what did you spend on your wedding? and how long did it last?

We were married in 1969 and next month we will celebrate 43 years together. I don't know the dollar amount of our wedding, but I am sure it was very minimal. We were married in a little country church I had grown up in, so no charge there. I didn't want a reception, so no money spent there. For some stroke of rationality, which I wasn't normally given to at that young age, I wanted my wedding dress and attendants dresses to be from a bridal rental shop, so much smaller cost there than if we had bought them. I couldn't see spending hundreds of dollars for a dress that I would wear maybe 30 minutes to an hour! Still makes sense to me. I guess the only costs were: shoes, flowers, and an honorarium to the pastor and lady who played the wedding music. DH wore a suit he already had, and a former teacher who was into photography took some pictures for us. I guess we paid him for them, but if so I know it wasn't much. I have a couple of friends who are photographers, and engagement & wedding pictures fetch some big bucks today! So, a very inexpensive wedding for us. I think if I was doing it over today however, I would chose to elope.

We spent just under $6,000 two years ago for the wedding, a "reception" for about 200 people, and a honeymoon cruise in Europe. Being a second marriage for both of us, there was no need to hang on to that "fairy tale" meme. We had a family-only ceremony at the "reception hall" -- actually a coffeehouse we enjoy that we rented for the evening. They had a minimum food/drink charge that applied to room rental, so the room essentially was free. Our friends decorated, brought what (finger) foods the coffeehouse did not cater, we provided some wines from places we'd been that we enjoyed and a two-hour free bar, and we splurged some on a DJ I've known for years who has a weekly program at an area radio station. DW's dress was off the rack and my tuxedo (and that of my two attendants) was the least expensive Men's Wearhouse had to offer (still looked good, though); DW's attendant did buy a dress but I know she has worn it at least twice since our wedding. The rings cost a total of around $600 (sorry, deBeers, we did not engage in the escalating "rock wars"). We did not have a photographer; instead, we encouraged our friends to shoot their own pictures and video and we shared the pictures among ourselves. One night at a local motel and then off to Europe for a very memorable cruise (which stopped at several European ports of call and then crossed the Atlantic to Florida). We all had a fabulous time and even the folks at the coffeehouse and the DJ still comment on how much fun everyone was having that night. And that's exactly what we wanted -- a gathering of our family and friends to help us celebrate finding each other.

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Originally Posted by puglogic

A good number of those big fairytale weddings seem to be demanded by people who think they're also going to have a fairy tale marriage. If that's what they want, fine

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We've attended a few weddings of family friends' children now, both of which ended up in the low five figures. Nice events, to be sure. A little more ambience than our coffeehouse and some things we didn't have (champagne, photobooths, much larger wedding parties). But spending that much strikes as both as quite unnecessary. It would be far more appealing to us to spend most of that money on a house downpayment or on a car, if needed, or even some on vacations. For one night?? We don't get it.

DSD (who is 27) is finally serious about a guy. DW has saved up around $10,000 for her wedding (DSD also has attended many of the same five-figure events). We'll tell her that we have some money ($10,000, but I'm not sure we'll tell her that) saved for her wedding. If DSD wants to spend all of it on a horse-drawn carriage to the church and someone to throw rose petals in her path as she enters the church, that's her choice. But that's all there is from us. We've seen this kid pay for a college education and buy a car and a house. We don't think there's any way she's going to spend it all on a carriage. Money has some value to her. So we're feeling pretty okay about this.

We spent $67 on our wedding, which was the cost of the marriage license. A sweet old pastor at a church down the street from us performed the ceremony for free.

Hubby and I spent about $200 on our wedding. We decided on Wednesday that we would be married that Saturday! We'd been dating only four months. Since it was so soon, my parents actually missed the wedding. They said if we moved it back two weeks, they'd be happy to come, but dh and I had made up our minds. Turns out, for a few years we were banned from the family. Ah well, they came to love dh over the years.

I am sure everyone thought we were expecting with the seemingly shotgun wedding. Must have been bets made as to how soon a baby would come. We showed them, dd didn't arrive until almost two years later!

