i got married last year. all told it cost about $6k. 5 of that was for the banquet hall and all that. i believe my wifes wedding dress was $200 or so. her ring was $80 (she picked it out), mine was $40. the cake was made by somebody she knows. she had won a raffle at a bridal show so all the tux rentals were covered.
if i had my druthers we would have skipped the hall however there really wasn't anywhere free or cheap nearby that we could conceiveably or realistically host it at. i think we found a nice middle ground between extravagant waste of money and skinflint and still had a great day.
we had been together for 10 years before we got married so the whole thing was anti-climactic anyway
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