Did you pay for your wedding &/or get help from others? What year was it?

[bcwife76]

We were married in 2004, my parents paid for approx half of the wedding, we paid the other half (or a bit more than half) and for the honeymoon.

 

[LBIJim]

I was already 41 and DW was 39 when we finally got married in 2000. Small ceremony in the local park followed by dinner in a private room in a restaurant for 14 people. My mother and her father paid the bill at the restaurant.

Two weeks later we had an open house reception at our home and paid for everything there. A total of about 100 people were there at various times of the day and evening.

DW was married before. Her father paid something like $15,000 in 1983 and was, how shall we say, less than pleased when the marriage broke up in under a year.

 

[crz4mm2]

Married in 79. Paid for almost all ourselves. My Mom paid for the supplies to make our wedding cake. DH's folks paid for his suit.

 

[bdcp]

DH and I married in 1981 and my parents paid for it (~$1500 total-backyard reception, limited alcohol beer and champagne for a toast). DH's parents paid for flowers and rehearsal dinner. I was 21 and DH was 24. Our youngest DS got married in 2013 and it was a combination of us, them and her parents but they wanted small and total cost was ~10K. We paid for flowers, rehearsal dinner and gave them money for the reception.

 

[MickeySP]

I was the only girl in an Irish/Italian family, he was only son in a big Italian family. We had hardly any say, parents paid for it all. Shame it only lasted 96 days Hard to stay married when one of you is still dating! Married in 1983 in August, left in December, DS born in 1984 after annulment.

 

[leebee]

Married in 1993 and paid for almost everything ourselves. Our budget was $6000. We stuck to it, and it paid for the following: Invitations, thank you cards, favor boxes with candy, rings (14K gold bands), my dress/veil, DH's tux, ring bearer's tux, church/fees, restaurant buffet reception for 85 (including veggie platters and chip/dip, soft drinks during "cocktail hour" as well as buffet with one chicken, carved beef, one seafood, two starches, a variety of salads, fruit, etc.- HUGE buffet), linens/twinkle lights/centerpieces at reception, 300 helium latex balloons for decoration at the reception, DJ, rehearsal dinner (clam bake w/choice of lobster or chicken, clams, corn on the cob, steamed potatoes, watermelon, 1/2 keg of beer, lemonade), oceanfront rustic cottage accommodations for DH's family (5 units) for 4 nights, 2 week's rental car, 3 night honeymoon in Bar Harbor, bride/bridesmaid's bouquets. I made my dress, my sister made my wedding cake as a gift, a friend did the photography, my BIL played the piano and sang at the wedding ceremony. We were living in San Francisco but being married in Maine, but fortunately had frequent flyer miles for our round trip airfare. Also, we bought pails of roses at a local grower and made boutiniers, mother/grandmother corsages, and used to decorate the church, and we printed up our own ceremony programs. Groomsmen and bridesmaids paid for their own outfits, but we gave the girls earrings and money clips for the guys as thank-you presents. I was lucky in that my sister owned a couple of boutiques at the time, so we purchased the rings, earrings, money clips, and bridesmaid dresses wholesale. We had a cash bar but put 2 bottles of champagne on each table for toasting, and we served our wedding cake for dessert.

It was a pretty simple, straightforward wedding. I know these numbers are accurate because last week, while sorting/cleaning, I came across my wedding ledger, where I had kept careful track of every penny we spent!

 

[NewRVLady]

Been a while since we've had a good wedding finances thread...

I know....it's almost a brag thread.
???
Almost like if you paid for it yourself you were better than people whose parents paid for theirs??

 

[nugov2]

Married in 2002 and my parents paid for everything. We had 275 people at our wedding.

 

[Disneylover99]

I was the only girl in an Irish/Italian family, he was only son in a big Italian family. We had hardly any say, parents paid for it all. Shame it only lasted 96 days Hard to stay married when one of you is still dating! Married in 1983 in August, left in December, DS born in 1984 after annulment.

Wow!

