[Tainari88]

Hello there folks, just want to know how many people on PoFo believe spending big bucks on a wedding is a good idea?

These are the top 10 most expensive weddings in the world.

I will tell you what the average wedding costs for your part of the world if you participate in this poll.

I am interested in this topic because I am always stuck with paying for a friend's picked out expense in these events. And it is never cheap!

[Pewty]

The absolute minimum. There's so much more a newly married couple could be spending their money on.

In fact, people ought to be able to get married the way I answered your poll question. Click the button.

[wat0n]

Why does anyone even need to have a wedding?

I'm getting married next month but we'll keep expenses to a minimum. We won't even have a proper wedding, we can throw a party a few years from now once we're set up.

[Hakeer]

I will add another point. Be considerate of WHERE you have the wedding.

We once had to go to a very expensive hotel in Cancun, Mexico for a wedding that would have been convenient for both families if held in Chicago.

[wat0n]

I will add another point. Be considerate of WHERE you have the wedding.

We once had to go to a very expensive hotel in Cancun, Mexico for a wedding that would have been convenient for both families if held in Chicago.

Yet the wedding may have been way cheaper in Mexico than Chicago.

[Tainari88]

Why does anyone even need to have a wedding?

I'm getting married next month but we'll keep expenses to a minimum. We won't even have a proper wedding, we can throw a party a few years from now once we're set up.

Well, you and I will have something in common then. I got married through the judge in 1984. I used a Spanish silk dress in indigo blue. 25 years later I had a wedding in Mexico that was on our anniversary vacation. But it was also only civil because we planned on adopting a kid from Mexico. No money dropped on that one.

The last one was a religious ceremony in a Catholic chapel a long time ago. I think I paid $40 dollars for the dress from off the rack. Some flower bouquet that was very pretty bought at Safeway (red,yellow and orange roses). The cake, ceremony and dinner was provided by some nuns. For free. She gave us a big bible. For a gift. It was a sleeveless halter style with embellished lines in the bodice and white satin.

They liked me. I taught a lot of the nuns from India Spanish. They appreciated it and did the wedding thing for us. Total for that wedding was about less than $200 dollars. I bought the veil for $10 and steamed it myself with some pearls stuck on it.

If ever I marry again though....I am spending a lot more. It is worth it to have a big wedding in Mexico and invite your friends and family and do it up. But it will have to be less than 15k. My mother always wanted a huge wedding with a big band playing El Gran Combo style music or Cuban charanga and Armando Manzanero bolero tunes. Big huge Cuban, Puerto Rican and Mexican food. A large gorgeous old Spanish Hacienda style of wedding with super beautiful flowers and professional photography.

I hope to give my sons nice weddings if they ever get married. I hope they find the right wives for them.

No, I never went for big expensive stuff. I do think you should spend if your mother wants a big wedding. Lol.

Does your mother want a big wedding @wat0n ?

My mother's wedding was on February 25,1961. In New York City. They went to city hall and got married there. The reception was in my grandparents on my mother's side apartment. They invited the immediate family and some close friends. My father had an Italian guy that was an opera singer sing at their reception. Puerto Rican food and a cake from Valencia Bakery in the Bronx that is still in business. If you look up Valencia Bakery? In the Bronx? They have the same cake they sell for weddings in their website. It has not changed at all.

They did this cute wedding album where mom has a white short lace cocktail gown with a poofy skirt and those pointy white stiletto heels that were popular in the early sixties and her hair and makeup done really well. My father in a suit with his glasses and smiling big. A photo of them cutting the cake and kissing too. I thought that was cute.

They met three weeks before the wedding. So they had only known each other for three weeks before getting married. That was fast. I think couples nowadays wisely take more time. In the fifties and sixties they were a lot faster. It was a different time.

My mother wanted something fancy for me. So if there is another wedding in my future? I would go big. If not? Enjoy your kids weddings.

[Hakeer]

Yet the wedding may have been way cheaper in Mexico than Chicago.

No. Not even close. It was a luxury hotel. I can’t remember exactly. but I think the rate was $300-400 per night plus airfare. It would have been a local wedding in Chicago for most people.

For me, it wasn’t so much about the money as the time and hassle of going clear to Mexico for the wedding. Other family members felt same.

[wat0n]

Well, you and I will have something in common then. I got married through the judge in 1984. I used a Spanish silk dress in indigo blue. 25 years later I had a wedding in Mexico that was on our anniversary vacation. But it was also only civil because we planned on adopting a kid from Mexico. No money dropped on that one.

The last one was a religious ceremony in a Catholic chapel a long time ago. I think I paid $40 dollars for the dress from off the rack. Some flower bouquet that was very pretty bought at Safeway (red,yellow and orange roses). The cake, ceremony and dinner was provided by some nuns. For free. She gave us a big bible. For a gift. It was a sleeveless halter style with embellished lines in the bodice and white satin.

They liked me. I taught a lot of the nuns from India Spanish. They appreciated it and did the wedding thing for us. Total for that wedding was about less than $200 dollars. I bought the veil for $10 and steamed it myself with some pearls stuck on it.

