So the word wedding is equal to the word horse.

A stock trailer much less and is more versatile than the same size horse trailer. Add hores to anything and the price goes up.

You’re better off paying off the groom and bride to elope. Tell them you’ll give them $3-5K to spend on their honeymoon.
My sons wedding was actually cheaper so I’m glad they didn’t take my offer, lol! Between both sides of the family, we have a lot of friends and people who owned just the right businesses to keep everything including rehearsal dinner under $3K.

Like Providence Farm said.

My wife and I got married in 1986. We had the church ceremony at the oldest Catholic church in San Francisco and it cost us $400 for the church and the guy who played the organ. Then everybody drove about 2 hours north to a great piece of land that a friend owned next to a river, and we had a huge party there. We provided water, beer, wine and BBQ chicken legs. Everything else was potluck and people were very generous. The party cost us about $1,000 including tables and chairs for about 150 people.

To this day I have old friends, including my brother in law, who tell me it was the best wedding they ever went to. People could sit in the shade and tell stories, or swim in the river, or do whatever they wanted, and dogs were welcome.

I wish you the best of luck with the wedding and your marriage. But even if you have the money to spend, keep things simple. It is the day, the moments with friends and the photos that will stand the test of time.

Pete

The price of the wedding venue pales in comparison what the marriage will cost you in the long run

I couldn't afford to not be married. All the going out and Chasing women every weekend and expense of dating new ones, trips to the clinic to get checked out, would have been much higher.


Well on 2nd thought add the cost of the kids, collage for kids, and on and on I may be wrong in that first statement.

I do believe Marring my wife is the best thing I have ever done.

I forgot to add she made our wedding cake also. There is next to nothing that woman can't do.

Son in law had two fixed up barns for weddings, he got 5-6 grand a wedding for the bigger one that had ac, kitchen and bathrooms. 4k for the smaller one that just had bathrooms.

Sold them this spring.

Let your bride plan the wedding! All of it! Make no suggestions and agree to whatever she wants.

I think we spent about $1000 on our wedding, including my suit, her dress, rings, and honeymoon.
That was in the '80s.
Still happily married.

I've noticed an inverse relationship between cost of wedding and longevity of marriage.

Held reception on banks of mighty, muddy, Patuxent River, our families took care of cooking and drinks.

And REMEMBER THIS !!


The number of weeks that a Woman is HAPPY, is DIRECTLY proportional to the number of Carats in the Diamond Ring that you give her !!

The rule states 1 Carat per Week of Happiness. So , that works out to a 4 Carat Diamond PER MONTH !! YES, YOUR WIFE WILL REQUIRE A NEW 4 CARAT RING EVERY MONTH!!

Ours was free. And so was the reception hall. We got married at our favorite spot at the lake, nice open grassy hill overlooking the lake. We had our reception at the marina, the owners were kind enough to let us use their dance hall for free, probably because they knew they’d make bank at the bar they set up in there lol.

My mom and aunt made a bunch of ground beef and chicken and set up a make-your-own a taco bar for dinner, and since my brothers girlfriends dad owns a butcher shop we got a discount on the meat, so about $300 to feed 50 people as much as they could eat and then some.
The DJ cost $500. We bought enough Champaign and wine to get everyone a glass or two and after that they were on their own for drinks, I think that was another $300 or $400.
My clothes were about $250. The kids clothes were $200. My wife’s dress was the most expensive part of our wedding lol $1400 for that. My mom and aunt and my wife’s sisters are all good photographers so that was free too. My cousin owned a bakery at the time, so cake was also free.

We did it cheap, but it was still a wonderful ceremony and reception. Everything was awesome. All told I think it was right around $3,400

Oh my wife’s ring, that was $900 and mine was $600, so $4500 all in

No wonder she said yes.lol

Seriously.. Jerry and i don't owe for anything we have either.

Its nice to o to bed without the worry of owing a bunch of payments..

Still the less ya spend the more for savings.

That's the way to do it! We will be taking out a mortgage in the next year but as far as vehicles and all of that we are not in debt. Me and her both paid our schooling as we went so we are not in debt for college. I am blessed to have someone who does not accumulate debt, couldn't imagine marrying someone with piles of it and then that debt becoming mine

I know of one way out in the middle of nowhere on a small state highway. Out in an old cow pasture they built a huge barn looking thing and call it an event center. I drive by there every now and then and often there is something going on. I guess places are hard to find and folks are willing to drive. When I first heard about it I figured they would go broke fast but it's been going several years now.

Two wedding venues have popped up in my area over the past few years, I have no clue what they charge, but I think each put a good bit of money in them. It should be noted I live in a rural area, I never thought they would go over very well, but they seem to being doing a pretty good business.

Food, liquor, equipment rentals, table cloths and misc decorations we spent around 6k.
Got married in a park pavilion in the rain then had a reception at my in laws farm. It was a mud pit from the rain but everyone had a blast under the tents, except her aunt that fell in front of the outhouse and busted her teeth.

Venues here range from 8-12,000.00 some more, some less. It really depends what you want.
The best wedding events I've ever been to were outside under a big tent.

Here are my thoughts . I own the land and need a new building for my wife to teach classes. So I can make the building larger and nicer looking and utilize it for wedding and events. I can leverage my assets including my wife's talent in planing, organizing, and cooking. It will cost me noting more than the price of the building I want anyway but has the potential to be a nice money maker. I also have a 2 story log cabin built in 1830 for a draw. Add some old tractors maturing fruit trees, I can plant sunflowers all great for people to take photos with , I can add have a pumpkin patch, corn maze, rolls of roses hay rides, and on and on. Lots of options and potential. All it coast is the building and any other improvement cost I want to do anyway. Its all tax deductible and I don't need it for income. All money made will go directly back into the farm for mor improvements.

Maybe they are something like that. Heck if they only book 5 or 6 events for say 5 grand that's 25 or 30 k a year and goes a long way toward paying for that building.

Now if you had to buy the land, build, advertising, and needed the income to live on it would be tougher. But not everyone starts out with nothing. I plan on building on what I allready have.

I even thought building a small little white church on my hill would be nice.

Seen wedding pics from my Grandparents’ . Suit and tie/ nice dress. No tuxedo or wedding gown. Held in church, reception at their parents house. Food prepared by family and friends. Point being they would be aghast at the expense and vanity of modern weddings. Take that money and invest in your future.

This!!!

My wife and I got hitched at the local Justice of the Peace after a forty-year engagement, total cost was less than $100.00.