I have been married twice. The first time I had a HUGE wedding. We hired a mansion for the day, band, two 4 course meals, designer outfits, tons of flowers, the list is endless. The whole thing (minus the honeymoon!) cost $60,000!!

The marriage lasted 18 months…

… our credit card debt lasted longer than his vows but I digress…

The second (and last time) I was married it cost us a total of $40. Yup, that’s it!!

I am British and came to the US to marry my American husband so the whole thing had to be rushed because of the INS process. With that in mind I arrived on my fiancee visa on the Tuesday, got the certificate on the Wednesday and was married on the Thursday!!

We had just two witnesses, both wore our smartest clothes and paid just $25 for the license and then $5 for a disposable camera!!

Some may say this is depressingly scarce and basic but look at it this way. I am STILL just as in love with my husband as ever- if not more and not having a huge deal hasn’t affected our marriage any.

The only thing that makes us sad is that we don’t have nice photos but we have promised ourselves that on our tenth anniversary we’ll renew our vows and have a big thing then. That way we can save for it and not stretch ourselves unnecessarily so we can meet a deadline.

Just something to think about I think since so many of us end up getting stressed out and spending every last dime on that perfect day when it’s easy to forget the real reason we’re there to begin with.

Besides, who wants to start their married life stressing about paying the credit card debt off- use that time to enjoy your early years instead!!

~Nate.

Site: $500 for a lovely redwood grove where we could have both the ceremony and reception
Gown: approx. $300. This covers the silk fabric from a wholesale-to-the-public dealer, the silk thread I used to make 11 yards of handmade lace, the two Folkwear patterns used as a basis for my vision, and the special foot I had to buy my friend for her sewing machine as her price for creating a truly special wedding gown. Oh, and it took second prize at the county fair that summer.
Ring: $87. That was the price of my frog prince engagement ring. He wears no wedding ring, and I wear my late mother’s.
Flowers: $30. That’s right, $30. It was a redwood grove. Putting out a lot of flowers would have been a case of bringing coals to Newcastle. We bought what looked good at a wholesale-to-the-public florist shop and some ribbon and florist’s tape to make bouquets and small arrangements for the reception tables, and a friend brought a few extra goodies from her garden to decorate the altar. It was just perfect.
Music: $250 for a five-piece band to play both ceremony and reception. This also included having one member pipe me up the aisle in traditional Scottish style and a lovely guitar rendition of Here, There, and Everywhere at the request of my Beatles obsessed spouse.
Photography: $500 for a professional I knew. Several other people brought cameras – both still and video – and gave their pictures and films as gifts that we still treasure.
Food: approximately $200. Since it was an afternoon wedding in the great outdoors, we got a lot of picnic-style foods. We bought sandwich makings (bread, meat, cheese, lettuce, pickles, mustard, mayonnaise, etc.) and a big bowl of homemade fruit salad. My father contributed (free of charge) homemade potato salad, fruit tarts (instead of a cake), soft drinks, beer, and champagne. My mother in law made her amazing homemade sushi. Everybody went home full, and we had food leftover. Not bad when feeding 125 people.
Invitations, postage, assorted decorations: approximately $150. The invites were among the very few things I bought at full retail, but I loved them.
Blood tests, marriage license, Jp fee: approximately $200.
Tuxes: $0. My beloved and all the groomsmen owned their own tuxes…except for my brother who wore his kilt., and my father who wore his.
Wedding night at local B&B: $85
Gfts for attendants: approximately $100 for ten attendants.
Total budget: $2332, give or take.
We celebrate our thirteenth anniversary in June. Our friends still talk about our great wedding. What’s more, we had a good time, too. I’m one of the very few women I know who really enjoyed her wedding. I chalk it all up to having control of the situation from day one, and not letting anything get too out of hand.

Engagement and wedding bands: $1500

grand ballroom at a local hotel – $595 (included chairs, tables, white tablecloths, kitchen service and a jacuzzi suite for us)

1 room for 2 nights for bridemaids – 120

14th century outfits for all 8 of us, plus three boys – $600 (made by myself, maid of honor and a couple of other volunteers) – including pearls and semi-precious stones on headpieces and my gown

scrolls and wedding invitations (one set for handfasting/betrothal, one for the formal wedding) $250, including postage (color copies of calligraphed and illuminated invitations)

Food/drink: 7 entree feast in buffet style, plus sparkling cider, punch and two sets of cakes for the 2 ceremonies $1000

Gifts for attendants: $60

Decorations – handmade topiaries, painted banners, ‘torches’ (taplights inside black matboard shaped like wall torches), castles, fairies, white christmas lights, votive candles, ivy, chair covers of lavender tulle and bows, sewn banners – some brought by members of the local re-enactment group, plus lavender pomanders and gilded pinecones $400

Chuppah (canopy), ring pillow – $60, a friend embroidered the four corners for me as her wedding present – she is marvelously talented, but very short on cash and had offered to help and to do embroidery as her gift. – then brought strawberry mead for the toast

Rented pitchers, cambro hot box, purchased catering supplies and the eating utensils/flatware/glassware: $500

Videographer: $350

Flowers: 4 dozen lavender and white roses from Costco: $32, gorgeous purple/lavender and violet carnations and mini-carnations from online: $175 (12 dozen); lisianthus, white mini-carnations, beargrass, lavender poms, blue irises, and white carnations from The Flower Exchange online: $175, plus baby’s breath and fern from Albertson’s for $10. I had flowers on all of the tables, huge arrangements near the altar and canopy, some for my family, and large ribbon-wrapped sheafs for myself. I had picked up 3 white and lavender silk pomanders at Joann’s then added extra ribbons and such to them to match each lady’s gown color so that they could keep them.

Sitter, day of wedding: $40 – watched our combined children, plus those of guests

I admit to being very fortunate. I can sew and do flower arranging/painting and so forth, and had friends willing to give me time and companionship instead of things. Another 6 volunteered to help with the food and we prepped a lot ahead of time. Other friends vounteered their expertise with photography and so did my brothers. In August, just before the wedding, I was in a car accident that resulted in a shattered left wrist, surgery and 2 months of cast – when still doing fittings, sewing and so forth. My MoH emailed everyone who knew us and said “she won’t ask for it, but let’s all give her more help” and so our first toast was to thank everyone who helped the wedding come about.

I became famous for the phrase, “it won’t work that way?/isn’t finished? well punt…try this and otherwise, we’ll make do.” IT ISN’T WORTH STRESSING OVER! 10, 20 or more years from now, will it really matter if the vase is not set just right, or the menu/cake not as elaborate as you want? No, what will matter is that you are still happy, married and that the ones you care most about were able to be with you!

(and glue, safety pins and bond-o can be your friends, the night before!)

Back in 1954 I spent $110 for a small diamond engagement ring. In 1955 I spent $12 on her wedding ring and she spent $16 on mine. The priest wouldn’t accept a fee. We took the Best Man and Maid of Honor to a local cafe for sandwiches afterwards, and spent the night in an hotel. Total cost of the adventure, $200, more or less.

About ten years later I had a jeweler make a new wedding ring because my wife always wanted a wide band instead of the simple circlet I gave her when we were students. The jeweler enlarged the original ring and built the new ring around it. It cost about $500.

For about $3500, we had a great ceremony. No complaints and no one felt left out. It can be done!