different, I had little input in my wedding the first time, perhaps we were overwhelmed by the sheer expense and money and felt we couldn't back out. I also think we spent a lot so everyone would be dazzled by the amazing do and not notice that the bride and groom actually were very ill suited.

i got married years ago. it cost peanuts. i am now rid of the wifebeater, and 15 years later am glad to say marriage is a farce, and my other half's ex has his surname but i don't and i don't give a hoot. DON'T GET MARRIED,JUST GO ON HONEYMOON!!

Cheap and cheerful was ours. Absolutely perfect and every thing we wanted.
Cost about £600.
Hired my dress and 1 bridesmaid dress. Bought shoes. Dh wore his best suit.
Reg office, auntie payed for pictures which were done by a friend.
Dad payed for a meal at out local pub/restraunt for 17 people.
Met all our pals in the same pub at night for a drink.
Borrowed a mates posh car for the afternoon, friend did my hair.
THE BEST BIT though:
Didnt tell a soul till one week before the day.
(family ABSOLUTE nightmare so it cut out ALL rows/arguments/"if shes coming im not coming" conversations.)
We got about £1000 worth of vouchers from our friends and the reg office was packed to the rafters with all our friends.
Fab fab fab fab day

5 weeks and counting.

got wedding class tomorrow.

nervous dress will look dappy.

might post wedding snaps on here after the date for you're amused comments.