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red0510 · Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:11 pm

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article ... appy/39681

A good read on the wedding industry and how it targets the emotionally vulnerable and the 'look at ME' mentality of brides-to-be.

I wish my friend had known about the book referenced in the article before his family dropped $14K on a wedding. The marriage ended 8 months later.

1970BossMsutang · Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:18 pm

all woman wait there whole life for that one moment and thus they blow an ungodly amount of money on it...the whole wedding thing is the womans moment to shine. They want to have like a medival nobles style wedding. Its funny because my cousin blew away somewhere around 40,000 bucks on there wedding....how can anyone even bring themselves to doing soemthing like that?

UberGerbil · Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:28 pm

"All" women? Nice blanket statement. Not all women are even interested in getting married, let alone having a huge production on the day it happens. I've been to several weddings that were very minimal affairs, despite the wealth of the participants. One of the most enjoyable weddings I attended even had a potluck reception, where all the friends of the couple brought dishes or wine/beer.

Hance · Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:31 pm

I dont understand spending a huge amount of money on a wedding either. My wife and I went to the opposite extreme. We had a small wedding with about 40 to 50 close friends and family members. The reception afterwards was the same people. If you came to the wedding you came to the reception. We could have spent more but just didnt see the point in blowing a bunch of cash to show off because that is really what it comes down to.

Darkmage · Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:44 pm

Interesting article. There is a lot of truth to it.

However, there are a lot of parallels between the wedding industry and the book as well as the article about the book. The wedding industry is invested in getting you to spend more on the wedding. The book and the article are going to tell you about the excesses and the "oh, wow" moments in order for you to buy the book.

Most of the time, the reality is somewhere in between. Not every wedding is insanely expensive and I expect most weddings are expensive but reasonable. That said, I think there is a lot of truth in this article. For my wedding, I was continually surprised as to what zany "tradition" we had to fulfill next. We need six almonds in little gift boxes at everybody's seat for the reception? WTF? Are we trying to appease the Almond God?

It's difficult to have a wedding without spending serious (not insane) money. It takes time, effort and resources. The more "perfect" you want your wedding to be, the more money you're going to spend. Buy your flowers from the local farmer's market? Not if you want the flowers to look exactly the way you want. You pay for that level of control.

This is, after all, most likely the largest party you will throw in your life. The cheapest wedding I know of (that didn't involve a Justice of the Peace) was still over a thousand dollars. I try very hard to not spend $1,000 on throwing a party.

Aphasia · Fri Jul 20, 2007 2:04 pm

What is more of a question for me that has a few friends that are photographers by trade is this: How can alot of couples blow a huge amount on just about anything with regards to the wedding, except on the photographer, which is just about the only lasting thing except for the rings.

Never understood that. Good quality costs, but when it comes to photography they are just like. But its just to point and click and then run down to the store and get the prints, how hard can it be. :roll:

Sure, i can understand that people want to spend some money on different things, while others dont, but to spend alot on everything and skimp on a single thing...

paulWTAMU · Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:06 pm

Our wedding cost less than 3,000 dollars US. I don't understand appeasing tradition at all. I still wish I'd been able to talk my wife into a bbq reception though, rather then the sandwich/snack bar we had. BBQ is good for mass parties like that (and tasty).

Our rings were like 400 combined
Dress and bridesmaids dresses were close to 800
Church was free, and preacher wouldn't even take an honorarium.
The photogapher was a few hundred
The tuxes were 200 for rentals
No DJ--we used mix CDs and one or two of my "happier" classical CDs
Catering and cake were freaking ungodly, close to 1000--and the cake wasn't even very tasty

ludi · Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:39 pm

Large, slightly-informal potluck receptions are the best IMO. There's enough food variety to suit anyone's tastes and the guests can break the ice more easily.

Although I've also been to a couple receptions where the food was catering quality, but everything was prepared and served by family and friends of the happy couple.

My Johnson · Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:48 pm

Where's the resident libertarian stating, "Why the heck do you care how I/they spend money?"

I'd have to agree with them. Wedding spending is on a luxury, therefore it will have very little rationality behind it.

flybywire · Fri Jul 20, 2007 4:14 pm

My wife's friend blew a cool 60k on her wedding reception at the local Ritz Carlton. Frankly, I can find better things to spend 60k on than an overpriced conference room.

Darkmage · Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:06 am

My Johnson wrote:
I'd have to agree with them. Wedding spending is on a luxury, therefore it will have very little rationality behind it.

It's an event designed for and by women. Who expects it to be rational?

flybywire wrote:
My wife's friend blew a cool 60k on her wedding reception at the local Ritz Carlton. Frankly, I can find better things to spend 60k on than an overpriced conference room.

I hear ya. I'm still kind of agog about what my wedding cost. My mother and my wife put their heads together and I pretty much stepped out of the way. End result was some $40K.

Turkina · Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:28 am

I'm showing this thread to my g/f. Her parents don't like me, and my parents don't have a lot of money/are retirement age, so that means we (read: me) would be paying for the wedding.

~Turkina

riviera74 · Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:57 am

I just read that link from Yahoo. That should be mandatory reading for EVERY FEMALE who wants an expensive wedding. I know of this very old man who married his wife about 55 or 60 years ago, and all they did was pay for a marriage license for each and a justice of the peace. Max paid: $40. This marriage lasted at least half a century (he is a widower now).

Forget the huge expensive wedding. The wedding is minor; the MARRIAGE is what counts.

nerdrage · Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:16 am

I got married last month. It took thousands of dollars and a year and a half to plan an event that lasted six hours. You do the math.

The article only scratches the surface. The wedding industry is way over the top... merely mentioning the word wedding while booking a vendor causes the price quote to double (at least). Have you ever heard of something called a "Save The Date" card? It's something the wedding invitation industry invented in order to make more money. But a lot of brides fall for it, because they believe that they need to have it because "everyone else is doing it".

There is so much money in this business that I've often thought I should switch careers to something wedding-related.

StashTheVampede · Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:37 am

This article highlights many of the reasons why I eloped.

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