Recognize the difference between ‘must-haves’ and ‘over-the-top’ expenditures on your big day!
Think of a wedding. You most likely pictured a bride and groom, not a bribe and gloom. A wedding is meant to celebrate life and love; yet, it has become a glamorized excuse to demonstrate socioeconomic superiority . The popular “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality gives one insecurity in the driver’s seat when it comes to decision-making, creating a ripple effect of consequences. The exploding wedding industry strategically markets this simple occasion, presenting many “luxuries” as “needs” while pocketing $72 billion of your life savings annually.
Do you think wedding expenses averaging $26,000 are justified or just-not-right? Press PLAY to:
already listening in Nairobi- Kenya, bravo
I can’t believe someone would spend that kind of money on a wedding when you could use it towards a house or investment!
We spent about 2500 on the wedding AND the honeymoon AND the rings (all three!!). We are happily married for almost 9 years now, and I don’t have any regrets about my wedding day. IN fact, if I were to do it again, I would likely cut it down even more and use more money towards our first home.
Dani,
Our wedding cost around $2,000 (7 yrs ago on Sunday!) because we paid for everything ourselves, except for the meal. I have felt looked down upon for this but now after hearing this show I am so happy that we didn’t spend more. We were not financially wise back then and I see where we could have spent even much less with the tips you shared today. Thank you so much once again for taking this time out of your day to make a difference in my life!
This show was so good! Everytime I listen to you I learn something new. I so much appreciate how you teach what you are already living! Your family is what we want our soon-to-be family to be like.
holy cow, got married for about $1000 (rings-being the biggest expense that we still have to this day-dress & dinner for two included) in a civil ceremony back in 1990. Even if we had thousands then, we I wouldn’t have spent it on a wedding. IMO, the ‘day’ isn’t as important as the state of the relationship 20+ years later.
Great show! We are so happy for Arika and Zach, got to meet him on the phone…such a sweet guy! The honoring of parents and God with their total chastity is just the greatest. God will so bless them for that! Our daughter Christa’s wedding was last summer and we spent way less than the average you quoted. Those numbers are unimaginable! The size of her wedding was over 300 guests so that did bring it up, but what can I say, we are from big families and we have a big family plus 30+ years in a network marketing business, 12 years as a professional singing group and members of the choir in a church of 6000…we had to cut so many names off the list!! We made my 4 daughters’ bride’s maid dresses, got a beautiful wedding dress for $300 from a modest dress website and made the veil for around $20. All 8 of our grand daughters wore different white dresses, mostly used that their parents found the internet at deep discounts. We made their flower head wreaths and added blue accents on each dress. All the flower girls’ baskets, from St. Vincent de Paul, were different and my husband spray painted them white and we glued the ribbons and silk flowers on. The guys’ tuxedos were from the clearance/used outlet in Portland, OR…fraction of the cost . My Mother of the Bride dress was found brand new at a St. Vincent de Paul second hand store with a new price tag of $160, which St Vincent’s listed for $49.00. I got it for $29 with my senior discount and a coupon! We donated $1200 to a charitable organization to cook all the food (which we bought wholesale from the grocer’s supply) for a total of $10 a plate for Tri Tip and chicken, 3 salads, beautiful veggies and herbed, roasted red potatoes. It was an awesome meal; way better than bake sales and fun for the ladies. They served us better than a catering company! No alcohol, for lower cost and a 100% nicer crowd!! A professional florist friend donated the flower work but we bought the flowers wholesale and gave her $200. A good photographer gave them discs so they could print pictures themselves and our oldest son took lots of the pictures; some of the best ones! No Limo! We decorated and the bride and groom’s siblings did all the organ playing and singing…nice that both families each have 7 musical kids!! We DJed our own dance from the laptop, played on our sound system. Our next daughter, Lisa, bought all the candle holders and will reuse them for her and Theresa’s weddings. She also got the vases at St. Vincent de Paul and lots of the silk flowers. Here is where we could have cut; a lot of cake went to waste; could have baked it ourselves like you are Dani, and saved multiple hundreds! Favor boxes with kisses; not necessary. Getting hair done…we could have done it ourselves. Save the date cards..at least they designed and printed those and the invitations. It was just a lot of postage!Talking about investments, this young man had Christa in mind and was preparing. He owned 10 acres free and clear and built a house that he designed and his family helped build (his brother built all the beautiful cabinets and book shelf). It was ready when they arrived home from a cross country sight seeing trip from Oregon to Wisconsin, towing a U-Haul with all her belongings, hope chest items and the wedding presents. So economical all the way around. Now the first baby has arrived and God is blessing them so much. Christa brought her War on Debt knowledge with her and is helping him finish getting out of debt. She had none! They are pretty close to having it totally retired and buying a boat propeller repair business that he can do from home. He manages an Organic dairy farm and raises steers so the freezer is full of their own grass fed beef and they have sold some too! His family are great gardeners and she canned and froze a lot of produce last summer. We were so happy to honor this special young couple who saved themselves completely for each other. He is really her knight in shining armor! With all that shared, hoping it will help others, Lisa is planning a much smaller wedding since she mostly organized and ran this one. Your program here will motivate her even more! May all your wonderful family have a very blessed and beautiful time in Nicaragua!