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Cutting corners in wedding spending
Um, a little bit, you've got find what place you can get the most of what you need for the cheapest price. We don't have a lot of money and you've got to kind of just pool your resources together.
They bought items like forks in bulk at Sam's Club and they are making efforts to cut costs elsewhere. Instead of hiring a caterer, they're making things themselves.
We're just doing finger foods, but I bought trays and we're going to cut all of our own fruit and all of our own vegetables, so we can spend family time together, because we have a big family, so we're kind of doing family time and saving money.
The bride-to-be Kim says the wedding is still costing a bit more than she had planned, but that's ok. The whole wedding has been planned in a month and a half, unlike some weddings that are planned out for a year or more, like Brittany Garcia's. She's getting married this April and has been planning since last April. I asked her if she's still spending as much on her wedding as she would have if the country hadn't entered a recession.
Um, I try to cut the corners when I can. It's probably just as much as I would have spent last year, fortunately my parents are paying for most of it.
Garcia did get her bridesmaids' dresses on sale and bought decorations that mothers had leftover from their own daughters' weddings. Jennifer Klepper says this kind of cost cutting is typical. Klepper is the new owner of Beautiful Beginnings Boutique in Great Bend.
Yeah, I think a lot of them are trying to do more of the decorations on their own and maybe not doing the most expensive tux or the most expensive bridesmaid's dress. But, for the most part, wedding is kind of, it's a once in a lifetime thing and they want it to be perfect.
Another way to decrease wedding spending is to change the type of wedding you have.
For the most part I think things are if a girl wants to have the big hometown wedding, things are pretty much staying the same. But we have seen a lot more of our customers doing the destination wedding and then coming back and having a reception.
However, Klepper says she doesn't think destination weddings end up saving much money in the end, although the couples might think they do. Ruthie Rohrbough, owner of Ruthie's catering, says her business has not slowed down. She already has ten or twelve weddings lined up this year. However, people are not wanting over-the-top affairs.
Most everybody nowadays is wanting it kind of elegant but not real extravagant. Very few people that I work for or that I have done weddings for, is having the real extreme radical ones.
So far the number of weddings in the state of Kansas has remained the same. KDHE spokesperson Maggie Thompson says last January there were just over 1200 marriage licenses filed and this January there were about 30 more. So, if people are waiting on the big day, it hasn't become evident yet. And it hasn't become evident at St. Fidelis Church in Victoria, KS. This is a destination church of sorts, it is a large, beautiful church capable of seating hundreds. Jan Brungardt is the church secretary. She says that the weddings at the church usually have between one and four hundred guests and she has not seen any scaling back so far. There are already 25 weddings scheduled this year, unlike numbers from last year.
Probably a few less than that. This year, we're really busy and we have some scheduled for 2010 already, too, so there's been no drop-off at all.
Brungardt says more than half of the couples getting married come from out of town. For High Plains Public Radio, I'm Lindsey Fields.
© Copyright 2012, hppr
(2009-02-05)
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GARDEN CITY, KAN.
(hppr) -
Weddings. They can often take a lot of planning and a lot money, too. This is the bridal fair in Garden City, KS. It's an annual event where vendors like caterers, photographers, planners and dress sellers set up booths to meet potential customers, brides-to-be. For some people, weddings are a spare no expense once-in-a-lifetime event, but with an economy causing purse strings to tighten even weddings might see more corner cutting. Shayla is helping her soon to be sister in law Kim plan her wedding and says the economy is affecting planning some.
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Um, a little bit, you've got find what place you can get the most of what you need for the cheapest price. We don't have a lot of money and you've got to kind of just pool your resources together.
They bought items like forks in bulk at Sam's Club and they are making efforts to cut costs elsewhere. Instead of hiring a caterer, they're making things themselves.
We're just doing finger foods, but I bought trays and we're going to cut all of our own fruit and all of our own vegetables, so we can spend family time together, because we have a big family, so we're kind of doing family time and saving money.
The bride-to-be Kim says the wedding is still costing a bit more than she had planned, but that's ok. The whole wedding has been planned in a month and a half, unlike some weddings that are planned out for a year or more, like Brittany Garcia's. She's getting married this April and has been planning since last April. I asked her if she's still spending as much on her wedding as she would have if the country hadn't entered a recession.
Um, I try to cut the corners when I can. It's probably just as much as I would have spent last year, fortunately my parents are paying for most of it.
Garcia did get her bridesmaids' dresses on sale and bought decorations that mothers had leftover from their own daughters' weddings. Jennifer Klepper says this kind of cost cutting is typical. Klepper is the new owner of Beautiful Beginnings Boutique in Great Bend.
Yeah, I think a lot of them are trying to do more of the decorations on their own and maybe not doing the most expensive tux or the most expensive bridesmaid's dress. But, for the most part, wedding is kind of, it's a once in a lifetime thing and they want it to be perfect.
Another way to decrease wedding spending is to change the type of wedding you have.
For the most part I think things are if a girl wants to have the big hometown wedding, things are pretty much staying the same. But we have seen a lot more of our customers doing the destination wedding and then coming back and having a reception.
However, Klepper says she doesn't think destination weddings end up saving much money in the end, although the couples might think they do. Ruthie Rohrbough, owner of Ruthie's catering, says her business has not slowed down. She already has ten or twelve weddings lined up this year. However, people are not wanting over-the-top affairs.
Most everybody nowadays is wanting it kind of elegant but not real extravagant. Very few people that I work for or that I have done weddings for, is having the real extreme radical ones.
So far the number of weddings in the state of Kansas has remained the same. KDHE spokesperson Maggie Thompson says last January there were just over 1200 marriage licenses filed and this January there were about 30 more. So, if people are waiting on the big day, it hasn't become evident yet. And it hasn't become evident at St. Fidelis Church in Victoria, KS. This is a destination church of sorts, it is a large, beautiful church capable of seating hundreds. Jan Brungardt is the church secretary. She says that the weddings at the church usually have between one and four hundred guests and she has not seen any scaling back so far. There are already 25 weddings scheduled this year, unlike numbers from last year.
Probably a few less than that. This year, we're really busy and we have some scheduled for 2010 already, too, so there's been no drop-off at all.
Brungardt says more than half of the couples getting married come from out of town. For High Plains Public Radio, I'm Lindsey Fields.
© Copyright 2012, hppr
