Inspired by wagamama...what kind of wedding did you have?

[Pooh Girl 71]

I was blown away by reading how much some have spent on their weddings. Whatever makes you happy.

We had a very small wedding in our house. Just immediate family and a couple of close friends. I liked it that way. I didn't wear white either. I was not one of those girls who dreamed of being a bride. I was quite the oddball at school

What kind of wedding did you have?

 

[Mishetta]

We had a very formal, traditional wedding but on the small side in comparison to our family type weddings. We had 150 guests. We had 6 couples in our wedding party.

Our reception was at a banquet hall which looks like a castle & we offered a sit down dinner with 3 meats & all the trimmings.

It was the most beautiful day of my life.

 

[WDWLVR]

I got married a little later in life - I was 33. My DH was well worth waiting for

We had a full nuptial mass in the church I grew up in. The priest who married us was a family friend who had really helped me get through that year. You see the same year I got married I was also diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Fr. Mike put me under hypnosis to help me get through that.

After the mass we had a sit down reception for 150 people. It was family style and after dinner we had a lot of dancing. It was a wonderful day.

The next day we left for our honeymoon in WDW. We had 7 days at the Grand Floridian on the Grand Plan.

14 years later and I still watch the video from time to time. Thank goodness we decided to have a video made to record the day. It brings me such joy to hear my mom's voice again wishing us well. She died one day short of our 7th anniversary. We waked her on our anniversary wearing the same dress she wore to our wedding (she had picked which dress she wanted to wear).

 

[Mishetta]

WDWLVR ~ I'm so sorry. Your wedding sounded so beautiful (like mine) & my mother also wanted to wear the dress she wore to my wedding for her funeral. She just looked so beautiful in it too.

Oh & one more similarity, I also married at 33 (altho DH turned 26 just the day before our wedding!)

 

[MScott1851]

We had a HUGE wedding, not by my choice, but my husband wanted everyone he had ever sat next to on a bus to be in the wedding party..

I had 7 bridesmaids and one bridesman...and a flower girl.
He had 8 groomsmen, four ushers, and two ring bearers.

We invited 300 people, and we actually think 227 showed up. It was a buffet reception, by necessity. We rented a ballroom across the river in another town. Let's see. We had a fruit and cheese table; a hot food (hot wings, grilled chicken tenders, mini-quiches, sausage balls, boiled shrimp) table; a sandwich station table where guests had three choices of bread/roll/croissant and turkey, ham, and roast beef with three cheeses and all the fixings; another table with spinach dip, hummus, and queso with bread and chips for dipping; a table of nothing but chocolate things like cookies, covered strawberries, amaretto truffles, etc. My cake was 5 tiers with different flavors, all with buttercream frosting. His was chocolate in the shape of DJ turntables. Those tables had mints and nuts on them. For drinks we had a punch fountain, coffee, and also served Pepsi, Mt. Dew, Diet Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, and Sprite in cans. We also had an open wine and beer bar, we bought 15 boxes of wine and three kegs of different beers.

I had a wedding planner. All I had to do was show up and smile. EVERYTHING except my dress and my pictures was included in her price, and she did everything for me.

The best part? This whole spectacle only cost $6100. I'm not lying. I got married where my parents still live in northwest Alabama, and this was considered exorbitant among my friends. They usually had cake/nut/mint receptions in the church banquet halls.

The sad part was that I didn't even get to eat.

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

aww those are beautiful stories.

That is a superb deal MScott!

 

[onecoolmama]

I had two wedding. The here I had 500 people attend and a total (including myself) of 55 people walk down the aisle! It was a full mass and the reception was at a ballroom.

The second wedding I had was in the Philippines for DH's family. 250 people showed up and the wedding party was about 18 people. A little smaller. WE both have HUGE families; so it was just going to happen that way!

We spent a lot of money...almost 30k on the first..but like I said, we didnt have a choice. One of our friends from high school turned to DH and said "Wow, you married into the Kennedy family!" LOL! I think we are bigger, but without the money, fame, or their luck (thank goodness!)

