one of my good buddies is doing a european cruise wedding next spring/summer. anyone ever do these kind of things before? sounds fun, but its an 10 day cruise or something, thats a lot of vacation day, not to mention the cruise + flight + $$$$ I spend. any experience with these kind of things?
I'm planning a wedding right now with my fiance. I just can't bring myself to make my friends and family pay a ton of money to watch me get married.
My daughter got married when she got off the plane in Kauai. It was off a menu and they managed to do so fairly inexpensively. They loved it.
My wife and I got married in England. So it was a "destination wedding" for American friends and family, and "just a train ride" for British friends and family. I've been to a ton of weddings. Most of the time the bride and groom spent stupid amounts of money trying to make something memorable, when it's always just going to be a big mob of people, a pretty dress, booze and some expensive cake. I mean, you can put a $500 ice sculpture in the middle, but it doesn't change anything really. But having a wedding in a unique location can really have an impact. Ours was in a small church 300 years older than the United States. It sticks out to me. And when it was all done, the whole event was under $6k for me and the wife. So cheap. I'd recommend the destination wedding thing to anybody like me who doesn't give a crap if more than 10-50 people they know come and just wants a special day in a cool place with his bride. And I think any person receiving an invitation, be they friends or family, should immediately ask themselves, "Would I be happy to vacation there anyway at that time and for that cost?" If the answer is no, there should be no obligation to go.
Yeah, I really hate weddings that are all the same....can't believe that shit costs like upwards of like 40k...some way more....so formulaeic and cheesy. none of them are unique...destination weddings sound so much cooler but it really sucks to expect people to fork out a few grand to go there. Maybe they just want it to be smaller and simpler..... I just think it would be awkward going as a single guy on a disney cruise with a bunch of couples and their family/kids....besides i was trying to do a eurotrip with my cousins next year anyway which would be way more fun. maybe they'll have like a picnic getogether for peeps that couldn't make it.
If I were you I'd blow it off. Explain to them you can't afford it, but offer to help out on the bachelor party, ask if he's planning a stateside reception, or just invite the happily married couple for a dinner out with them (on your dime) when they return. Honestly, they'll probably remember your contribution more that way anyway.
Yeah, I can't afford it..then two months later on facebook: "Going to Europe for a month, later bitches!" haha the thing about being single is that its kind of a card that lets you ignore these kind of things and people won't trip out about it. I'll probably do that. Its not so much the cost as its the time away from work...only a certain number of vacation days and this eats it up. I wonder if he'll have a bachelor party..hope so..that might be ok.
It will take more than growing up for me to get married. My cousin's wedding was one of the best and not just because it was same sex. But they waited so long and when the clergyperson (Buddhist priestess, they both converted to Buddhism) said "By the authority granted me by the state of California..." everyone spontaneously cheered. They are not tuxedo types. They wore orange robes and leis. They are both artists and decorated the place in bright colors, sculptures, photography, painting, handmade furniture. The cake was designed by them and executed by a cake designer, the frosting was purple with pink and orange flowers. They asked guests to wear orange, hot pink or magenta so everyone was in brilliant colors. They hired a fire dancer, wearing magenta and hot pink. I mean, it was definitely not a wedding like all others. They were, and are, so happy. And for the life of me I can't figure out who was harmed.
That sounds like a kick ass wedding. They sound like a couple who know how to laugh together, which is a vastly underrated key to making a marriage work. What a great way to start a lifetime commitment.
lol. Well, you can always say you got a surprise bonus from work or something if they ever grilled you on it. Though the truth is that if they have a great wedding/honeymoon, it's hard to imagine them begrudging you your own fun. If the wedding/honeymoon sucks, well, they might take it out on you. But hey, if it sucks you'll be glad you didn't go.
I will always attend a friend's wedding if it's someplace exotic. It's gotten me to Bali, Zagreb, Perth, Dar es-Salaam, Sri Lanka and Lahore, where I fired an AK-47 in the air (obviously no booze at that one). That being said, a cruise is bullshit and asking way too much. That's not just going to a place, it's telling you how you'll travel. The wife and I did our wedding for around $7K, not including the travel and hotel fund. In fact, I bought my own bar, so $1,800 of that total went to booze. I used all the remaining bottles to stock my own home bar, so the wife was none the wiser until it was too late. The wife and I set up a travel and hotel fund to help our friends come to our wedding. Our less well-off friends appreciated it and it was a way to make sure no one was unduly burdoned just because they wanted to be part of our celebration.
Yeah. Another idea is skip the cruise and just go to rome for the wedding. would be a lot cheaper and more fun probably. don't wanna be on a boat for 2 weeks.
