Financial Facts about a Typical Wedding Today



According to Costofwedding.com, the average wedding costs about $25,000. But that doesn’t really give the whole story. Many weddings are much more expensive than the average cost, and many are much less expensive. The truth is, how much one spends on a wedding doesn’t define whether or not the wedding was enjoyable for all the parties involved. You can have a wonderful wedding without spending a fortune.

The Most Expensive Part of a Wedding

By far the most expensive part of a wedding is the location and the wedding venue, along with food and beverages. The average cost is almost $4000, with trendy locations often topping $8000 or more. Believe it or not, this gives you a lot of control over the cost of your wedding. If you’re aware that the venue may be expensive, you can try to find alternatives.

Some alternatives might be your church if you practice religion, a clubhouse, or an apartment building of a family member or friend. Renting out places like that are often much less expensive but can offer a beautiful venue that everyone loves. And it's not within the norm, so it’ll also be something personal and different.

Other Significant Expenses

The next most expensive part of a wedding is the photographer or videographer at close to $2000 for each. Sometimes you can get a package that includes both. You can also try other ways, such as hiring a videographer and letting your guests act as the photographer, submitting all photos they take to a central location such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or other storage solution. 20 years ago, this may have sounded absurd but with the amazing capabilities of digital cameras and cellphone cameras, you may be able to get some amazing photos and videos that you don't need to pay much for.

Almost equal in cost to photography and videography, wedding dresses can run on average to a little less than $1500. The price range depends on the style, and whether you want a designer dress or not. Designer dresses start at about $2400 and go on up from there. You can save money here by buying floor samples, buying on sale, making your own, or buying a used dress. You may also decide on a dress that is less ornate but still elegant. Depending on the theme of your wedding, you may be able to choose a less traditional dress, which may save you cash. What’s important is how you feel in the dress, not the amount of money you spend.

The best way to determine what you want to spend on your wedding is to set a budget. Set your budget early and stick to it. You may have tough choices, depending on your budget, but that will be better than starting your new life together in debt. You can have a beautiful wedding for as little as the cost of the license if you want to. You can also go all out and spend an unlimited amount of money if you have it. The important thing is to spend what you can afford within your budget without using credit. If you plan your wedding for a year's time, you should be able to save even more money due to having time to wait for deals and look for just the right thing.


If you like the content here you may want to check some of our other posts:  

Wedding Dress History Fun Facts For the Bride to Be

Star Wars Wedding Ideas For Unique Movie Fan Wedding

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Wedding Dress History Fun Facts for the Bride to Be



Wedding Dresses Weren't Always White


A wedding dress is simply the dress worn by the bride on her wedding day. Brides the world over and through the centuries have celebrated their wedding with special dresses and ceremonies. The ceremony celebrated not only the marriage but marked the bride maturing from girl to womanhood.



Both Indian and Chinese brides traditionally wear red. In ancient Rome a bride would wear a new white tunic and yellow sandals. During the Renaissance the bride's dress reflected the wealth of her family. Rich brocades, sumptuous silks, vibrant colors, and even fur and jewels were incorporated into the dress.



Prior to the Victorian age wedding dresses were not usually white and were worn not only on the wedding day, but afterwards as the woman's 'best dress.'  Because the dress had to last, it was often of a dark color and heavy material. The styles reflected the fashion of the times. While the dress was dark colored, brides in the early 19th century would often wear a long white veil.


Thanks to Queen Victoria, wedding dresses became wedding gowns and white was the color of choice. Her Spitalfield's satin dress was narrow waisted with a scoop neckline that bared her shoulders. Full sleeves were caught above the elbows and flared. The dress was accented with handmade Honiton lace. Over 200 people worked on the lace alone. The pattern was destroyed after the lace was completed for her dress so no one else could ever wear the same lace. Her lace veil fell nearly to the floor. Photos show that her gown was caught and draped with fresh flowers around the hemline.



Queen Victoria set the standard for breathtaking gowns and set a trend among brides. Although she wasn't the first queen to wear white, Mary Queen of Scots wore a white dress for one of her weddings. She didn't have the best luck with husbands. Queen Victoria's choice become the color of choice for brides in the Western world from that moment forward.



