Wasting Money While Planning Your Wedding

I came across a cool blog entry at Brideorama.com  which discussed wasting money while planning a wedding.  Writer Kelley Lynn listed the top 11 money-wasters, and I almost wish she didn’t stop at 11!  The cost of a wedding may be one of the most marked-up events on which many people will ever spend their money, based on the value you are getting for your money.  Please note that I have no problem with how much money someone spends on their wedding- to each his/her own, right?  But I do have a problem with the way the wedding community gets gouged on many of the items and services they purchase.

So without further ado, here are the Top 11 Ways To Waste Your Money (while planning your wedding) from Brideorama.com.  Be sure to check out the entire article here for a complete summary of each point!

1.  Cake Serving Set

2.  Monogrammed Toasting Flutes

3.  Save The Date Cards

4.  Personalized Napkins

5.  Makeup Artist

6.  Elegant Guestbook and Pen Set

7.  Bridal Hairpieces (tiaras, combs, etc)

8.  Grooms Cake (I didn’t know they existed!)

9.  Elaborate Pew or Aisle Decorations

10.  Bride and Groom Exchanging Gifts

11.  Monogrammed Aisle Runner

Some of you might be thinking, “Hey!  I like my elaborate personalized monogrammed tiara!”  And that’s ok.  The main point is this:  How much did you spend on it, and how much could you have spent on it?  You would be surprised at how much money you can save by shopping around (and using a site like RecycleYourWedding.com of course!).  It is possible to save money and save waste when planning a wedding if you are aware of the variety of choices you really have.

Happy wedding planning!

RYW in the The Green Bride Guide

RecycleYourWedding.com received another great review, this time from The Green Bride Guide.  Check out this quote from our own Rob Bailey:

“Every bride wants a fairytale wedding, but not every bride can afford to spend $30,000 on their wedding.  That’s why it’s so important to provide economical alternatives to expensive bridal and retail stores.  The bridal community is a tight one, and new brides understand the struggles that future brides face.  And when they can share their ideas, suggestions, and even products, it gives everyone a chance to enjoy the possibility of a fantasy wedding come true.”

Amen!  You can read the entire post at The Green Bride Guide here.

Wedding Gown Traditions

In researching the history and traditions of the wedding gown, I came across this poem from the 1800’s:

“Married in white, you will have chosen all right. Married in grey , you will go far away. Married in black, you will wish yourself back. Married in red, you’ll wish yourself dead. Married in blue, you will always be true. Married in pearl, you’ll live in a whirl. Married in green, ashamed to be seen, Married in yellow, ashamed of the fellow. Married in brown, you’ll live out of town. Married in pink, your spirits will sink.”

While I absolutely do not think that if you “marry in pink, your spirits will sink,” I thought this was still good for a laugh!  It also made me think more about some of the traditions behind wedding gowns, many of which remain to this day.

The tradition of the “white” wedding gown dates back to England in the 1700’s, but it was the marriage of Queen Victoria in 1840 that made the white wedding gown the ideal in the minds of brides for the next 170 years.  Many people believe that she chose white because it represented purity.  And while that may not be at the forefront of the minds of many brides today, it is still a commonly held and often joked about belief (have you never been to a wedding where someone whispered “I don’t think SHE should be wearing white!”).

It was common for women to wear borrowed or homemade dresses in which to be married until the end of the 1800’s.  With the advent of the industrial revolution and the first department stores, more women had the means to purchase a new dress for their wedding.

As more options became available to brides, and the price for a beautiful wedding gown fell within most families’ budgets, the wedding gown became seen as a family heirloom.  It was the dream of many brides that someday they might be lucky enough to have a daughter on whom to pass their gown on to.  In many cases these dresses went unused, most likely due to changing styles and tastes. 

Today, as traditions continue to evolve, it has become more common to purchase a “used” or “pre-owned” wedding dress.  Factors contributing to this new trend include economics (most pre-owned wedding dresses sell for more than half-off retail prices) and a new focus on the environment.  And for a number of reasons, you can find “pre-owned” dresses that have never been worn! 