 

[MScott1851]

I know. The wedding planner goes to my church. My dad is a deacon there, and everyone loves him and my mom to death, so she cut him a heck of a deal. I don't think she marked anything up for herself to make a profit, but just charged him a set fee. She is the bomb, and all the girls who go to my church back home have all had fabulous weddings due to her being so loyal to the other members. We all used her.

I can't imagine what a wedding like that would cost somewhere like Manhattan, or Los Angeles...Probably 10 times that much.

Sometimes being in the rural south has its' advantages. Everything is cheaper here.

 

[flaps]

Rehearsal dinner catered at local restaurant.

Sunday afternoon "open church" (anyone, regardless of personal invitation, could attend the ceremony portion) wedding for 250+ guests. No cost for the sanctuary, as I was a church member.

Organ and piano music provided by my piano teacher and her sister. No official charge for their services, but we gave them a monetary gift. Vocal music provided by my maid of honor and one of my brothers.

My pastor officiated. No charge for his service, but we gave him a monetary gift.

Reception immediately followed in the Fellowship Hall. No charge for the building, as I was a church member. Cake, punch, fruit basket, nuts and mints for refreshment. No dancing. No alcohol.

My dress was made by the seamstress mom of one of the groomsmen, so just the cost of materials and (IMO) a modest fee for labor. My future MIL made the bridesmaids and flower girl dresses for the cost of the materials.

I had a florist handle all the fresh flower arrangements, but we along with family and friends made up all the other decorations.

I hired a local professional photographer to take pictures.

My uncle videotaped for us. No charge for the service, but we gave a monetary gift. Unbeknowst to us my employer also videotaped, and gave us the tape.

 

[crz4mm2]

We had a small wedding. about 50 people came. It was outdoors at my Grandmother's house. It was beautiful. everything I wanted. We were on a very tight budget. Never considered having a meal.... that wasn't done where we were from (and it was 25 years ago!). Just cake, punch at the reception. I wore traditional white wedding dress. Three attendants. Made my own silk flowers and made my own cake!! It was three tiers with fountain in the bottom. (I did have help decorating it!!).
I don't think we spent over 300 bucks TOTAL including my dress and my husband's suit.
I think it is NUTS to spend thousands and thousands on a wedding (just my opinion of course- big weddings are beautiful). I am just too practical. Would much rather give the money to the kid for a down payment on a house.

Your weddings sound beautiful. I need to find someone to make a video of the old home movie of our wedding (remember before the days of video.... )

 

[TooBoyz4us]

We had a very simple outdoor wedding.We were married in a park under the cover of a beautiful gazebo.I did have a beautiful white gown and veil with a 4 foot train though
I had my matron of honor and one additional bridesmaid.

Our reception was held at an area hotel and was a catered plate dinner,but we had under 50 guests.

That was 18 wonderful years ago

Chris

 

[Jockaroo]

We had a very small, but very special wedding. We rented a chapel in an old historic church so all the decorations were taken care of and very tasteful. Had a huge pipe organ as a backdrop. I really don't remember that much about it, because I was so nervous. Since hubby and I were in our late 20s we paid every cent ourselves. And it was paid for when we walked out the door.

My mother is an excellent seamstress. She made my dress. I picked a pattern for a tea-length gown that reminded me of something Grace Kelly would have worn. My dress was not expensive, but to me it is priceless.

The reception was very simple, cake, punch, nuts, mints and diabetic treats. Again, my mom came through on the cake. I tasted so many cakes and they were not good. Mama made my cake from her sour cream pound cake recipe--my favorite.

Mary, your comment on your dear mother brought tears to my eyes. You see, my Granny asked to be buried in the dress she wore to my wedding. When that sad time came, my family had to get our wedding album so they could find the dress. And she looked beautiful.

