Who paid for your wedding?

[princesspumpkin]

My best friend's mother got remarried in my friend's backyard and my friend paid for most of it herself (although she said that she wasn't going to). She paid for her own wedding and said that her mom would have to pay for her own, but she ended up ordering everything for the affair and just paid for it. Anyway, that got me thinking about who actually pays for their own wedding these days. Is it still customary for the bride's parents to pay for the wedding or have times changed? My fiance and i paid for ours.

 

[Beth76]

my parents paid for mine. I wanted to get married on the beach in the Caribbean, my mom didn't like that. So, they paid for my wedding. I was 23 and out of college for a year.

 

[olena]

We paid for our wedding.

 

[Nutsy]

I went halves with my parents as they were not very well off & I felt it only right that I should pay half.

 

[CEDmom]

My mom paid for our (my dad passed away when I was 8). She insisted on doing it. I did pay for my dress and accesories. All that being said DH and I had a nice wedding but it was small and simple. We also tried to keep the cost down where we could. The whole thing wasn't much more than $5000. We got married in 1994. The reception was a luncheon buffet for 75 people. We plan on paying for DD's.

 

[MScott1851]

My parents paid for the whole wedding and reception, the pictures and my dress. My MIL paid for the rehearsal dinner, and FIL paid for the whole WDW/Universal honeymoon plus gave us that same amount in cash. We were blessed.

 

[helenabear]

My dad paid for mine. It was something he always wanted to do for his girls. He did contribute a little to my brother's wedding as well. It seems to be mixed w/in my friends... some bride's parents pay, some both, some a mix of parents and themselves. It honestly seems to depend more on who has the money and what type of wedding than anything else now.

 

[gr8tpanther]

WE (DH and I) paid for the wedding, and I paid for the divorce!

The divorce was much more worth the cost of the wedding

 

[Ibelieveinfairies]

We followed the traditional route: my parents paid for the wedding, his for the rehearsal dinner....that was almost 11 years ago, though, and even since then things have changed. I have one younger SIL whose parents paid for everything and one older SIL who is paying for her own.

 

[believe]

My parents paid what they could and we paid for the rest. In-laws paid for rehearsel dinner and the flower arrangement for the head table.

 

[dizneenut]

My parent's paid for ours.

 

[CyranoJones]

DH and I paid for ours. We will pay for our daughter's if that is what they want.

 

[stinkerbelle]

Pretty traditional here...we got married last year. My father paid for the wedding, his parents paid for the rehearsal dinner, we paid for our attire (my gown/veil/jewelry/his tux), the photographer, and our WDW honeymoon. (oh - but my father gave us his airmiles to use for our flights. )

I'm the only daughter in my family...my parents wanted to do this for me. I can't express the appreciation I hold for them for what they gave us.

 

[Serena]

My mom paid for most of it. But, a friend paid for the photos, another friend paid for the hotel suite that night. Another friend got the boysclub to let us borrow all the chairs.
My mom and aunt paid for all the food. I already had my dress, my h wore his dress army suit.
It was in my parents side yard. My h paid for the person that married us.
My wedding cost less than $1,000.

The divorce is almost as much and I'm paying for that.

 

[DisKim]

Our wedding was truly a family affair. Everyone wanted to help. We paid for the reception, my grandmother paid for the photographer and my gown and made all of the junior bridesmaid and flower girl dresses (a total of 5), my brother-in-law gave us the videographer as a wedding gift, my mother paid for the flowersand invitations, my grandfather paid for the band, and my mother and father in law paid for the rehearsal dinner and donated a large sum of money toward the reception. We were floored by everyone's generosity, so our invitations read "Together with our families..." instead of the traditional wording. Oh, by the way, my aunt offered to pay for our honeymoon. I wouldn't let her. It was too generous and she had two young children at the time. We had both just graduated college so we appreciated all of the help.

 

[Lynn CC]

Wow! Has it been 22 years already?
Lets see if I can remember that far back of couse I can because I paid $10,000 mylelf. I thought we were just paying for our honeymoon trip, which was another $2,000.

Thankfully,DH's parents paid for the flowers at the church and for the attendants, and centerpieces at the table. They also paid for the limosines and the Champaigne fountain as well as individual champagne favors for the guests to take home.
I paid for the remaining bill which was as stated above.

If I had known my mother wasn't going to pay for all this planning that she had done, extravigantly I might add, We would have eloped and put the money towards the down payment on our house we were planning on having built the folllowing year. She let me know that I was to pay the bill after the wedding was over.
Live and learn, I guess.
Needless to say, DH never really warmed up to his DMI, after she pulled that one.

 

[onecoolmama]

We paid for ours and my mom helped out a little.

 

[Betsyt82]

We paid for our own wedding. I call our wedding the MCI wedding as it was friends and family who helped. My sister made the cake( she loves to do them and does a great job) and made my dress. I have a good friend who is a flower person and did a great job on my flowers for the bouquets and tables as our gift. My exSIL made the favors. Since it was 2 days after Christmas we did not need to have the place where we had it decorated or the church........it was all ready decorated for Christmas. My family helped prepare the appitizers and we(DH and I ) paid for the plated meals and the DJ and our Photo person who also was a friend and gave us the pics as a gift(we bought the film and developing) It was fun and we only spent 1500.00 when it was all said and done. I would do it the same way again if given the choice. It is scary that the prices of wedding are in the 10s od thousand and up.

Side note my Niece had a wedding for 23,000.00 the first time and that was paid by her father and the next wedding (diviorced 5 years later) and when she and her DH@ had to pay it was amazing how much less she spent on her second her dh first time to be married. She herself even said that had she have paid for the first one she would have thought twice about some of the choices she made and the amount of money she would have spent.

I feel that I will help our kids but I will note be the cash cow for ever whim and will set a reasonable budget for our kids.

 

[honeywolf7]

My parents paid for my wedding. We paid for the honeymoon.

 

[currycook]

I know something about this - since I have married many people.

1. The old traditional ways seem to be ending and now one never knows. Usually the family or couple comes us with a plan.

2. Traditional way was Wifes family would pay for the wedding. (But only the first one, as someone pointed out above how her parents paid for her friends first wedding and she had to pay for the second).

3. Groom's family would pay for the rehersal dinner and person to marry them as well as securing the location. (Church or whatever the place of the wedding).

I have noticed today that often it may depend on the age of the couple getting married. If they have waited awhile to get married, like in their 30's the couple will often just pay for the wedding themselves with perhaps some help from parents.

We did the traditional wedding but without the big cost of the large reception. Instead we just had a small reception at the hall of the church where we were married.