We have a number of pre-owned dresses that have never been worn at www.recycleyourwedding.com.  Here are just a few that we have featured:

David’s Bridal #V8822, sz 6

Maggie Sottero ’08, sz 12

David’s Bridal sz 10

 

Check us out on Stylehound.com

I found a great little review of our website at Stylehound (from The Sheffield School of Design)!  Writer Patricia Gray had this to say about the site:

“I love this idea because I find so much wedding day gear is disposed of, while not necessarily being disposable. There are several amazing dresses (some worn once, some not at all) up for sale on the site. I have no problem buying a designer gown that is outrageously priced knowing that I can sell it later. Living in NYC, storing a wedding dress indefinitely is not always practical anyway.”  You can check out the entire article here.

Patricia, I couldn’t agree more!  Except for the part about the purchasing of a designer gown…I’ll leave that to my better half.  But seriously, I’m very happy that other people are expressing the same concepts that we believe in at RecycleYourWedding.com.  Weddings can be expensive and wasteful- make it a point to recycle them!

Environmentally Conscious Weddings Can Be Easier On The Mind and The Pocketbook

While the average cost of a wedding in the United States has skyrocketed to nearly  $30,000, the financial stability of most newlyweds has destabilized, particularly during the past few years as the economy has struggled.  As an alternative, many couples are choosing to take a financially and environmentally responsible approach to planning their weddings.  Price, it seems, does not always dictate the quality or elegance of the wedding day.  In fact, more weddings are being planned with a smaller ecological footprint in mind. 

Recycled paper products are an easy first step towards creating an environmentally friendly event.  A wide assortment of invitations, programs, and decorations made out of 100% recycled materials can be found for the same price as many non-recycled alternatives.  But recycled materials are common these days.  According to RecycleYourWedding.com CEO Rob Bailey, more and more newlyweds are finding it easy and lucrative to recycle other items from their weddings themselves, including the gowns, centerpieces, and other wedding items.  “Every bride wants a fairytale wedding,” said Bailey, “but not every bride can afford to spend $30,000 on their wedding.  That’s why it’s so important to provide economical alternatives to expensive bridal and retail stores.  The bridal community is a tight one, and new brides understand the struggles that future brides face.  When they can share their ideas, suggestions, and even products, it gives everyone a chance to enjoy the possibility of a fantasy wedding come true.” 

It is important to note that items do not have to be made from recycled materials to be “recycled”.  Typically, once the wedding is over, many of the decorations, linens, centerpieces, etc. are often stored in the garage or a spare closet.  Those items are typically still in excellent condition and can be re-used in other weddings, which increases the usefulness of these items.  It also saves many couples and landfills valuable space.  Remember how much the average wedding costs?  Recycling your wedding helps defray some of your wedding costs while also saving another couple money on their own wedding.   

RecycleYourWedding.com was founded in 2007 to create an online bridal community where new and soon-to-be brides could buy, sell, and trade wedding items at low prices.  The site offers a variety of wedding items and services for the wedding community. 

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If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Founders Rob Bailey or Jeff Williams, email Jeff Williams at jeffwilliams@recycleyourwedding.com.

Wedding Facts

As a follow-up to my last post, here are more interesting wedding stats (take special note of the expense related statistics- the wedding industry is a $50-billion a year industry!):

ENGAGEMENT STATISTICS

• The average American engagement is 16 months.
• Every year an average of 2.3 million weddings are performed in the U.S.
• The Wedding Industry is a 50 billion dollar a year industry
• Average age for first-time brides is 25 years, for grooms it’s 27.5
• 175 guests are invited to an average wedding
• Average size of wedding party: 12
• 35% of weddings occur in the summer; 29% in the spring; 23% in the fall; 13% in the winter.
• 11% of winter weddings are Christmas weddings

COST STATISTICS

• $25k-$30k is the average amount spent on a traditional American wedding
• A total of $72 billion is spent on weddings annually in the U.S.
• David’s Bridal accounts for 20% of all bridal-gown sales, and that percentage is increasing
• The average ring costs $2,000

TOP WEDDING DESTINATIONS:

• Las Vegas (100,000 weddings/year)
• Hawaii (25,000 wedding/year)
• Bahamas (5,000 weddings/year)
• Jamaica (5,000 weddings/year)
• U.S. Virgin Islands (4,000 weddings/year)

OTHER WEDDING STATISTICS

• 80% of traditional weddings are performed in churches or synagogue.
• Four out of five brides are employed.
• Percentage of engaged couples who’ve known each other longer than 3 years: 69%
• Percentage of brides who say they’ll be changing their surnames: 60%
• 93,750: Approximate cost, in dollars, of an average Japanese wedding
• 150,000: Wedding ceremonies conducted in Canada in 2002
• 53% of weddings occur in the afternoon; 31% in the evening; 16% in the morning.
• 30% of receptions are held in churches; 20% in hotels; 20% in country clubs; and 10% each in fraternal halls, private homes, and other locations.
• 38% of weddings have a buffet; 34% have a sit-down dinner; 28% serve only cake and punch.
• 62% of weddings have a flower girl.
• 56% have a ring bearer.

MARRIAGES BY MONTH

• January 4.7%
• February 7.0%
• March 6.1%
• April 7.4%
• May 9.8%
• June 10.8%
• July 9.7%
• August 10.2%
• September 9.6%
• October 9.4%
• November 7.4%
• December 7.8%

WEDDING COSTS BY CATEGORY*

• Reception 28.3%
• Consultant 15.0% (if hired)
• Wedding Rings 11.5%
• Photography/Video 6.6%
• Bridal Gown 6.1%
• Music 5.2%
• Flowers 4.6%
• Bridal attendants’ apparel 4.5%
• Rehearsal dinner 4.2%
• Men’s formal wear 3.2%
• Invitations 2.8%
• Attendants’ gifts 2.1%
• Mother of the bride apparel 1.7%
• Bride’s veil 1.6%
• Clergy and ceremony fees 1.2%
• Limousine 0.9%
• Groom’s attire 0.8%

WHO WILL PAY (for some portion of the wedding)

• Brides parents  58%
• Grooms parents 32%
• Bride & Groom  77%
• Sponsored Wedding  1%

HONEYMOON STATISTICS

• Among couples who choose a traditional wedding, 99 percent take a honeymoon.
• Couples spend an average of $4,000 on their honeymoon. That’s three times as much as the average U.S. adult spends on a vacation.
• The length of an average honeymoon is seven days.
• 45 percent of honeymoon trips are to domestic locations; 55 percent are foreign.
• The Honeymoon Industry is a 12 billion dollar a year industry.

(Statistics from National Association of Wedding Ministers, Bridal Association of America, and Association of Bridal Consultants)

March Madness

Did you know that June is the most popular month for a wedding?  That is followed by August, and then May.  Before you know it, we are going to be in the thick of the wedding season.  It also means that we are currently smack dab in the heat of the wedding planning season!  Can you hear the soon-to-be brides screaming in the distance?

The average American engagement is 16 months long.  But with all of that time to plan, most of the buying of wedding items and reservations for receptions, photographers and such happen within the months leading up to the big day.

The wedding gown is typically the first purchase a soon-to-be bride makes, on average 9-months before the wedding.  In comparison, tuxedos and bridesmaid dresses are not purchased until about 3-4 months before the wedding. 

The average cost of a new wedding gown is $800, and as if you already did not know, David’s Bridal is the number-one bridal gown retailer in the country.  Why am I mentioning this?  Of the $25k-$30k average cost of a wedding, the wedding gown is one of the few purchases typically made early in the planning of a wedding.  The biggest costs seem to come a lot closer to the actual event.  And as the event draws nearer, the likelihood that you will spend more than you should becomes greater.

Armed with this knowledge, it’s important that you take advantage of your wedding planning period.  Search for the items that will make your wedding a beautiful and memorable event early.  And take advantage of the many opportunities that you have to compare prices and save money in your already tight wedding budget.  With the right planning, and by taking advantage of the experiences of others within the wedding community, you can find the items you need at a low price.

That’s the goal of RecycleYourWedding.com.  Hopefully we can help you put together the wedding of your dreams and save you a few bucks in the process.