 

[Otto's Doll]

We had a fairly small wedding. I think there were 65 people there, we got married in the church I grew up in, and then had our reception at the Officer's Club on the Base. We had a buffet, with an open bar for 5 hours. We had a DJ, bought a cake, had invitations, got my dress, his tux and favors for the wedding party (2 bridesmaids, Maid of Honor, 2 ushers and best man) all for about $3500. My folks gave us some money toward it and we paid the rest. It was mostly family, and our close friends. I would do it exactly the same today. (although I am sure the prices are much higher, I think we paid $11 per person, plus ran a tab for the bar!)

 

[catsrule]

Just immediate family and a few close friends, in a small Methodist church in Indiana in the middle of a pig farm. I think it cost about $35.00 for the Minister.

We all went out to eat afterwards and Mom and Dad paid the tab, which was about $300.00.

 

[Mad4Mickey]

My MIL planned a huge wedding and I became so stressed that I begged my DH to talk to her. When it was all said and done we had the wedding I wanted.

We got married barefoot on the beach in Cozumel . I wore a beautiful wedding dress and had the full flowers and everything . It just happened on the beach
My pictures are great , MIL hired someone to do the pictures .
The wedding cost around 2,000.00 ( without travel expence) and MIL and FIL gave us the $10,000.00 they planned on spending on thier part of the wedding . This was my second marriage so I had some debt from before. We got to start out our lives debt free and some in savings .

 

[joshsmom]

My wedding in 1992 was at the court house. My mom, dad, one sister (out of 2), my nephew and my best friend attended. I had been engaged for over a year and our wedding plans were going NOWHERE, so we opted for the court house. BIG MISTAKE! I'm a devout Catholic and not having my wedding in the Church was not a good option for me.

So, in 1995, we decided to fix it. We went to the priest and planned a church wedding. It was actually a "blessing" of our marriage rather than a wedding. But it was very important to me. So plans were made, date was set, and then . . . I got pregnant!!! I ended up on the altar 7 months pregnant and HUGE!!! My matron of honor ALSO decided to be pregnant--she was 5 months!!! Our dresses were the same pattern--mine ivory, her's burgandy. They were very simple, T-length. We had about 250 people at our reception, which was buffet-style.

Oh, on the way out of the church, the people were coming in for the Saturday evening Mass and an elderly woman wanted to know where the bride was so she could wish her a happy life. When I appeared, she almost had a heart attack!!!! Guess the belly was too much for her!!!!!

 

[mclori]

We had just two witnesses and the preacher. This is the way we wanted it to be. My parents gave us the choice of a reception or a washer&dryer. We took the washer&dryer. If we had it to do all over again, we'd do it the exact same way.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

DH and I had a big traditional Catholic church wedding. About 310 people attended. I had 4 bridesmaids, he had 4 groomsmen and we had a flowergirl also. No little boys in the family for a ring bearer. The reception was in a big reception hall. Buffet dinner at DH's request and a full bar. My wedding cake was awesome. It had 5 tiers with 2 tiers of cakes on the sides decorated with fresh flowers and candles. Gosh, I loved it! I seen it at a bridal show and I knew I had to have it. I LOVED our wedding, and wouldn't trade it, and we've been married 14 years last week.

 

[preshi]

We eloped in Vegas, it was just the two of us

 

[helenabear]

My DH and I had a traditional Catholic wedding. It wasn't a large wedding and maybe 75 people showed up. We didn't want it to be huge (and with my family it could be if I didn't watch it) because almost all of his family lives out of the country. It wasn't ultra formal, but it would be what I think of as a typical Saturday afternoon wedding. We had dinner at a nice Italian place and really we were lucky and spent about $5-6K. I was even luckier and had my dad pay for it all.

Honestly it wasn't my dream wedding though... I would have prefered to have gotten married outdoors somewhere with a very small gathering of family and friends, but being Catholic that is nearly impossible to do. Some day I'd love to do a vow renewal just the way I wanted to have my wedding. Time will tell if I can