Buck and I had a wonderful wedding. About 125 guests at an historical 1700s-type home that was used as an event facility. We had a live band, wonderful food, lots of champagne, etc.
After it was all said and done, I made my gown, all the gowns for the bridesmaids, all the flowers, all the favors, and the cake and the non-alcoholic punch. I bought the invitations at a discount, we paid the photographer for his film only (developed the pictures ourselves), paid a local high school home ec class to do all the serving at the reception as well as the clean-up, found a liquor store that sold champagne (not $$$$ kind, but good) at a fine price, and paid a local grocery store to prepare the food for the buffet reception.
All the tuxes for the men in the wedding party were rented from a big department store and, because there was a certain number of men, we got them at a substantial discount and received Buck's for free.
When it was all said and done, our total expenses for our wedding, including paying the minister, was less than $2,000. That was in 1983 in Washington, DC, so I think we did okay.
After it was all said and done, I made my gown, all the gowns for the bridesmaids, all the flowers, all the favors, and the cake and the non-alcoholic punch. I bought the invitations at a discount, we paid the photographer for his film only (developed the pictures ourselves), paid a local high school home ec class to do all the serving at the reception as well as the clean-up, found a liquor store that sold champagne (not $$$$ kind, but good) at a fine price, and paid a local grocery store to prepare the food for the buffet reception.
All the tuxes for the men in the wedding party were rented from a big department store and, because there was a certain number of men, we got them at a substantial discount and received Buck's for free.
When it was all said and done, our total expenses for our wedding, including paying the minister, was less than $2,000. That was in 1983 in Washington, DC, so I think we did okay.