SiG Lady Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 People just don't use their heads when it comes to weddings (or funerals, too, for that matter). Some of the creative (and fun!) ideas presented in this thread often end up meaning more to everyone than the stress produced by worrying over the expense of a fully-catered 'formal' event... which could buy a small home in some cases, yes. BritinUSA's concept of the guest cameras was great. In fact, I heard about that from some other source, too. What you do is have a decent, reasonable wedding studio portrait done (just one or two poses in nice clothes--not even necessarily the wedding garb) and call it done. Then have the wedding and reception and let the guests take all those outlandish and fun candids with the throw-away cameras. As graphic artist to one of our local wedding photographers, I get to upgrade or change his price sheets about once a year. The prices of his 'wedding packages' keep going up, and yes, they're in the four-figure range. But I'll tell ya, "doing" a wedding behind the camera is a helluva lot of work and exasperating (all the more reason to let the guests do the photos with the one-use cams). I wouldn't do wedding photography for anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bberkley Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 The first time I got married, me and the ex pulled the whole thing off for about $6K sans honeymoon. We had the rehearsal dinner at the Chadds Ford Inn in PA, the wedding at Old First Church on the Brandywine in Wilmington, DE, and the reception was a catered "Victorian High Tea" in a friend of her family's home in the historic district. This last time, the wife and I flew to Reno and drove to Tahoe and got married in Caesar's Tahoe Resort. Oh, and BTW, CONGRATS AL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AikiDale Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 You didn't tell us how much for the photographer. Too painful? They haven't sprung that one on me, yet. Don't listen to Britian and Siggy. If you get back on schedule to have the wedding on Maui I'll be happy to shoot the whole thing for you for only $5,000, plus a 1st class round trip flight and hotel accommodations. I'll even include the leather bound album and a nice 16x24 gallery wrapped canvas print of you and your bride on the beach at sunset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slabbie Shooter Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 My cousin's daughter wanted a Disney wedding. Nothing else would do. It was great, don't get me wrong, but he told me it felt like passing a kidney stone when the mountain of bills showed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shooterbenedetto Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 Been married 10 years, and we both decided to put it in savings! spent time with family at the park after the wedding chapel and that savings is now double. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dajarrel Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 A friend offered his daughter 10K and a trip to Hawaii if they would elope. The bride and groom were all for it but the Grooms mother browbeat them all into having a wedding. Wasn't my concern but sure seemed to be a terrible waste of money. My wife and I are celebrating our 34th anniversary today and I still don't know how much our wedding cost. I was overseas while my wife planned the wedding and I came home on leave and got married. After our honeymoon, we packed her bags and she went to Guam with me. It's been a wonderful trip. dj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxshooter Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 What happened to he tradition of the bride's family paying for the wedding and the groom's family paying for the rehersal dinner?From the wedding on the groom gets to pick up the tab for every thing including the divorce if it ends there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AikiDale Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 What happened to he tradition of the bride's family paying for the wedding and the groom's family paying for the rehersal dinner?From the wedding on the groom gets to pick up the tab for every thing including the divorce if it ends there. That is so 20th century.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AShots Posted July 1, 2008 Share Posted July 1, 2008 Congrats and best wishes! To save some green, I love the idea of a beautiful fake "cake", which is nothing more than foam covered in fondant (I think that thick, fancy cake covering is called) out for everyone to ooha and ahh over, but the guests actually get cut slices of a much less expensive but delicious sheet cake in the back Maybe you could negotiate down the price on the cake cutting fee, what a rip! Yeah, getting married in jeans with a judge was fun, but not going into the marriage in debt....priceless! Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al503 Posted July 1, 2008 Author Share Posted July 1, 2008 Thanks for the suggestions and best wishes. The only thing I didn't mind spending too much on was her wedding ring. I honestly outdid myself and don't feel one iota of remorse. At least it won't die and have to go in the garbage in a few days.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Round_Gun_Shooter Posted July 1, 2008 Share Posted July 1, 2008 I have three girls! I hope they run off to Vegas! I have a ladder with my daughter's name stenciled on it. She gets a cash bonus for using it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j2fast Posted July 1, 2008 Share Posted July 1, 2008 (edited) One option for photos; Get a whole bunch of those disposable cameras. Put 2-3 of them on each table and tell the guests to take lots of pictures as the day progresses. Collect them all at the end and get them developed. You'll get tons of great pictures. BritinUSA's concept of the guest cameras was great. In fact, I heard about that from some other source, too. We did this at our wedding and did get a lot of pictures that otherwise we wouldn't have gotten. We actually lucked out photographer wise; we got turned onto a gentleman who had been doing weddings for something like 40 years but was retired for the most part. At the time he did a few a year (mostly for friends/relatives) just because he enjoyed it. When we compared his work to all of the studios/pros we visited his work was just as good and better in several cases. We spent next nothing by most standards but couldn't be happier with the results. Edited July 1, 2008 by j2fast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limitless13 Posted July 1, 2008 Share Posted July 1, 2008 Congratulations on getting married! I can understand your frustration, my wife and I have been married for just over 6 months now. We did a lot of the things that have been mentioned, the cameras on the table, having a friend video tape the wedding for us, using our college pastor to do the wedding. Those all saved some money. But there's still a price. I remember when calling around asking for prices on catering one particular place in the St. Louis area was going to cost $119 per person for a meal........ of chicken. After cussing and repeatedly asking what else does the chicken do, the lady finally hung up on me. We had an open bar at my wedding, only after I finally gave in. The original estimate was somewhere around $2500 for a damn bar. It was hell's bells when I heard that and almost pulled everything from the site we were going to be at. Flowers were actually one of the cheapest costs from us because we used a local non-chain place that did a wonderful job. In the end the food wasn't too bad because we gave the guests chicken/pork and the head table and parents steak. That was a nice way for me to get what I wanted while saving some cash. Some weddings I've been to have had a limo to shuttle the wedding party around, I would highly recommend against it. After the ceremony was done, my wife and I at least had 5 minutes of quiet before the madness again. You can also get a smaller limo this way, if you even do one. At $400 per 2 hours, it's pretty hefty. This also makes it really easy to have a clean getaway later on. To save some extra money, we had our photographs taken beforehand at a nicer hotel in downtown STL. They didn't care we were there so we got it for free when the whole place was decked out for Christmas. Also, assuming you may be flying out for your honeymoon, the more in advance you can get your tickets, the better. We did ours 6 months ahead of time. Tickets from St. Louis to the Caribbean only cost me $200 per person. Call ahead on a rental car too, because by contract they'll give you prices that they have NOW and not 4-5 months from now when gas prices are at $5 +. Just some ideas to think about. Oh, and about 3 months after the wedding you'll be able to breath again. LL13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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