The second half of the 19th century marked the beginning of the professional couture houses in France and Paris became the center of fashion. The Paris designs filtered down to the mass markets through inspired dressmakers and retailers. The industrial revolution signaled an era of progress. Due to technological advancements ready-made garments were offered through catalogs. Brides could now order their wedding dress for their very special day. That tradition remains to this day. 



Come back next week and read about the different types of fabrics - silk, taffeta, or velvet. Which do you like best? Find out next week.
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Star Wars Wedding Ideas for Unique Movie Fan Wedding

We're back and we're so excited to start blogging again. After an unforeseen illness and other pressing family matters, we had to take a break even before this blog took off. We love weddings and bring fun and interesting ideas for your special day. We plan on starting a new series for brides who are on budget. After all, most brides will have to stick to some sort of ideas. Come back and see the series.

In the meantime, we're excited to  bring you ideas for your wedding if you want to add some Star Wars to your celebration. Our family is so excited about Star Wars. Galaxy's Edge just opened in Disneyland, California and we watched all the vlogs and streams all over YouTube. We watched Resorttv1, Justin Scarred, the Tim Tracker, and others. We can't wait to go to experience Star Wars for ourselves...someday.

A Star Wars wedding is hard to do because there are very little products available. We checked Zazzle, one of our favorite sites for weddings, and found some Stars Wars, but nothing wedding themed. But we found lots of cute and original items on Etsy and here are some fun ideas to have the best wedding in the galaxy.  Here are some of our favorite ideas from Etsy:

Let's Start off with Invitations:

The link for each item is below the picture. All these pictures were taken by the individual sellers on Etsy.



Cute Star Wars Wedding Invitations From Italy, but they currently have free shipping to the US. Totally cute invitation with the two suns and Han and Leia depicted as children.


This set ships from the USA and gives you some options. You can get the digital files and print them yourself or you can have them printed for you from the Etsy seller.


This invitation set is a digital download, so if you choose this set, you will have to print them out yourself or have a friend or local print shop do them for you.



There are so many more invitations to choose from. You can go to Etsy yourself and type in Stars Wars invitations or Star Wars invites to see what you can choose from. 

Star Wars Wedding Accessories:





Click on the link and see the different colors you can get this cake topper in.






Have the guest sign a heart and put it in the Millennium Falcon.






This looks like a piece of plastic until you realize this is an awesome lightsaber handle. Fun for the bride or the entire wedding party.  May the force be with you. 


This is just the beginning of all the fun things we can find for weddings on Etsy. Also check out Amazon and search Star Wars wedding. Be on the look out for new series, Brides on a budget later this week. 
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10 Fun Different Bridal Shower Invitations

Today, I was browsing Zazzle, looking at bridal shower invitations, and I loved them! Gone are the boring floral invitations. Although there are tons of floral invitations too, but they are stunningly beautiful.

There are many different themes for you to choose from with lots of party accessories too. Sports, tropical themes, foods, wine, travel, Alice in Wonderland, lingerie, Disney, South of the Border, anything you can imagine.

I listed 10 of them for you to look at, but go ahead and browse all of the invitations on Zazzle. They are too much fun and, hopefully, you will find one you are looking for.

Travel Themed Bridal Shower Invitation
Travel Themed Bridal Shower Invitation
by PaperandPomp
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Plan a Disney Themed Wedding

Did you know you can get married at Disney? Yes. Disney World, Disneyland, Aulani, or a Disney Cruise Ship. There are so many choices at those places so that you can have the fairy tale wedding of your dreams. Your budget's the limit.

But even if you cannot or choose not to have a destination wedding at Disney, you can still add a little Disney Magic at your wedding. However little or much you choose. You can have Disney themed invitations, stamps, table numbers, party favors. Or if you only want Disney things guests won't see you can get Disney wedding themed phone cases, personalized ornaments, art work, luggage tags, planners and notebooks.

