Now that you know the engagement story, I am going to introduce you into the wild and crazy world of the wedding industry in America. First off, because I am a cynic, I will constantly reiterate the fact that weddings are a business, and as much as they advertise love, people really just want you to dish out money. And now that you know that, you can continue reading.
You know those commercials by Mastercard that are like:
Lollipop: 50 cents
Time it takes to untangle the lollipop from your daughter's hair: 1 hour
Time spent with your daughter: priceless
(Obviously I just made this up)
Well, I'm going to do a little play on that, just with more categories and a heck of a lot more expensive items.
Average photographer: $1500
Average videographer: $750
Reception for 180 people with average of $30/person and 6% sales tax with 18% gratuity (standard): $6754
Church: $500
Dress with alterations and veil: $600
Stationary: $400
DJ: $800
Flowers: $300
This totals to $11,604. It doesn't include accessories, hair and makeup on the wedding day, shoes, favors, wedding attendants gifts, musicians, and the other trillion little costs that are milked from a young couple just because they want to have a decent wedding. Granted, I knew weddings weren't cheap going in, and I knew there were ways to cut it, but a decent wedding will still cost about $7000.
So this is my plea to you. Please follow us as we try to do this, and give us tips along the way. You can either email them to us at alishabrodie@gmail.com, or comment right on this post. As of now, I have posted about 30 books on Amazon to sell (Buy them! Books are good!) and a couple of movies, but since I'm 21 years old and in college that's where the selling ends. Also, there are only so many hours I can work since I am still a student in college and have classes, so unless any of you know of a job that pays $15/hour with flexible hours, that's a rough area too. And hey, if the Holy Spirit so leads you, you can always send money ;-)
But our biggest plea is to pray. Pray for us as a couple, that we would grow into the people God wants us to be, that we would be responsive to his voice, and that we can be changed into the people that we need to be for each other. And pray that we honor God in all we do, from getting a real-person job to planning a wedding-- in everything.
I know exactly how you feel. I was really blown away by the cost. We're planning on somewhere around 250 people and it's looking like it will be somewhere in the $13,000 range without a DJ, photographer, and clothing. Christin got a planner at Barnes and Nobles that is pretty detailed and lays things out for you. There is also a website called TheKnot that you can sign up at that has planners online and a personal website you can make about your wedding. The only advice I can give is to shop around and cut as many costs as possible, like wedding favors. Best of you luck to you both!
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