Who paid for your wedding?

[mtemm]

we paid for most of it. my parents gave us around $3k I think towards it, but the rest was us.

I would say among our friends some paid for their own, many had their parents pay. I will say that the ones who had the most conflicts planning were those whose parents paid. the parents wanted say in what was chosen, etc. In some cases the parents paid, but gave a set amount, and that seemed to work out better. No haggling over wanting this or that if the budget was set. if the bride and groom wanted nicer they helped out.

 

[QJ411]

We (DH and I) paid for it. Everyone was going through some rough times, and we didn't want our parents to stress over anything. DH and I put our savings together to pay for everything (wedding receiption, DJ-we couldn't afford a band, photographer, videographer, rehearsal dinner, honeymoon, etc.), it took a little over a year to pull the wedding together, but it was Magical!

 

[Bob Slydell]

DW's parents paid for most of it, with my parents paying for the traditional groom's side stuff (e.g. rehersal dinner, etc.).

DW and I paid for a couple things, like our photographer and the band.

 

[GoofItUp]

I like the "MCI Wedding" - that's what ours was! I grew up in a small town and was very close to some people at my church who really helped pull my wedding together. A good friend owned the florist in town and gave great rates, plus let my mom and I work on some weekends and holidays for credit on the bill. Another family friend makes wedding cakes and did both my cake and the groom's cake for a very reduced rate. There were several ladies at church that came the days before and day of the wedding to prepare the reception area, church, and help keep things on track. DH had close friends who sang at weddings. And my grandmother bought my dress. Beyond that, my parents paid for most of my wedding, though DH and I paid for as much as we could. We were in college at the time, though, so our part was light. His parents paid for our honeymoon and the rehearsal dinner. If they hadn't paid for the honeymoon we would have been going back to our little apartment in the 'projects' after our blessed affair! We had a huge wedding, but I would guess that it cost well under $5000. I tried to keep costs down and focus on what I was doing more than how I was doing it! Six wonderful years later, I wouldn't do a thing differently!

 

[Kimberle]

My parents paid for the reception. I kept telling them they didn't have to, but they wanted to. We paid for everything else. Including the plane tickets & hotel for dh's parents, brothers & SIL. (1 BIL & SIL couldn't afford it as they had just gotten back from a 2 week vacation in Greece.)

Our wedding was in MN at my home church. Dh's family lives around NYC. Noone else from dh's family came. But I am happy to say that I had TONS of my family come from all over the country, FL, AZ, CA, OR.

Sad sidenote, my Great Uncle & wife #4 or 5 were driving from OR. He had a heart attack and died along the way. He had sent me a lovely crystal vase & bowl before. I will always treasure them.....

Our 8 year anniversary will be next Wednesday.

 

[Pooh67_68]

My husband and I paid for our own.

 

[BostonTigger]

My future in-laws and my parents are going split the cost of the wedding.

 

[mrsltg]

My parents paid for everything pertaining to the reception except the flowers. They paid for my attire, the limos, and the shuttle buses for out-of-town guests. My in-laws paid for the rehearsal dinner, and gave us a check to cover the cost of the honeymoon (VERY UNEXPECTED!!!). We paid for the church, the flowers (which I went for a lung on), attendant gifts, dh's tux, hair and make-up, photographer, and some incidentals.

We will be paying for Dierdre's (our dd) wedding. And it will be heavenly because she is our .

Erin

 

[Lisa F]

We paid for our own wedding except for a couple of things where we would have had to skimp on a bit and then our parents kicked some money into the pot for that item. I had my dress made and was pretty much at the end of the budget so I downgraded the fabric to a polyester satin and chiffon and my parents flew down for a visit and wanted to see the plans for the dress and ended up paying for the difference for silk satin, silk chiffon and some handmade lace trim. We were just going to get the basic yarmulkas (which are satin) but my inlaws decided they wanted something a little nicer so we had grey suede (and these show up at every single family affair as people bring them back so they don't have to wear the cheap satin ones... my husband's cousin actually wore one of our yarmulkas to his own wedding!)

At the time we had already built a house together and had the money to pay for the wedding. Then Enron imploded and we decided to move "back home" and even after saving for 5 years, we needed some help buying another house on the east coast and my parents helped us out with that... so I guess I just spent my wedding money in a different way.

 

[welovedisneyx4]

My parents paid for our wedding, which was greatly appreciated. However, that meant that we had to go by whatever my Mom wanted--and that was not always what DH and I wanted. Mom wanted very elaborate, I wanted middle of the road, and DH would have been happy w/ going to the Justice of the Peace! Talk about conflict!! Luckily, we were only officially engaged and planning the wedding for about 4 months. If it had been any longer, I think someone would have killed someone! LOL! Looking back, I wish I had taken control of the situation and done things myself. (Like gone to Disney and gotten married!!!) Mom had a very small wedding and wanted to give me what she wasn't able to have. I understand that, but she had no consideration whatsoever about mine and DH feelings. It was a very had time.

