November 18, 2004
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A Less Costly Union
Brides, take heart: Cheap, chic weddings are the latest trend
Jessica Shearman and Neil Corp served burgers from White Castle.
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston spent tens of thousands on fireworks at their wedding. And Madonna shelled out almost $300,000 for Champagne.
Then there’s the rest of us.
Like Jessica Shearman, who served White Castle burgers and cheese and crackers at her wedding in June 2003. “We didn’t have any money, and no one else was paying for the wedding, so we went cheap,” says the 33-year-old of her Gramercy Park nuptials.
More and more couples are bucking the blow-your-savings-trend, ditching the white chocolate truffle cakes and ice sculptures. They’re getting creative with less pricey ways to celebrate their unions.
“You don’t have to keep up with the Joneses,” says Rosanna McCollough, editor-in-chief of WeddingChannel.com. “There are brides and grooms who make it a grand event and others who recognize the importance of the day, but think it’s too much of an extravagance to spend a ton of money for just a few hours.”
“The trend these days is not to do these big fancy commercial weddings,” says Erika Lenkert, entertainment expert and author of “The Last Minute Party Girl,” an on-the-cheap planning guide. “People are increasingly leaning toward less orchestrated and more organic weddings that they can integrate their own style into. I find the less money you have, the more clever you are.”
And the more practical, too. According to McCollough, there are several key things couples can do to cut costs. The first is to be meticulous with the food and beverage list, which can account for up to 40%-50% of the wedding budget.
Saturday Night Price Fever
“Think about whether you really have to have a Saturday night dinner, because it costs more, foodwise,” she says. “Maybe you can opt to do brunch or lunch.”
Shameeka Silver, 28, who works for Verizon, scaled back food and beverage costs for her $9,500 wedding by buying $650 worth of liquor in New Jersey, where there’s a lower sales tax. As for food, the Brooklyn native bought her own, including salmon, turkey and macaroni and cheese, and got her uncle, a chef, to do the cooking.
Party expert Lenkert encourages couples to follow in Silver’s footsteps.
“Most people are thrilled to be included in the specialness of your day,” she says. That was true for Sarah Klein and David Kwan, whose $12,000 ceremony cost less than half the national average (a whopping $27,000) spent by most couples. (<-every wedding I’ve been to so far has cost WAY more than that)
Klein and Kwan’s friends did everything from making the bouquet to deejaying (the couple bought a 1930s Victrola for $40 off Craigslist) to officiating at the ceremony.
“People were really eager to do things for us,” says Klein, 36, an art teacher. “You have to give up a bit of control when you do that. Just letting people know got the ball rolling. And it wasn’t all about saving money. We didn’t want to have strangers doing these things for us.”
Another area to save is flowers, which represent about 8%-10% of the total budget. It’s important to be flexible, says McCollough.
“There’s no rule that says you have to have fresh flowers. Use hurricane lamps as your centerpieces or transport the ceremony flowers to the reception.”
Or just make your own. Silver saved big time on decorating expenses by scouring 99-cent stores and wholesale shops for candles and artificial blooms, which she used to make her own centerpieces.
Ailza Karathomas, who married husband Nicholaos on Oct. 3 in Hempstead, L.I., thinks couples shouldn’t worry about decorations at all.
She simply recycled. “Most brides shouldn’t even bother with the decorations if they’re going to be at a church, because they tend to book back to back, especially on Sundays,” says the 29-year-old food-service manager. “The church I got married in was like that. They just kept the same decorations.”
A sample of savings
Hitting sample sales is the key to cutting dress costs. Vera Wang’s annual bargain blowout is one of the most popular in the city. But lesser-known events, including the ones listed on NYSale.com, can be a budget girl’s gold mine. Even J. Crew offers economical – but still elegant – options, like a $550 satin empire-waisted strapless gown and a $180 tricotine silk dress.
And if a cheap gown is good enough for celebs, it’s good enough for us. Singer/songwriter Michelle Branch personalized her $300 dress by tea-staining it and sewing on a vintage rose. The 21-year-old also opted for a destination wedding on an island near Mexico, another option that’s surprisingly budget-minded.
“Destination weddings can be cost effective because the average wedding has 164 guests. But a destination wedding has around 54,” says Millie Bratten, editor in chief of Bride’s magazine. “Plus you can have your honeymoon there. All you have to do is send everyone home.”
Some resorts, like Sandals, even offer packages that include the wedding ceremony for free.
Money, after all, shouldn’t be the main focus of your big day.
“The biggest thing is hospitality,” Bratten says. “It doesn’t have to be expensive. Just make it special.”
That’s something David Kwan understands.
“The best money you can spend is your own sweat. We worked hard and the payoff was a high-quality wedding that was priceless. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
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So how many of you girls out there would be cool with serving White Castles at your wedding?
