PRINTWedding woes
Attend in style and under budget
Illustration by Adam Rux
June 26, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Your unsuspecting hand glides over an envelope in your mailbox. The sight of it causes you to sweat. Its arrival means empty pockets and mandatory budget control. It’s not a bill or an IRS notice. It’s a wedding invitation.
Nowadays, the bride and groom aren’t alone in shouldering the financial burden of this celebration.
Wedding planners say attending a wedding can cost between $100-500 for guests and up to thousands of dollars for those in the wedding party.
For out-of-towners, the minimum expense of a wedding for one person is $400, says Columbia-based wedding planner Debi Hake. These expenses include lodging, food, travel or airfare and activities outside the ceremony.
Although the costs of attending a wedding might seem out of your price range, don’t send your regrets just yet. Below are some wedding rituals, the costs associated with them and a few tips on how to reduce your expenditures.
Wedding cake: $3.50-$13 per slice. A cake can range from a couple hundred dollars to a thousand or more depending on the number of guests and the desired design.
Invitations: Cost ranges from hundreds to thousands of dollars. This includes paying for a response card, envelopes for the response cards, inner and outer envelopes for the invitation and cards to notify guests of a reception.
Garters: $5-$40, average price: $20
Bride’s Bouquet: approximately $100
Bridesmaids Bouquets: $30-$75
Tipping the Vendors: The photographer, reception venue coordinator and wait staff should be tipped.
Contract costs: These include, but arent limited to, a cake cutting fee for the caterer or a corkage fee from the reception venue if you supply your own alcohol.
--Rebecca Layne
Bridal Shower
The maid of honor, bridesmaids and relatives of the bride usually pay for the bridal shower. Whoever decides to foot the bill will have costs for invitations, a reception space, food, beverages, party favors and entertainment.
In Columbia, renting park shelters is $30-40 a day. Renting a private room in a restaurant can cost $75-300 –– a fee that usually, but not always, includes food.
Kathy Spry, a supervisor at Lindsey Rentals, says most customers spend $15-300 on rental equipment for bridal showers, which include novelties such as chocolate fountains and cotton candy machines. She has seen people spend thousands of dollars.
Gift: Guests usually bring gifts to the shower. These gifts typically range from $25-100, Columbia-based wedding planner Katie Olson says. Some guests cut down on the price they pay for bridal shower gifts or forgo gifts altogether if they have spent a lot on the wedding gift.
Cheap Tip: Keep the location and activities simple but fun: Have it at a friend’s house, and cook dinner or order out. Make a short guest list. Don’t go overboard on the gift: Buy a couple of smaller items from the registry or make something yourself.
Bachelorette/Bachelor Party
Choosing appropriate party favors and entertainment venues for the bride’s or groom’s final hours of being single are decisions usually made by the bridesmaids and groomsmen. However, the costs can also come out of the pockets of those not in the wedding.
According to theknot.com, most bachelorette parties require each attendee to pay $50-200 for food, drinks and entertainment. These costs can go up or down depending on the location.
Brandon Laughridge, an MU senior, says he skipped out on a friend’s bachelor party in Amsterdam because he didn’t want to pay $2,500 for airfare and housing.
Gift: Guests often buy gag gifts that cost $15-50.
Cheap Tip: Skip the bar: Try bowling, miniature golf, scavenger hunts, the theater, poker night, a slumber party or watching a game on TV with the guys. If a bar is a must, choose one with good drink specials.
The Wedding
Female attendees usually spend $100-200 on a dress, Olson says. For women in the wedding party, dresses can reach $1,000 if the bride chooses an expensive design.
Men usually wear formal attire they already have, Olson says. For groomsmen, tuxedos, shoes and vests can range from $50-200.
“A big trend for groomsmen now is to wear a suit and tie instead of a tux in the wedding,” Olson says.
Ashley Bodnar, a property manager who attended a friend’s wedding in June, spent nearly $400 on clothes: $150 on a dress, $40 on shoes and $200 on her boyfriend’s suit.
Gift: Hake and Olson say the average price to pay for a wedding gift is $75. The price the bride and groom pay for a wedding can influence gift-buying. “I feel silly if they spend more money on my food than I spend on their gift,” Laughridge says. “I don’t want to be a mooch.”
Jaime Palmer, 26, says, “You can tell a lot about a wedding by the location and the invitation. The more the couple has forked out on the wedding, the more I may be influenced to spend on their gift.”
Cheap Tip: Wear something you already have, or borrow an outfit from a friend. Use the gift registry, and pick smaller items on the list or opt for gift cards.
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