When it comes to wedding, I think simple and classy is the way to go. Forget the big ass wedding with over 400 guests, fancy ass hotel, open bar, and all that bullshit. You are going to get fucked over big time!!! People will be there just for the meal and open bar and you will get shitty gifts from people you are not fairly close with.

I don't get how OP friends didn't make any money back from gifts. If they are 50-60K in debt after all gift are accounted for, that must of been one hell of a wedding!!

My dream wedding is 250 people, at a nice golf course, open bar, costing no more than $25K. Will that happen.... most likely not, but I'm praying I don't go waaaaay over budget.

Weddings are such a waste of money. We put our money into buying a house before getting married. And when we did get married we did the bare minimum.

Engagement ring ~$400
Wedding licence ~$100
Wedding commisioner ~$100

Total cost to get married... Around $600.

The marriage commisioner just came to our house and we signed the documents with 2 witnesses present. The documents get sent off to Victoria and everything's done.

The in-laws were away on vacation when we got married. They weren't too happy when they got back and we told them.

Once you get married and move in together, a simple one bed room condo isn't going to be enough. You are going to have to look at a 700+ sq ft place which will run you close to $400K. More than likely, you are going to need closer to $80K down payment if you want to keep the monthly mortgage payment reasonable.

And if you have kids, you will need extra rooms and sq ft.

Going back to the wedding, as what impactX said. Go to those wedding shows to get a feel for things, and see how much those deals will cost. Then find out what you have to have and negotiate.

For my wedding, we rented the Tux for me and my best man, and groomsman. $99 for three days and that included the shoes.
Wife and I and close friends/family flew down to Vegas for our wedding.
Photo's were done in Vegas, durning the "slow" time which made it pretty cheap.
Came back to Vancouver and did more photo's during the "slow' time. Dinner at a golf course durning the "slow" time kept the cost down.
Wife found her wedding dress and maid of honour's gown after hitting up every wedding shop in Van and negotiating the best deals for them. Shoes were bought online.
Wedding invites, and party gifts were ordered online and way cheaper than what people in Vancouver quoted or what it would cost for us to make ourselves.

If you can, bring your own alcohol. Restaurants will charge more for the same bottle of booze. And put a cap on how much alcohol.

Our wedding was in March and dinner was in April. If you choose a date between May - September, expect to pay more as there is higher demand for summer dates. Offset to that is the weather might be shitty. Luckily for us, it was 20+ C at our banquet.

And your wife was cool with a $400 ring?
What about a wedding band for you and her?

well, weddings are once in a life time (well for most)

thats why i'd stick with hookers

WOW!!!! Your pretty lucky to have a wife that is okay with a $400 engagement ring....

That's all you really need. If you really love each other and have $600, you can get married. Everything else is just fluff on top. If you want to add some and can safely afford it, well then hell go for it. But if the wedding will make the difference between a) get married, go live in your nice new place you just bought with your new spouse or b) get married, go live in the same apartment you've been renting, then I say cut back on the wedding.

Plus, there's always that option of getting "re-married" or whatever when you're older and have the money to get a more expensive ring and throw a bigass wedding.

If I had my way, I'd get married in Vegas in a nice hotel. I'd be perfectly happy not having a reception at all. If I felt like spending more money then perhaps a wedding in Hawaii. I'd much rather spend money on a place to live or to know I have more savings available for a rainy day, than on an expensive wedding ceremony/reception.

I hope you mean wedding bands. Cuz I just can't imagine a traditional engagement ring (you know, with a real diamond?) costing only $400.

I got married in September 2004, on a Thursday after work. Brought a cake in that day and explained to my co-workers that I was getting married that day (imagine the look on their faces)! Got the commissioner to come over, then went out for dinner with the two families.

Then we had our dinner reception at Sea Harbour for ~180 people in December.

nice, gf and I were thinking of flying to vegas and getting married then coming back and having a small get together, we dont want anything fancy. Rather save up the money for a place. Love isnt about money, its about sacrificing and making things work. You dont "need" a fancy wedding.

$400 for an engagement ring? Holy shit lol even though I'm not balling outta control, I would like my future-wife to be able to show off her engagement ring but that's just me though. I would never spend a couple hundred on one for her, most likely over 4k+. My friend said "the engagement ring depends on how much you're making, it's usually 10% of your total income" I wouldn't want to spend over 9k on a wedding ring :(

i used to work in banquets at westwood golf & country club.
IMO, it was pretty decent! the food is really good, for what you pay for.
the prices range from 25-45k i think. (for the banquet, ceremony, venue, service, alcohol and food)

i dont know dude, i dont expect one to spend their entire saving but $600 getting married seriously sounds ridiculous


smart

why? I know people who have just gone to the courthouse, signed the papers, married. And my old ski coach got married at the top of Big White first thing in the morning, just him, his wife and a priest or marriage guy or something (can't remember). It's all about what you consider important.

you're a very lucky man to have such a smart wife to go along with all that :)

yeah i agree with glow... maybe $5000 for the wedding and all the expenses then $70 000 on either a trip around the world or down payment on a house... would you rather say "hey honey remember how amazing our wedding was?"

or "hey honey remember how awesome our trip around the world was and how we really got to know each other over the course of the year that we were gone?"...

weddings last a day then you have to come back to reality, traveling together provides you with unique experiences that help you grow together as a couple which is like fertilizer for trust

^ that is...brilliant.

If I had it my way I'd probably want to elope and come back and have the wedding dinner with immediate family and close friends at a nice restaurant. Saves money on the ceremony/venue/car rentals/flowers/$6k-wedding-dress-you'll-only-wear-once that's for sure. When my cousin got married, it was only immediate family that witnessed their vows (done at Queen Elizabeth park) and they reserved a section of a nice Chinese restaurant for about 8 tables. Thousands and thousands of dollars were saved which went towards buying their first home. When they had their first kid a year later, they went all out and invited everybody to the baby banquet (It also helped that the groom's brother also had a baby the same month, they were pretty much inviting the same people and so they probably ended up splitting costs anyway haha)

Anyone ever check out Rich Bride, Poor Bride on Slice network? It's based in Toronto and it's pretty freaking funny to watch sometimes. It definitely gives you an idea of how expensive weddings can cost (flowers are damn expensive)

heh.., i know someone in our community that spent 300k on his wedding and got divorced a week later... rich guy, wife took half. smart wife. lol.

lol my friends gf wants nothing less than a 20k ring

can the wife really take half that easily?
there has to be some form of safety measure against that other than a prenup...

it depends on how long you were together prior to the wedding and if you were living together etc... a prenup can solve all of that though lol, although most women take it as an insult if you say you want a prenup that excludes her from any money haha

:lol lucky him, if she wants atleast a 20k ring then her side of the family better be paying for the whole wedding.

LOL she better be able to cook a mean steak (and blow a mean cock) everyday for the rest of their marraige!

:haha::haha:
better be able to do both at the same time!