We had a friend who was a minister, the family did a pot-luck, I wore a dress I already had and dh borrowed a suit from his uncle. My ring was a mother's ring from my MIL that only had four stones on it, and she had five kids - so I paid the jeweler to take the band off, and used it. Not too many pictures were taken, but there are a few that survive.

Would I do it again - absolutely, and exactly the same way! Our 30th anniversary is less than a month away, and we hope for many more years together.

Only costs way back in 1964---minister, license, little hat veil for me (dress I owned, DH in suit he owned), coffee and a few drinks back at my parents.
And it was as the old saying goes shotgun, but it was not needed we were both more then willing it was just sooner then we had been planning...lol...Only people present were parents and siblings and two friends...........and it last till 2011 when "Death did us part".

I forget to add an engagement ring that I had but had never told anyone $250.00 a very lot of money in 1964 but, the jeweller knew DH and he throw in a beautiful gold charm bracelet with a heart charm.
Two gold rings for a grand total of $45.00

Ha ha...we put off getting married for a while. I came from a family of strivers who were competing with others in their circle to put on the biggest dos all the time. When our richie-rich neighbors' son got married, they threw the part of the century for the engagement alone! God knows what that wedding cost! (We weren't invited to that...)

If my parents hadn't died before I met my husband, I'm sure they would have dropped $20k on our wedding without batting an eye. I was so enmeshed in their values for years - and I simply didn't know there was another way. Hubby and I kept putting off getting hitched - we thought it would be too expensive. One day we just decided to do it on the cheap. The officiator's fee was $100, and we spent some money on cake and cider and gas for the car to drive to the park where the "ceremony" was held. Easy! And definitely my kind of thing, but I always felt I had deprived my hubby of the big party he would have liked to have.

We didn't have a honeymoon either. But it's never too late!

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Originally Posted by Sad Eyed Lady

We were married in 1969 ...

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Unless your avatar picture is 20 years old, you must have gotten married when you were 12

Oh, gosh...let me think...OK, we've been married nearly a quarter century now. I wanted a modest wedding. Reception was held at the local American Legion hall, and chicken dinners were served for $20 a plate (bar bill included). Hired a DJ (awful; maybe $100?) and photographer (again, awful, never paid for the full set of prints 'cause the pictures stink) and videographer ($100). I paid $125 for my veil (bought the tulle myself and a cap and had woman make it for me). Our dresses were made by a seamstress. Mine is extremely plain and was made of satin and tulle and is tea-length. It was less than the veil. The bridesmaids' dresses were inexpensive as well. Their headdresses were $30 and they wore $5 shoes from KMart that matched the dresses. My shoes were $5 (believe it or not). Flowers were a bit expensive but my mom paid for them. We used some of our wedding gifts to pay for the honeymoon (about $800).

I had everything I wanted that day. Most of all, I had my husband. ;)

We were married at San Francisco City Hall. It was lovely; I never regretted not having a "real" wedding. It felt very special to me.

Lately I've seen some gorgeous wedding cakes, and I've been thinking that it would be nice to have a 25th anniversar party (in 3 years) and have a wedding cake.

I can't remember the cost exactly......I think around $4,000. We had lived together for 5 years before we were married, and owned our home together. We got married in our living room. We used the chaplain from the hospital that DH and I worked at. We rented chairs and dishes, tables and a big tent. We had about 40 friends and family. We got all the food from a caterer, but the mothers took care of heating things up and serving it. We had a string quartet play before, and after the wedding. My dress was about $50. We had a nice 3 tier poppy seed cake and beautiful flowers everywhere. One of the string quartet players said it was the nicest home wedding she'd been to. At the time, it seemed very simple, yet there was lots of great food, beautiful music, flowers. Everyone had a good time. Even our dog, Kimo.

I have been hoping that my DD will choose to elope -if- she ever gets married. But recently she said she'd like to have a wedding here. It feels good that she likes our little home and property so much. But DANG..........its alot of work to have a wedding here! :)

I think its pretty common to spend way too much on a wedding...........especially these days when you're expected to serve a big sit-down meal, have an open bar, band, etc., etc. Its not what I would choose. It was hard enough for me to have this little wedding at home.