Wedding Budgets

Yesterday a co-worker and I were looking at his son and future daughter-in-law's wedding website. He enjoyed pointing out different members of the family in the photo album section, and we looked together at the resort where they are to be wed. While looking at photos of the day they got engaged, I came across a picture of the bride-to-be's ring. It was gorgeous, with a huge diamond. My co-worker told me that his son had informed him, in all seriousness, that the ring had cost more than his father's house. We both thought that was a little over the top. With shows like Platinum Weddings, and Bridezillas, I think that people get the idea that weddings have to be extravagant, and expensive, to be good.

Last night, a friend of mine showed me her engagement ring. She's been engaged for a while, but just got the ring this last weekend. It is small, has a pretty little pearl on it, and cost less than $4. She knows that it isn't the ring that matters, but the sentiment behind it.

When Marc and I first got engaged, we originally talked about having a wedding of around 100 people, and having a budget of "around $10,000." I laugh now, because I have no idea where that money would have come from. My ring is nowhere near the cost of a house, or a small car, but I love it. It is exactly the style that I want, and the size is perfect. I wouldn't want it to be different, just so I can say that it cost more money or had a bigger karat count.

Our budget for the wedding is now somewhere around $2750, but we're hoping to do it for much less than that. My parents have very graciously decided to let us have the wedding at their house. We're thinking of inviting around 30 of only our closest friends and family. A friend of ours had agreed to actually marry us. I may buy my dress at a department store.

We don't want to go into debt to get married. We don't believe that is a good way to start our lives together. We are going to do our best to save money while we're engaged, and use nothing more than we have to get married. We know that it is the act of getting married, of committing ourselves together, that matters. We want to share our special day with our friends and family. We want it to be about love.