Counting The Cost
Right, the six thousand dollar (£4,000) question – what’s it going to cost? I imagine this is going to be a major cause for concern for most grooms, and not least because we’re all tight gits. The wedding magazines D started buying the day after I proposed (I kid you not) cite figures in the region of £25K, and anything less than this is considered a ‘budget wedding’. This is clearly balderdash.
Mo' money, mo' problems
Once you strip out some of their more ridiculous estimates, such as £5K for the honeymoon, and £1.5K on bloody flowers, you’ll find that the whole thing can be done on £10-15K if you’re sensible. The lion’s share will go on the venue and reception; even the cheapest chicken dinner at your local golf club can cost you in excess of £4K. However, once you get over this, the rest really isn’t too painful.
Now as I’ve mentioned D’s Dad owns a restaurant, so after much deliberation we decided to have the reception there. The downside is keeping him out of the kitchen and actually enjoying himself, but he’s assured me most of it will be prepared beforehand, so he won’t be stressing too much on the day. He’s also a huge foodie, and I think the thought of spending £5K on someone else’s lukewarm chicken and veg was offending his professional pride…
It may sound like he wants to do it on the cheap, but he’s offered us a fair wedge of cash as an alternative, and he’s likely to be losing a few grand by shutting the restaurant for a whole Saturday (and probably Sunday) in May. Plus I know this means the food will be ace.
Back to the cost, you might not be blessed with such a generous future father-in-law, or feel guiltier than I do about letting him pay – which means the 10K+ is looking a bit daunting. However, we plan to put about £500 a month each in a special account, which after a year is a cool £12K – this makes it look a bit less scary. Fortunately we might not need all this, although D is now dreaming up some scary honeymoon plans…
We’re off to see my parents next weekend to see what they want to chip in; I’m hoping they might want to buy The Dress. Wish me luck – I’ll certainly be happier about D blowing over a grand on something she’ll only wear once if I don’t have to pay for it.
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