Wedding - who pays?

[Julie Andrews]

Who SHOULD pay for the wedding?
Should it be the parents of the bride? Parents of the groom? 50/50?
Or, should it be the couple who pays?

Are you going to aside money for if/when your child wants to get married?

[Julie Andrews]

I'll go first....
I didn't ask my Mom for a penny when my hubby and I got married. She did contribute towards it though. There were things that I didn't consider essential (like a big fancy cake) that she thought we just had to have for a decent wedding. Hubby and I paid for the major bulk of the wedding expenses though. We decided on a small but elegant wedding so that we'd be able to put our savings towards the downpayment on a house.

I do set aside some money for my son for non-college/university related expenses. He won't know about that account but when the time comes, it will be a nice gift for him. He will be able to use it towards whatever he wants when he's older.

[dyamond_girl]

When my hubby and I got married we paid for the most part. Any money we recieved as gifts was used towards the balance of costs, and our Honeymoon. Fortunately, with me being creative enough to do our own invites, flowers and decorations, we saved a bundle. Oh, it also helped that we had 5 months to get it together. I have friends who waited a year or longer after the proposal, and it was very costly for their weddings.

[Julie Andrews]

Wow- you did the flowers and decorations!!!
That's amazing!

[bcteagirl]

Wow, good for you! I am curious to know why having more time makes things cost more? (I'm thinking maybe they have more time to add in 'just one more thing', but would be interested to hear what you think).

[Kate]

I think the couple should pay and the parents should help out if they can. Most people don't live with their parents when they get married, so why should the parents pay for it all.

I want to pay for most of mine, because it'll be MY wedding and I want to make the decisions.

[Julie Andrews]

From what I have noticed- the longer you plan the wedding the more likely it is to be more formal.

[cndlady]

We will probably pay for most of our daughters wedding when she decides the time is right for her and where the heck she is going to get married.
She is tossing around the idea of getting married here in the great white north one day and Vegas the next so we will see what happens.
We have been saving for this day for 30 yrs so it will be a joy for us.
But on the whole I think that most couples live together before getting married so they shouldn't look towards the parents to foot the whole bill, unless the parent are looking at a bigger wedding than the couple want/can afford (which is what it will be with us, huge families on both sides so if she gets married here and we want a lot of family we should cover the cost of the extra ppl)