Damn I could go for some right now. I’m hungry~ 
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Comments (30)
you’re asking korean girls whether serving white castle would be acceptable?? HA HA HA…. personally I don’t think I could do white castle, maybe McDonalds. Actually, I would rather save on the wedding and use it towards something a bit more practical like a house.
i don’t think any korean girl would be ok with serving white castles.
rat burgers….blegh! but I wouldn’t mind serving pizza slices…. i’ll be the pizza nazi. ONE SLICE!! NO PIZZA FOR YOU!
yeah…i dunno about this one. def no white castles.
white castle?? haha I can just imagine all these ppl going to the wedding..high and craving the munchies…but yeah, if you gonna serve white castle, you’d better let your guests know..unless it’s a good friend, it wouldn’t be fair to give you Waterford for a sack of 10 that’s more equal to Crate n Barrel…am I being cheap?? xP
good research dude … haha
This is a great article, but get ready for mucho hate from gold diggers….
white castles at your wedding? thats so Britney Spears (white trash). There are other ways to save money at a wedding. order chicken instead of steak, less flowers. rent a dress. you only get married once, and they couldn’t find anyone in their family to help cook a couple of dishes?
HELLS NO! i’m gonna have a fairy tale wedding…
Lucky Ji… so I guess she can expect the finest that Burger King has to offer for her wedding reception… hahaha.
nice!!!…hahaha…i’d have burger king, McD’s and Wendy’s available too!…yea man!..fast food wedding banquet…haha…oh…also In & Out Burger and Crown Burger!
=O blasphemy!! i’ve never eaten a white castle burger in my life (because i think they’re gross) and i will NOT serve crap at my wedding.
however, i do agree that there are many ways to cut costs that couples should think about. there are certain things that need to be done professionally, but there are others that you can do as a couple.
i’m printing this out and saving it. white castle? genius! except mine’s gonna be jack in the crack. two tacos for everyone! the head table will get seasoned curly fries
since my wedding will be in korea, i told my parents that i don’t really care about having a fancy pants wedding. supposedly in korea, u can either go two (extreme) ways: really cheap or really expensive (average korean wedding is like 50k!!!!!!) and since most korean weddings that i’ve heard of only last less than 2 hours (including reception) why spend the big bucks. plus, i want a nice reception back in texas
*550 for a dress for jcrew is not worth it and pricey! especially for jcrew!*
i’ve always wanted to go that one annual sample sale at “kleinman’s” or “kleinfelds” (sp?) whatever…i’ve heard it’s craaaaaazy.
Interesting but all I can say is where do these people come from, national average $27,000 for a wedding. All I can say is there must be a lot of people out there with more money than I ever had. I wouldn’t dream of spending that kind of money, not then, not now. I wouldn’t spend $12,000. I can think of a lot of places for that kind of money to go.
One other thing, I like white castles and I know you are being funny but to be honest, you can feed people well and nice and for not nearly the big bucks. You just have to be willing to plan and execute some of it yourself.
hahaha.. if i ever get married i’m serving hamburgers and cupcakes!
personally, i’d like to elope – just us and a few friends and party it up the wknd and then come back and have a reception. i don’t see anything wrong w/having white castle at the wedding – if the couple is happy serving it than who’s to say it’s wrong. and didn’t adam sandler give out krispy kreme at his wedding?
my goal is to have a wedding for less than $10Gs…and if that means no food, then so be it. haha, j/k. maybe fat burger, but definitely no white castle.
i’ve only had white castle burgers once and i didn’t dig it too much. i’d never server fast food at my wedding. if i didn’t have money, i’ll just get eloped in vegas.
I completely agree! My aunt who is a fabulous photographer, she only does it as a hobby, is taking our pics at the wedding…my other aunt is making the cake for us and my grandmother is making the bridesmaid dresses! We are saving so much money and everything will mean that much more to us because our family will have had such a hand in making the day so amazing!
i don’t have the nutts to serve hamburgers in my reception. don’t worry.. you’ll be fed well~ hahaha.. i hope.
can we upgrade to surf and turf from white castles??
i agree you should cut costs where you can but white castles is a little too ghetto even for me, haha.
I have been married for ten years. We had a kosher wedding so that excludes White Castle for us. However, I would have served the kosher equivelant of that. One of my friends even had a dessert wedding at the synagogue because that was all they could afford.
A girl can still have a fairy-tale wedding if she buys her dress at David’s, gets nice flowers, has the wedding in the church/synagogue social hall, has bridesmaids who have nice dresses, order a nice cake, pass out disposable cameras to guests and tell them to take pictures, ask a relative to bring their camcorder, and hires a DJ instead of a band.
I have heard of people doing these things and saving their money for a down payment on a home or paying off student loans.
props
it’s good to cut down on some costs since weddings ARE expensive but that’s over doing it haha
still trying to figure out the purpose of this posting….trying to convince a certain someone to go cheap on your wedding? hehhee…
serving fast food at a wedding is so damn ghetto…lol. btw, what year are you in law skool? i know what you mean about work and skool at the same time, it sucks…but i’m glad it’s almost over…
i don’t know about fast food at a wedding… think about your guests. many of them will probably be coming from out of state. think about their costs just to attend this wedding. at least feed them well. and by well, i don’t mean steak and prime rib. but something at least satisfying to their stomach. fast food you get on a daily basis. and from anywhere. my friend saved lots by catering the food herself with the help of friends and family.