According to a recent statistics from The Wedding Report Inc, the average cost of a wedding in 2009 was $19,500. In 2007, Americans were spending even more on weddings – the total per wedding that year was $28,700.
As the economy starts to improve you can expect wedding prices to increase as well. But what if you’d like to try something different, something that might seem ridiculous in order to save money on your nuptials. Here are a few ideas:
Get a wedding dress from a dead person
There are lots of great ways to save on wedding dresses but finding one in the closet of a dead aunt is likely not on many people’s list.
Dead people’s wedding dresses are cheap though! Unless of course you’re looking to purchase a wedding dress from a famous person like Princess Diana. That might cost you a few bucks.
Stealing a wedding dress will save you some serious coin but you’d have to be the Grinch to pull off something so evil. There are lots of stories online of the bride’s having their wedding dresses stolen the day before their wedding. Not cool.
Bowling alley wedding
Skip the expensive banquet halls and head to the bowling alley. Instead of walking down the aisle you’ll be walking down the centre lane. An affordable wedding is a necessity for many American families and people are getting married in stranger (and cheaper) places all the time.
Lets just hope that Jesus from the Big Lebowski doesn’t show up.
Get your friend ordained for free online so they can marry you
There are lots of websites that will ordain you for free.
This wedding option is easy and cheap and a bit ridiculous. Will the couple be legally married? Yes, but you’ll have to look into state requirements before you get too far ahead of yourself.
For example, here are the requirements to get married in the State of Missouri. Some of the online ordination websites are bogus so try to find one that looks legit. I haven’t been ordained so I don’t have any suggestions for you.
Have a potluck wedding
It might not be traditional. It might even be a little tacky but who cares… it’s your wedding and you can do whatever you want.
There are lots of great examples of potluck weddings online so have a look around and see if you can get some ideas from other weddings. If you love your Grandma’s stew then you’ll still love your Grandma’s stew at your wedding and so will everyone else!
Now That’s Cheap!
Those are just a few of the ways that you can save money on your wedding and do something a bit different.
You might want to split the difference and see how you can save money on your wedding and still keep some of the traditional elements that you want. At the end of the day, it’s your wedding so plan it however you like.
This article was written exclusively for STL Weddings by Gary Kohler from the life insurance website LifeCover.ca.
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