Sign of the Times?

Donnaaries

According costofwedding.com, the national average cost of a wedding is now just over $20K, down some $8000 since I first started planning my wedding last year!

http://www.costofwedding.com/

What do you brides-to-be think?  Are there deals to be had because of the economy?  Or are people just cutting out the extras...

juliebug1997

Wow!  I thought the average wedding was 12-15k.  I am way behind. 

I think there are some deals to be had.  For example, Dallas Affaires had more than enough business two years ago and wouldn't even return Maggiano's phone call about working out an arrangement for wedding cakes.  However, in January, they were more than willing to take Maggiano's business.  I feel I got a great deal there. 

I felt bad for spending a little over $13k for our wedding but now I feel like calling my parents and telling them that we did pretty good!

pphqt10

I think one of the reasons is the economy but also I see so many people doing the quaint, vintage weddings which don't seem to add up as fast as the "adolphus ballroom with lighting, lounge furniture etc" not that either are bad I just see on all the wedding sights the backyard mason jars with flowers type weddings being in style now

BanannaP

I think it's probably a little of both. Vendors are probably more willing to negotiate or create custom packages, and brides are realizing that they have to establish their priorities and cut back everywhere else.

fallbride1109

That's a great question.  I don't know the answer.

I really thought I would get more deals when I was planning mine but I really didn't.  In the end, I focused on getting the best quality for a fair price.     

BanannaP

Yeah, like stephie said, I'm not necessarily trying to negotiate deals and I'm not looking for the cheapest deal on anything either. But, I do know my budget for each category, and I try to find something that will fit my needs and be within that budget.

llc2011

I thought that with the economy there would be more deals to be had when planning the wedding, but I don't really see them all.  I guess I have an idea in mind, and we're just working on getting the best quality vendors we can.

I will say that the Knotties have been a big help.  I'll be at a point where I think I have my mind set on one vendor, and then hear recommendations on here (like Lynn and now Glenn) which are not cheap, but give me better value for my dollar. So thanks girls!

fallbride1109

ITA Lauren.  Getting the best quality for the money was my goal.  But not everyone's situation is the same.

I totally used TK to find all my vendors.  And you never know what may happen.  I still wish I could remember who encouraged me to call Lynn Michelle even though at the time I thought I couldn't afford her.  Turns out we were able to by just crafting a package that suited our needs and eliminating things we could do without (like bridals).  I didn't consider it scaling back--just getting what I could for my budget.  I really can't say enough about hiring quality vendors.  It made all the difference at my wedding.

katiekate214

I think the economy has alot to do with it but at the same time I also think that brides are getting smarter. I think that wedding planning has become more of a hobby than it used to be, brides are paying attention more attention to price, detail, and they are trying to make thier personailities shine through etc Years ago weddings were more cookie cutter, standard food, dancing, white dress etc Now brides are finding the fun in wedding planning and they are doing alot more research, and in order for a bride to get all the new fun extras that she wants she has to shop around, do more research. Over all I guess Im saying that brides are more invloved with wedding planning these days and doing more research, more informed,

Btw, just a side note. I interviewed a photographer in Houston who wouldn't budge on her prices at all. She had set packages and would not change a thing...they all included bridals which I did not want but she still wouldn't work with me. I was livid, I think that in this enconomy companies that cater to brides should try to work with a bride inorder to get closer to her budget etc. I told her that, then went with one of her competitors lol Im so tired of people taking advantage of brides, its like they think we will do anything b/c we are emotional and "have daddy wrapped around our fingers"...uh NO

appletango85

Honestly, for me, the economy hasn't effected my spending really. I am still spending the same and trying to save the same. This is probalby because I wasn't spending much to begin with trying to get my debt paid off ASAP.

My parents on the other hand are barely surviving so that effected our wedding since they were trying to help us and his parents pay.

I also think more brides are paying now a days than years past especially the older brides or the ones getting married a second time. I think we spent about 10k on our wedding. We threw in some extras and since his dad/stepmom was paying for the majority of it, we let them have a lot of leeway with what they wanted. Of course there was nothing they did that I hated either. They were very easy to work with.

Jay+Marissa

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_texas-dallas-ft-worth_sign-of-times?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:102Discussion:c9e143fa-b906-4f6b-8bda-4f80e6629f17Post:65e58c2a-4a7c-4539-bd72-7b073a7ca3ed">Re: Sign of the Times?</a>:
[QUOTE]I think one of the reasons is the economy but also I see so many people doing the quaint, vintage weddings which don't seem to add up as fast as the "adolphus ballroom with lighting, lounge furniture etc" not that either are bad I just see on all the wedding sights the backyard mason jars with flowers type weddings being in style now
Posted by pphqt10[/QUOTE]

Yup--I think you got it.

That being said, I got GREAT deals because I was willing to look, and I negotiated all of the contracts this past summer, when the economy was really really looking bad. Even though things might be looking better by my wedding in June, I think I will have saved mucho bucks by planning ahead!

wagnerj3

I was able to talk a few vendors down but not many. There are some that won't budge.  But the ones that were more expensive were definitely higher quality and a part of the wedding that is really important to me personally.

I had planned a wedding about 4 years ago (it fell through, thank God!) so this time I was able to gain some perspective on what is important to me and what isn't. Having said that, I am still surprised at how much the wedding is costing and I really feel like I am shopping around and researching decent rates.  But then again, I look at something like my photography bill and realize that throws everything out of wack. So I guess we all just have to figure out what works for us.

But it is sort of insane if you look at the final number. Yikes, I am not sure I want to finish my spreadsheet come April!