[VicVega]

How many guest?

Open Bar? Live music? Church ceremony? Venue?

What City will the wedding be in? Plays a big factor.

[rwfromkansas]

did ours for 3 grand including reception and everything, both parents helped out.

[uncbob]

Nothing my wife and I went to Elkton MD when we got married

Well it did cost gas and Freeway fees

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

September 2009: Two months of the Bride’s Father’s Salary.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

My wife and I organized and paid for our own wedding. Friends and family still talk about it today, 23 years later.

Total cost; Approx. $3500.
Think outside the "box".

[caver]

I payed about $6500 last year for my daughter. That also included 5 days worth of honeymoon at Asheville, North Carolina.

[rwfromkansas]

It also depends on how much you do at the wedding...live band etc. will cost more.

But, you could easily do a wedding in Oklahoma for under 5 grand, even 3 or so like we did. It still was a beautiful wedding.

[DuncanWaring]

If it’s complicated enough to require a “Wedding Planner”, it’s too complicated/expensive.

[Publius Valerius]

Sept. 07 - $15k, including reception. Guest list of ~ 400

[justlurking]

Reality check: set a limit on what you will spend, and leave it to the bride and groom to pay for the rest, if they want it that badly.

Yes, I know that's not the tradition. But, the cost of weddings have escalated way out of control. That money is much better spent on more tangible items, like the down-payment on a house.

We are paying for our own wedding -- more accurately, I'm paying for it, but it's "our" money ever since we decided to get married. We've decided to keep it simple, limiting the guest list to family and close friends.

[kalee]

Our son is getting married in June. We are doing the rehearsal dinner and I’m figuring $2,000 or so for dinner, wine and the venue. We will be feeding about 40. It will be a large formal wedding.

[americanophile]

It all depends on the state. In the heartland, probably not all that much...on the coasts, it will be an ostentatious display that would rival in costs and pageantry, the coronation of a medieval king...and end five years later in an even more expensive divorce. But, I digress.

[Justaham]

I paid for my favorite niece’s wedding 10 years ago. They were married at Stanford Church (Stanford University), had the reception at the Stanford Golf and Country Club, with a band for 150 people. I paid $26K for the reception alone. Yeah I thought it was a bit much, but she’s my favorite niece, almost a daughter to me.

[P8riot]

My niece got married this past October in Charlotte NC. Church wedding, 600 guests, limo, cakes (2), reception hall, and dress. Cost her folks about 6 grand, and that is just because she got a deal on the reception hall.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Get married at the dollar store.

[taillightchaser]

Can you spell E-L-O-P-E?

[Tanniker Smith]

"should a wedding cost?" and "does a wedding cost?" are entirely different matters.

Depends on the "Must-Haves" and the "what can we do withouts".

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Mr. Peel and I got married for under $2500 in 1989. We were married at sea: for the $2500 we got a cruise ship for 2 hours, a band and a catered meal for our guests

[mad_as_he$$]

A keg, 4 bottles of wine, preacher and some chips.

Save the big party for the divorce.

[Responsibility2nd]

Whatever you spend, just be sure you can afford it and

.... DO NOT (repeat do not) go into debt. Do not charge it.