Choose whatever characters you like too -- Mickey and Minnie, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and Up. The designs are delightful too. You can choose the classic Mickey and Minnie for a more playful theme or their silhouettes for a more modern look. You can choose Beauty and the Beast's rose or castle for more elegant Disney look or you can choose Up for a fun wedding. Take a look at the designs below and see if they don't bring up images of "Happily Ever After" and finding your Prince Charming. It's about taking your childhood dreams and living them out as an adult.

These are only some of the items you can choose. Click on the ones you like and see what other items are available in their theme. Enjoy browsing.


Or, if you like, you can just go to the Disney page and browse everything. Enjoy!!
Disney Wedding
Disney Wedding
by Disney
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Five Questions to Ask Before You Choose the Theme for Your Wedding


Once you have the theme, it’s a lot easier to figure out where to go from there. Do you want a simple rustic fall wedding, a wintry theme that reminds you of Elsa’s ice castle, a beach wedding, a traditional spring wedding, an elegant black-tie affair, or there are so many more…How to you choose? We compiled a list of five questions to help you get pointed in the right direction.


When is the wedding?
Time of the year is very important. Do you want a beach wedding? Depending where you have the wedding, you need to choose carefully. As beautiful as Michigan’s beaches are, you don’t want to get married there in January or even November. Would you like an icy winter look? It’s easier (and cheaper) to find the decorations during winter. Is there a big event that would pull people away from the wedding? Like a graduation or a Super Bowl. Don’t forget to include your fiancé’s input. It’s his wedding too.

Where would I like to have the wedding?
Have you or your fiancé dreamed of having the wedding on a beach or maybe the place you met? Picking the location is very important. You wouldn’t do rustic or shabby chic at a castle (yes there are some in the U.S.) or the most elegant place in town. Neither would you want to do elegant in a field or a barn. Well you could, but it would take a lot of work.

What is my budget for the wedding?
Not everyone can afford a wedding designer, real flowers, or a hall. Take the time to figure out how much money you must spend on the wedding. Make a budget and spreadsheet to stick to. Also, what are the things you can give up if need be? You won’t want to start your marriage by going into debt for it. Trust me. Life happens so unexpectedly, you don’t want to be paying off your wedding ten years later.

What are our must haves and our never evers in a wedding?
Is there a cake flavor or baker that you need to have? Is there a color scheme you have been dreaming about since you were a child? What is your song as a couple? Will you never use a DJ? Do you never want to have your reception in a place with faux wood paneling? Will you not do the Chicken Dance?
It’s best to know these things about each other before you start planning. Your fiancé may be allergic to straw or hay so a barn wedding is out of the question. You may have dreamed of dancing the foxtrot at your wedding but it’s hard to do that at the outdoor location your fiancé wanted.

What kind of dress do I want?
Perhaps that sounds selfish, but most girls hope for only one wedding in their lives, soooo they only get to wear the wedding dress once. Make sure it’s perfect. If you want to feel like a princess for your wedding, you may want to stay away from the beach. If you prefer a simpler wedding dress or not white at all make sure it goes with your theme.



Okay, so that was more than five when you really start asking. But the five main ones are a great start. We will have more on wedding themes later. If you need some inspiration, check out our post from last weekon wedding stationary. They have so many different themes – Disney, elegant, shabby chic, rustic, baseball, Christmas. You’ll sure to be inspired just by looking.
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Wedding Themes - Invitations, Save the Date, Etc.

If you are unsure of what kind of wedding you want to have, take a look at these invitations and/or other stationary. Next week, we will publish an article to help you pick a theme for your wedding. Things like what time of year, what is your budget, and others will be covered. But for now, enjoy browsing this fun stationary post. You just may be inspired for your own wedding.


Beach Arbor Wedding Invitation
Beach Arbor Wedding Invitation
by ajinvites

So I guess this post lives up to our blogs' name Eclectic Wedding. There are Disney, beach, Christmas, lace, and so many more. If you like an theme above, click on it and it should take you to the sales page, there you can find more from the same line or designer.

Be sure to come back next week as we give you guidelines to help you pick a theme. Have a great weekend. Also check out our other posts such as Beautiful Rustic Invitations For Your Fall Wedding.
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