My parents did get off easy on the cost, though. My mom does cakes and caters on the side, so the only cost for cake and reception was the food. My cousins helped w/ the actual set-up and serving at the reception. My dad is a photograhper and he did my portraits and his 2 friends did the wedding photos for just the cost of the film. (They frequently do this on the side, so they were very high quality, as was the reception.)

My In-laws paid for the rehersal dinner. It was simple, but nice. They had a bar-b-que in thier back yard! Everyone really enjoyed it.

We paid for the honeymoon ourselves.

All-in-all, the wedding was very nice and it ended w/ a honeymoon in Disney (my first time there) and we have been married for almost 11 years and have 2 beautiful kids!

 

[BabyTigger99]

My parents paid $5000 for our wedding which included the reception, cake, and my dress. DH's mom gave us $400 that we put towards our husband (it was a second marriage for him). I wore my sister's veil. My sister did all the flowers and decorations for the church.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

My parents paid for our wedding. ILs paid for the rehearsal dinner. My husband paid for our honeymoon to Hawaii. I paid for a lot of the little extras that I wanted for our wedding.

Lori

 

[honeywolf7]

Originally posted by currycook
I know something about this - since I have married many people.

For a second, I thought you meant you had been married to many people....LOL

 

[HollyJoy]

DH and I paid for most of ours. My Father was very sick at the time, and did give us some money, but we just didn't feel right taking too much from them at that time. It all worked out though!

 

[honeywolf7]

I forgot to say that mine only cost about $3000. I did everything the way I wanted to, but it just didn't cost much.

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

My parents paid for the reception, the cake, the flowers, my hair stylist, and the musicians at the church.

My in-laws chipped in on the reception and paid for the rehearsal dinner.

I paid for my dress, the favors, the invitations, and the DJ.

DH paid for his tux, the limo, our honeymoon, and for the priest/church fees.

I feel it worked out well; no one went broke and we all got what we wanted.

 

[pjlla]

I think that the way my parents did it was just right.... they gave me a set amount about two years before the wedding (actually, before we were even officially engaged) and said..."This is it, you can use it for a wedding, house downpayment, whatever."

It was $5000 (which was a huge sum to me!). I worked out my budget so that I was able to get just what I wanted within the $5000 budget. I pitched in some of my own $$ as needed and there were a few things in the end that my folks wanted me to have (like a limo) that I was willing to forego for the sake of the budget, that they pitched in for. Probably all told I/we spent $6000 for the wedding (in 1992). It was a traditional church wedding in the church where my parents were married, and a sit down plated meal reception at a country club for about 150 people.

I think lots of people think that they want to help and pay for a daughter or son's wedding and they don't think about how much $$ this could actually entail. I think a set amount ahead of time is perfect. It saves lots of heartache and arguing. I had the option to get married by a JP and save the rest of the $$ for a house, if I really wanted. Or to spend it all on a lavish honeymoon. We opted for a nice traditional wedding. I plan to make the same offer to my DD when it is her time to get married. "Here is a set amount of $$. YOu may spend it however you like, but this is it!"

My in-laws paid for a nice rehearsal dinner (which I think was very hard for them, philosophically, as they are much older than my folks and they still think that a $3.00 eggs/toast/coffee meal in a diner is a rip off!). I'm sure that my MIL spent the entire evening mentally calculating how much less it would have cost to prepare those same foods at home. That said, they certainly didn't begrudge us the dinner. It was offered with love and it was a terrific dinner.

DH and I paid for our own honeymoon. It cost about $2000, not including spending $$ for 7 days at CBR at WDW. It was so long ago I cannot remember if we had PH or UPH or what! I know it was a "package" as I have an aunt and uncle who own a travel agency and they did the arrangements for me. And they discounted me their commission.

That's all.........................P

 

[MouseClubMom]

We had the ultimate wedding on a budget! Since DH and I already had our own apartments with all the furnishings when we met we really didn't need any more blenders or towels so we asked all of our friends to provide food for the reception as their gift. It worked out GREAT! We did pay for flowers but used a florist who was a family friend so we got a deal. Even our wedding cake was a gift from a wonderful baker who is a dear friend! The only thing we really had to pay for was the rental on the reception hall, the invitations and honeymoon. My Mom bought my dress, veil and shoes as my gift. It all worked out great!

 

[caitycaity]

it was a group effort. my parents contributed, my inlaws contributed, and dh and i paid for some of it ourselves as well. the parents and inlwas cut us a check and told us we could do whatever with it. we used it for the wedding.

 

[aprincessmom]

I paid for mine. I felt funny having my parents pay since I was 29, hadn't lived at home since high school ended and had a good paying job.