 

[mommasita]

I know....it's almost a brag thread.
???
Almost like if you paid for it yourself you were better than people whose parents paid for theirs??

I agree, and can't understand that logic?

 

[runwad]

I'm one of 5 kids, 4 of them girls we all knew we had to pay for our own weddings so started saving for it as soon as we started working. My parents bought the booze, Dh's family did the rehearsal dinner. We did everything else. We come from really big Italian families and our parents had a lot of friends, plus we had a lot of our sorority and fraternity friends. All in all there were 400 people. It was the best day of my life.

I keep telling my kids they are going to have to save to pay for their own weddings, but I don't see that happening

edit...Ooops it was 1991

 

[Katy Belle]

Married in 1989, I was 20, in college. DH was 23, had worked a year. We had 300 people, but a very low key, inexpensive wedding. Probably was $3,000 tops. My parents, I, and DH took care of the wedding and reception. DHs parents paid for the rehearsal dinner and DMiL made the mints, and bought the ingredients.

 

[JaneBanks]

We were married in 2010 and my in-laws and parents were amazing and each contributed what their budget allowed and paid for the whole wedding. We were/are very grateful.

 

[superme80]

Married in 2007 and my parents paid for a chunk of it. My in laws contributed a bit financially, but my mother in law was a saint emotionally! My grandma paid for my wedding dress. Our good friends gifted us our honeymoon. I paid for the flowers and the 3rd tier of the wedding cake. My mother was only willing to pay for a 2 tier wedding cake. Who has a 2 tiered cake????? This is still a "fight" between my mom and I. Usually if we are bored and want to pick at each other.

 

[NHdisneylover]

We were married in 1996 at the age of 23 right out of college.

We paid about 2/3 I would say with various people chipping in in various ways:

my mom bought my dress and boots I wore ($400)
my in laws bought the drinks served (one keg beer, one keg root beer, a few bottles of wine, champagne for toast and coffee and tea) and the cake ($100 from a work from home lady with mad skills)
my aunt's gift to us was that she brought out all of her silver serving pieces from Texas and bought/made the food for our mid afternoon "tea" reception
DH's aunt's gift to us is that she bought the flowers and made the bouquets, etc (she was a florist)

We paid the church and hall rental, organist, invitations, groom's cake , DJ (another friend who worked for cheap) and photographer (which was the big chunk of the budget).

Oh, DH's parents paid for the rehearsal dinner and had it at a nicer place than I would have chosen, per their request. That cost as much as the wedding did otherwise, but they asked to do it.

 

[indimom]

Married in 1995. We were both 22 and employed. We had about 300 guests.

My parents paid for the meal.
My mother made the bridesmaids dresses (I paid for the material).

DH's parents paid for the drinks and soda.
DH's mother purchased and prepared the rehearsal dinner which was served in the church basement.

My family decorated the church and hall.
Both sides of the family assisted with clean up after the wedding and reception.

DH and I paid for the rest. Tux and Gown. Pictures. Flowers. Reception Hall. DJ. Decorations. Alcohol. Probably a few other things I've forgotten.

 

[cybrkitn]

Dh and I were married in September 1999 . Age 28 for me and 29 for Dh. My parents helped out and paid for the rehearsal dinner and the reception. Dh and I paid for everything else.

 

[WowLookAtThat]

We were married in 2010 and we paid for it (it was a courthouse wedding but I bought my dress and made my own bouquet which saved a lot). My in-laws paid for the BBQ which was a surprise because although I knew that they were going to have a little something after, I didn't expect it to be so pretty.

 

[MickeySP]

Wow!

Yep, but happy ending I married an adult a few years later made it almost 20 years. This one we paid for ourselves & had way more fun.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

We paid for ours in '01 with the exception of my parents paying the $200 holding fee. Wedding and reception at the same place. We married at a country club and found out the room was free if we married on a Friday instead of Saturday, we got married on a Friday. We had about 100-120 people there, food was around $14 per person and I paid for 2 kegs. All other alcohol was cash bar. Photographer was retiring soon so we got a pretty good deal on pictures and my buddy video taped.