Jazzinator

My experiences - my wife and I got married in 2000 in Baltimore area:

1) We rented out a restaurant for an afternoon reception - so we got top shelf food, and had an open bar for 2 hours - without beraking an arm or leg like you would for an evening reception. For a Fri. or Sat. night, you'd have to pay them their usual profit - an afternoon when they don't usually do much business was much more reasonable.

Plus, you don't get roped into renting tableware, tables, chairs, and the like.

2) Photographer - I agree you don't need one with a studio. We hired someone who worked out of his house and got our negatives. That's really the crucial point - most photographers make their profit by keeping the negatives and charging you for prints down the line.

As for the honeymoon, we like to be busy, not sitting around and drinking at an all-inclusive beach resort. For us, we did a package bus tour of Europe - saw lots for 2 weeks, didn't have to worry about reservations, and could pick and choose whether to follow the group or do our own thing.

KFelon

Going to the court house will save you at least $9,900.00

jbtheman

My wife and I eloped...and saved way more than 10G.

mndtrp

My (cheaper) friends have had an open bar up to a certain amount. After that, it cost.

Michael Corvin

Not really. I don't drink, nor does my wife. Family & friends know this. Why should I pay for their alcohol? Some age old tradition that I have nothing to do with? It's not like water was the only thing I offered, soft drinks, tea, & coffee were paid for. If anyone wanted to drink, that was up to them. If you can't live for 3 hours without booze, you definitely have a problem.

We decided on nicer food with some of the money we saved from booze. Most everyone coming knew beforehand, and as far as I know, no one had any problems with it. Just another night out drinking for them.

matta

We thought about that (much, much fewer guests and you're already at your honeymoon destination) but decided against it. The reason was that most people will want to stay at that destination and turn it into a vacation. That means that you'll have to deal with the inlaws for a portion of your honeymoon.

evilcaptain

Congratulations on your engagement, Runner!

I don't remember the cost of our wedding. My wife planned the whole event. I know she searched for deals like crazy. She did alot of work but was able to save alot of money.

gbub

I was in the same boat as you. We had a 3 year old and felt obliged to have a wedding. My brother-in-law kept suggesting eloping, but we didn't hear of it. 7 years later I think it would have been better to have eloped. The money would have been better spent. Imagine what you could do for a vacation with that amount of money.

Having said that, we printed our own invites. Printers are good enough today - even back then.

Don't cheap out on photography/videography. We got some newbies on a recomendation who took craptacular photos. There were as many of the cake as anything else. My friend in the wedding who was semi-professinal took better photos. My father volunteered to videotape, and he took like 10 minutes of footage.

The other money we saved was renting cars. We got 3 Lincoln Towncars, all white, for about half the price of a limo. The only caveat is obviously alcohol. We actually got pulled over for speeding, but the officer was really nice about it.

I agree with not having free alcohol. At least free beer. My opinion is that you should get a free meal and drinks for the gift given to you.

tasha99

Maybe I'm crazy, but I think a big wedding sounds like hell on earth. I hate attending other people's, but having to be up in the front, frocked all in white? I've never understood why that's the dream of so many women. Just think of the electronics or travel you could buy with that kind of money.

I suggest eloping, going on a fabulous honeymoon, and buying a big screen tv.


(Also, Congratulations! )

porieux

Weddings suck. A bunch of people going thru the motions on customs that have no meaning to them, and they have no idea why. Have some personal integrity and just say no to that bullshit. Put the money towards something constructive and have a nice get together with family and close friends instead.

Numanoid

Number one key to an inexpensive, yet meaningful, wedding: finding a woman that has independence, self-worth and more to live for than the singular notion of a "big dream wedding".

Michael Corvin

And it's official. The world of Otter has spilled over into Hot Deals.

FantasticVSDoom

Don't be bringing your Otter logic in here Mr.!!!

printerati

This should have been posted about three years ago, so that I could have shown it to my brother before he got married. They (well, her father) spent somewhere between $60K and $70K on their wedding/circus.

cdollaz

For music, we just burned about 3 hours of music we wanted played onto cd-r's. A friend of ours who is in a band had a fellow bandmate who came and set up his stage sound system with a couple of big speakers and push play on the cd player. It cost us about $100 if I remember correctly which was for the using and setting up of the equipment. We didn't have a dance floor at our reception so our music was only used as background music though.

Btate

Not sure how to keep it under 10Gs, but I will say this. .

Get married in the afternoon. . . That way if things don't work out, then the whole day wasn't wasted.

Fielding Mellish

djmont

Do you want to have a wedding or throw a party?

No dinner, no dancing, no music. Serve some hors d'oeuvres and open some bottles of champagne if you must.

Afterwards, you'll be just as married, with just as many beautiful memories of the ceremony (most of which you will very soon forget). And you'll have a lot more money in your pocket.

djmont

Oh, and skip the videographer. Wedding videos are horrible and nobody ever watches them after their first anniversary. Waste of money. If you must have a video, have your cousin point his camcorder at the ceremony. You'll never want to watch it anyway and it will just make your wife feel lousy because she'll think she looks bad.

Do not skimp on the photographer, though. Good pictures are something you will cherish.

Chrisedge

If you going to skip video, follow the advise from earlier regarding a 2nd camera, or paying for just the shooting. A well done multicam shoot is better than most other "investments" at the wedding. (My wife is glad we did a good video, more than the flowers, or center pieces or most of the other "junk")

I watch my video quite a bit, because it was well done. Plus I have all the original footage as well. The only think I value more than the video is the photos.

runner001

Its still undecided. She was about to go with one place...but now I think she wants to see more places.

Anyone have advice on negotiating with the venues for a better rate? Since we want to have it this August (2007), I'd imagine that if they don't have that date booked already, they'd be willing to give us a better rate.

Anyone that works in the industry here? Could you give me an idea on how low they are really willing to go?

Da Punisher 611

my friend is wedding photographer in western mass, i dont know where you plan on getting married, but he is an excellent photographer. he also has several plans, but can work with you if you have a budget. here is his website...

http://www.jaysonsphotography.com/



just tell him you were referred by Billy