Costly weddings could be crippling for new marriages
The Marriage Foundation is focusing its mission on educating couples about the benefits of getting married and having children, and helping them to realize they can have a wedding reception focused on what’s important, rather than on extravagant spending.Really -- do you need a $5000 dollar engagement ring and an $800 dollar dress? Do you need a fancy "venue" with a price tag to match? Will you be less married if you opt for simple homemade wedding cake instead of a gourmet, white chocolate, raspberry filled whatever? And do you really need a $500 limo for the thirty minutes you spend riding from home to the church and the church to the reception?
I love blogger Melissa Naasko's advice “never ever, ever buy a bridal magazine...because they’re all geared just to sell stuff.” Yup...and the bigger and fancier the better...for the wedding industry that is.
Too many couples focus on all the wedding hoopla and think the marriage will take care of itself. But the wedding is just one day and only about 1/4 of a day at that. Focusing on the marriage makes a lot more sense and focusing on the people coming to the wedding rather than the hoopla makes even better sense. If you don't have a big back yard, how about renting a pavilion at a local park?
Everyone has talented family and friends who can help out as well. Wouldn't that be a great and more personal wedding gift than a blender? I hope backyard wedding receptions will become the rage. I've been to a few and they were no less enjoyable (in some cases more so) than the extravaganzas at the hotels which, come to think about it, are more like cookie-cutter events. If you're planning a wedding, think simple. The money you save is better spent saving toward your first home. Invest in marriage, not in the wedding day festivities.
The loveliest wedding I ever attended the mother of the bride made the dress (gorgeous!) and she also arranged the flowers (also gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteThe reception was in the church hall and the bride and all her friends (me included) did the food. Huge cold cut and cheese trays. Relishes, salads and rolls. (Thanks, Costco.) The cake? We planted a very small wedding cake on a rented champagne fountain for cutting and freezing left overs. For serving we got a chocolate, white, and carrot cake from Costco which they decorated to match her theme.
All in all we spent very little and it was beautiful.
$800 for a dress would be considered bargain basement, Maryann. Around here PROM dresses go for $1000.00! I just told my sister that Prom today is what a wedding used to be and weddings are completely out of control.
ReplyDeleteMy youngest got married about six years ago and we got her dress on the sale rack at a wedding shop for $150. The veil was a length of lace from a bolt at JoAnn's and she didn't even want me to hem it. I just rounded off the ends. Several people asked if it was an heirloom. Weddings really are ridiculous these days and I've known a few marriages that didn't last as long as the wedding planning!
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