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How does average Joe afford to get married?
We've been engaged 10 years now and still not married, it doesn't really bother me, nor does my GF seem to annoyed either although i'm sure she probably would like to be married, its more the dirty digs from everyone else, parents, friends, work colleagues etc, we live is a small rural area and well everyone is still very much old skool I.E get engaged, married ASAP but the big question i've never found the answer to is how do they afford it?
Ok you can go an get married in a registry office £50 or whatever job done, problem is i've never been to a wedding in a registry office, I've never been to a cheap wedding, they have all been grand affairs, church wedding and reception in a fancy hotel with all the trimmings in between, £10K wouldn't look at them.
I earn £15K per year, my partner around £10K, we are not big earners, but then any of the weddings we've went to the people have been below average wage earners also.
So I am just curious as to how these people can afford these weddings? Its the same folk who have there foreign holidays every year, have 2 cars, mortgages and all the rest, we still don't know the secret to this either
We rent, have never left the UK, its like we haven't been told something, haven't been let into the secret.
Ok you can go an get married in a registry office £50 or whatever job done, problem is i've never been to a wedding in a registry office, I've never been to a cheap wedding, they have all been grand affairs, church wedding and reception in a fancy hotel with all the trimmings in between, £10K wouldn't look at them.
I earn £15K per year, my partner around £10K, we are not big earners, but then any of the weddings we've went to the people have been below average wage earners also.
So I am just curious as to how these people can afford these weddings? Its the same folk who have there foreign holidays every year, have 2 cars, mortgages and all the rest, we still don't know the secret to this either
We rent, have never left the UK, its like we haven't been told something, haven't been let into the secret. 0
Comments
If your not lucky in that respect you save up (you have had 10 years to save up, to be fair).
More and more people are doing it abroard these days, it works out much cheaper plus you get the honeymoon too! Have you thought about that OP?
Oh I forget....You could always get yourself into shed loads of debt too.
To some people that probably sounds appalling. But we never felt the need to drive around in a limousine, showing the world how great we were or anything. Even now, 18 years later, we would probably not do it any differently, even though we could now afford a huge "do".
doesnt sound appalling at all,
my and my bf have been together 10 years engaged 3yrs 2 kids and a load of other better stuff to spend 10k plus on, we have always said that when we get a bit of cash were going to Gretna Green just us and the kids
the only person I would be worried about upsetting would be my mum I asked what she would think if we did this and she told me it was my day do whatever I wanted
I just dont fancy the big do and dress and being the centre of attention and all that,
we could put a deposit on a house with that kind of money and have an amazing holiday or blow it on wedding
Plus, you can have a perfectly good marriage without a lavish ceremony. Marriage is just one day... what comes after, should, in theory, be far longer.
OP - they probably put a lot of it on cards and took out loans. As for the 2 cars, theyre probably on HP and the holidays may be paid for over a few months. They may also live on smart price food to help pay for it all. At the end of the day, most of us are on finite salaries, but its up to us how we choose to spend it. Its got bugger all to do with anyone else.
Also there are ways of saving money when it comes to weddings and still making it look lavish - rope friends in to help make stuff, cava instead of champagne etc.
It depends if the day is for yourselves, or for others.
If it's for others then decide how much you want to give away for a meal and party for them all then pay it off over 5 years.
if it's for yourselves, then you can make your own choice how you celebrate it. Romance doesn't always = expensive, on the contrary you only need two people to turn up. The witnesses are only the legal bit.
I thought it was changed to civil partnerships now, or has it changed again. Well suppose some is still doing it
When 3 kids came into the mix everything else seemed to go out the window
We had a "fancy" wedding in a hotel with wedding breakfast and evening buffet and it cost £4k - which I appreciate isn't cheap but for what we got was quite reasonable to what you could pay if you arranged everything separately itself. The bulk of the cost for ours was the breakfast which (IMO) is perfectly OK to skip and go straight to an evening reception.
I've heard of many cases where the wedding has cost a fortune but the marriage hasn't lasted. Maybe if folks spent time planning their marriages rather than just one day in that marriage, more marriages might last.
if i get married to OH I will want to do it in a church, I think its much more difficult though to have a really small intimate wedding in a church, but I really would want to be married in a church as does he.
Ahh got ya!
We were in a similer position, together 16 years and two kids before we got around to the wedding. We didn't get engaged untill we knew we could afford a wedding though. I personally would have just liked the ring and the gesture