If ever I marry again though....I am spending a lot more. It is worth it to have a big wedding in Mexico and invite your friends and family and do it up. But it will have to be less than 15k. My mother always wanted a huge wedding with a big band playing El Gran Combo style music or Cuban charanga and Armando Manzanero bolero tunes. Big huge Cuban, Puerto Rican and Mexican food. A large gorgeous old Spanish Hacienda style of wedding with super beautiful flowers and professional photography.

I hope to give my sons nice weddings if they ever get married. I hope they find the right wives for them.

No, I never went for big expensive stuff. I do think you should spend if your mother wants a big wedding. Lol.

Does your mother want a big wedding @wat0n ?

My mother's wedding was on February 25,1961. In New York City. They went to city hall and got married there. The reception was in my grandparents on my mother's side apartment. They invited the immediate family and some close friends. My father had an Italian guy that was an opera singer sing at their reception. Puerto Rican food and a cake from Valencia Bakery in the Bronx that is still in business. If you look up Valencia Bakery? In the Bronx? They have the same cake they sell for weddings in their website. It has not changed at all.

They did this cute wedding album where mom has a white short lace cocktail gown with a poofy skirt and those pointy white stiletto heels that were popular in the early sixties and her hair and makeup done really well. My father in a suit with his glasses and smiling big. A photo of them cutting the cake and kissing too. I thought that was cute.

They met three weeks before the wedding. So they had only known each other for three weeks before getting married. That was fast. I think couples nowadays wisely take more time. In the fifties and sixties they were a lot faster. It was a different time.

My mother wanted something fancy for me. So if there is another wedding in my future? I would go big. If not? Enjoy your kids weddings.

Nah, my mom is okay with something small. We'll do the civil ceremonies (at the civil registry, so it's really quick) and then we'll have lunch at her house. Just with close relatives (parents, siblings + partners) and a couple of friends who will act as witnesses.

My dad and her also had a cocktail at my grandparents' apartment in the 1980s so it's not out of our family custom to do it that way I guess.

A big party? Sure, when we've bought a house and even then we'd only do it in Chile. I'm not even against big weddings, I'd love to do one, but there are other priorities aren't they? A proper wedding can easily be the down payment.

@Hakeer you're still underestimating just how expensive a wedding is. A 100-guest wedding can cost you ~$30,000 in Chicago, and 100 guests is on the small end (at least for Latin American custom).

In Chile, that same wedding can cost you half of that.

So an American couple who would rather spend those same $30,000 on a luxury wedding are way better off just doing it in Mexico.

[Hakeer]

Nah, my mom is okay with something small. We'll do the civil ceremonies (at the civil registry, so it's really quick) and then we'll have lunch at her house. Just with close relatives (parents, siblings + partners) and a couple of friends who will act as witnesses.

My dad and her also had a cocktail at my grandparents' apartment in the 1980s so it's not out of our family custom to do it that way I guess.

A big party? Sure, when we've bought a house and even then we'd only do it in Chile. I'm not even against big weddings, I'd love to do one, but there are other priorities aren't they? A proper wedding can easily be the down payment.

@Hakeer you're still underestimating just how expensive a wedding is. A 100-guest wedding can cost you ~$30,000 in Chicago, and 100 guests is on the small end (at least for Latin American custom).

In Chile, that same wedding can cost you half of that.

So an American couple who would rather spend those same $30,000 on a luxury wedding are way better off just doing it in Mexico.

Well, the couple wasn’t paying anyone’s airfare or hotel in Mexico. In Chicago, people could just get in their cars and drive to the wedding. No cost. No hassle.

[wat0n]

Well, the couple wasn’t paying anyone’s airfare or hotel in Mexico. In Chicago, people could just get in their cars and drive to the wedding. No cost. No hassle.

Very minor compared to the wedding's cost.

If this is really an issue, just give them a cheap (but useful) wedding gift.

[Pants-of-dog]

Weddings are not for the couple. They are for the families to get to know each other and celebrate the love.

[wat0n]

You don't really need to spend $30,000 to do that, do you?

Of course the wedding is for the couple as well.

[AFAIK]

Spend on the wedding. Don't spend on an outfit you'll only wear once.

[wat0n]

@Tainari88 what's your opinion on engagement rings? I need to buy that, too, and it seems the average cost is $5,500. I am absolutely not spending that on a ring, ever.

[Tainari88]

I will add another point. Be considerate of WHERE you have the wedding.

We once had to go to a very expensive hotel in Cancun, Mexico for a wedding that would have been convenient for both families if held in Chicago.

Cancun is a tourist trap town in Quintana Roo state. If you go to the Yucatán capital which is Mérida you get beautiful venues in gorgeous mansions or Haciendas, live Cuban band, food and liquor including tequila and the whole shebang, and a gorgeous dress, guayabera in fine linen suit for the groom and so on...cake, and the entire thing for cheap. Even hotels and AirBnbs here are very affordable.

I like this Teya Hacienda. The Queen of Spain stayed there and you can rent that entire place for a lot less than a hotel costs for guests in Chicago for sure. The food is a lot cheaper. And catering here is top notch.

