Only $289!
Posted on 06/15/2006 11:59:09 AM PDT by JZelle
The cost of weddings in the United States has soared to a point some of today's younger generation may be turning away from the ritual. Courtney Martin, whose article on marriages appears in the Christian Science Monitor, seems to be one. She says a typical wedding in 1990 cost $15,208, compared to $4,376 in 1980. Martin, who has no immediate plan to wed her friend of seven years, says that wedding today will set a couple back $22,360, or enough for private college tuition for their future child if that sum is invested at 10 percent return. "Truth be told, we (she and her boyfriend) avoid the topic of walking down the aisle because it is so inextricably tied up with gross, conspicuous consumption," she writes. "We have watched friends get sucked into the tidal wave that is the emotionally manipulative wedding industry -- now totaling $50 billion in sales a year." Saying the marriage ritual has turned into "a circus of decadence," Martin says, "Not only is the egregious spending offensive in a world where too many have too little, but the meaning of the ritual is all but lost amid the designer dresses and lobster dinners."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
There are people who sit less than 20 feet away from me at work who have spent double that on their weddings. (And two of them have since divorced.)
What a waste of money. Sheesh. *shakes head*
Let's just have a party, OK? You get the kegs and I'll get the food. ;-)
Elvis gave me away and sang afterwards. It was at the Graceland Wedding Chapel and as our lovely parting gift, we got an official replica of Elvis & Priscilla's marriage license. What a fun time.
Approximately 300 guests. Surf and Turf dinner. Open full bar for 4 hours. International coffee bar. DJ. Photgrapher hired for 3 hours. Massive reception hall at a 4 star hotel on the water. 3 Limo's to carry folks 4 blocks from the Church to the hotel. Hotel rooms and airfare paid for Groomsmen, Bridesmaids, and a few other folks.
I'm guessing this thing topped 40k.
We had a blast; just glad I didn't have to have something this extravagent.
Was Elvis still alive at the time? Pre 8-77?......
Are you cleaning your shotgun? :)
No it was 1998. The impersonater was a "dead ringer" for the King. He sang well too.
Egads, have you seen that tv show, "My Sweet Sixteen"? We're talking hundreds of thousands for some clueless rich kid's birthday party.
I was just telling my teens our wedding cost less than $500, including my gown and Mr. M's suit, shoes, rice, preacher, cake, flowers, invitations, and renting a beautiful Victorian B&B. Thankfully, the kids agreed weddings now days are too far out there and one said she's always wanted to get married outside - pretty and free.
That's basically what my parents did. They gave us the 10K for a wedding or a down payment, and since my husband qualified for a VA loan, we spent it on the wedding.
One thing you could do, is invest the $10k for each of them now!
I've read a couple of things recently which told of teenage girls spending thousands and thousands of dollars on dresses,accessories,limos,hotel rooms,etc for junior and senior proms.
"For the limo, my brother-in-law had a friend whose family owns a funeral parlor, so we got to use the limo for free (just had to tip the driver)."
You didn't mind stretching out in back?
Hmmm.... funeral home... maybe you could have gotten a deal on only-used-once flowers, too.....
I have two toddler girls. I plan to give them each a $10K wedding gift. They can use that for a wedding, a honeymoon, appliances... whatever. But if I were them, I would do a quick ceremony at church, then start looking at real estate.
A wonderful gesture, but you might want to add some more mula to that amount. 10 grand in let's say 15 years will be about 500 dollars today, but I got your point and it was a great one.
But it was doubly good! ;o)
Our girl was engaged and they called it off. She went to school while he dated around and they found they're the only ones who can stand each other - LOL! They're re-engaged now and just found a house.
They've decided that money towards the closing costs means more than a big fancy wedding.
Didn't cost us a dime, we had it done at a magistrate's office. When we got there we were one witness short of what we needed so they had to pull an inmate from the jail to come and watch. 13 years and a few kids later I bet we've done better than some others who spent thousands.
Actually, I'm investing $2K now, so I'll have $20K when they hit 21!!! :-)
"and as our lovely parting gift, we got an official replica of Elvis & Priscilla's marriage license."
ok, that might not be the BEST omen I could think of....
We still have it in our album. It was all just so cheesy.
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