Wat0n is right. You have to consider that for that amount of money you can have super fancy stuff in Mexico. But not in Cancun or many other tourist trap destinations. Go to real cities with a less American tourist trap crap going on.

Hacienda Teya.

I would do the wedding for my sons here.

@wat0n engagement rings? The ones that are mixed with silver and platinum and custom designed to incorporate your future bride's tastes and preferences? A lot cheaper in Mexico. I am talking about a quarter or less of what they charge in the states.

If you want a gorgeous ring for a very small amount in the USA? Macy's. Wait for the big blow out Black Friday. You get big discounts. A $5000 dollar ring you can snatch for under $1000 bucks. But you need to know the exact day you can snatch it and you got to be fast and know which design she loves first. Scope it out.

Mexico you get fantastic high quality design for much less money. In everything ring related.

I visited that hecienda. It is GORGEOUS.

[Hakeer]

Cancun is a tourist trap town in Quintana Roo state. If you go to the Yucatán capital which is Mérida you get beautiful venues in gorgeous mansions or Haciendas, live Cuban band, food and liquor including tequila and the whole shebang, and a gorgeous dress, guayabera in fine linen suit for the groom and so on...cake, and the entire thing for cheap. Even hotels and AirBnbs here are very affordable.

I like this Teya Hacienda. The Queen of Spain stayed there and you can rent that entire place for a lot less than a hotel costs for guests in Chicago for sure. The food is a lot cheaper. And catering here is top notch.

Wat0n is right. You have to consider that for that amount of money you can have super fancy stuff in Mexico. But not in Cancun or many other tourist trap destinations. Go to real cities with a less American tourist trap crap going on.

Hacienda Teya.

I would do the wedding for my sons here.

@wat0n engagement rings? The ones that are mixed with silver and platinum and custom designed to incorporate your future bride's tastes and preferences? A lot cheaper in Mexico. I am talking about a quarter or less of what they charge in the states.

If you want a gorgeous ring for a very small amount in the USA? Macy's. Wait for the big blow out Black Friday. You get big discounts. A $5000 dollar ring you can snatch for under $1000 bucks. But you need to know the exact day you can snatch it and you got to be fast and know which design she loves first. Scope it out.

Mexico you get fantastic high quality design for much less money. In everything ring related.

I visited that hecienda. It is GORGEOUS.

The families were not even consulted on this. We were just informed that it would be in Cancun. The couple is wealthy and couldn’t care less about the expense. Not so for some of the guests, and others were senior citizens who do not travel so easily as young folks. Anyway, I never said anything, but I thought it was damn inconsiderate.

[MistyTiger2]

I don't believe in spending a lot of weddings or pre-wedding preparations/events. I've heard of some awful stories about bachelorette parties too.

If I were to ever get married, it would be a quick thing at city hall or Las Vegas. For any receptions, I'd do the decor myself and spend less than anyone.

If the mother in law wanted anything fancy, she'd be responsible for the bill. I'm not spending on invitations and fancy arrangements.

[Tainari88]

I don't believe in spending a lot of weddings or pre-wedding preparations/events. I've heard of some awful stories about bachelorette parties too.

If I were to ever get married, it would be a quick thing at city hall or Las Vegas. For any receptions, I'd do the decor myself and spend less than anyone.

If the mother in law wanted anything fancy, she'd be responsible for the bill. I'm not spending on invitations and fancy arrangements.

You can get a super fancy wedding of your dreams for about $210,000 pesos. That is super fancy like that video in Mexico. And your entire wedding guests staying in that place, Catered food, liquor music and a dress to die for and flowers...dream wedding Misty. And flights round trip to and from Chicago if you plan it right are cheap. Same for the East Coast.

Stay in the Yucatan and or Q Roo and go to Xcaret for your honeymoon. And done. Perfect deal all around in my opinion.

Those Vegas Weddings are not that cheap Misty. They can cost a bit. Your parents would love something more regal for you. You beautiful woman you!

[Tainari88]

The families were not even consulted on this. We were just informed that it would be in Cancun. The couple is wealthy and couldn’t care less about the expense. Not so for some of the guests, and others were senior citizens who do not travel so easily as young folks. Anyway, I never said anything, but I thought it was damn inconsiderate.

The couple should have done a George Clooney and Amal thing. If they were that wealthy. Hee hee.

Half the budget goes to pay for the airline tickets and the hotel and food and drink.

I attended a wedding where I paid a lot of money to get dresses made and my son a little tuxedo and my spouse a suit and so on....and the couple divorced four weeks later. What was all that expense for?

[Hakeer]

The couple should have done a George Clooney and Amal thing. If they were that wealthy. Hee hee.

Half the budget goes to pay for the airline tickets and the hotel and food and drink.

I attended a wedding where I paid a lot of money to get dresses made and my son a little tuxedo and my spouse a suit and so on....and the couple divorced four weeks later. What was all that expense for?

The couple did divorce, but the marriage lasted long enough to have two kids. They proved that, no matter how much money you have, some people can never have enough.

If they did the Clooney wedding, I guess I would have spent 3 days in a luxurious Italian hotel, but I’m not sure I could bite my tongue that long.