Move over, Bridezillas: Weddings on a budget
Bethany Hart
Issue date: 3/18/08 Section: News
Most women in the world consider their wedding to be the most important day of their lives.
The flowers, church, but more important than all of these, the dress, has to be absolutely perfect. But to what cost do these brides demand perfection?
The Association of Wedding Professionals online statistics state that 2,160,000 weddings occurred in the United States between December 2005 and December 2006.
Every one of these couples feed into the overwhelmingly huge wedding industry, worth a whopping $86 billion.
According to costofwedding.com, the average wedding cost in Dayton, Ohio, is over $45,000. The website goes so far as to offer a breakdown of this average budget with about $4,000 dedicated to the wedding dress, veil, accessories, hair, and makeup. This would be considered a low-budget wedding by some people. Style Network and Women's Entertainment Television, or WE T.V., are littered with shows such as "Platinum Weddings," "My Fabulous Wedding," "Rich Bride, Poor Bride," and "Bridezillas," encouraging extravagant, over-the-top weddings and similar brides.
These brides spend over $100,000 on their weddings and anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 on their dresses and veils.The shows send the message that brides are nothing without the high-priced designer gowns, extravagant decorations, and imported flowers.
Yet the average woman who cannot afford these outlandish prices has found ways to cut down on the cost of getting hitched, especially when it comes to the dress.
"I bought my dress for my second wedding at the Price store in Dayton for $250;it had beautiful beadwork and a gorgeous train," says recent bride Tiffany Wall.
"The dress I bought for my first wedding was a vintage dress that I picked up for $25."
Jaime Langston, who will walk down the aisle later this year, spent a bit more on her dress, but still managed to stay under the average.
"I paid around $800 for my dress, $100 for my veil," Langston said.
Contrary to these extravagant shows, brides are doing their best to get married on a budget.
Couples still strive for the perfect ceremony; brides still strive for the ideal dress.
But more and more people are beginning to realize that the word "perfect" does not have to be synonymous with "expensive."
The flowers, church, but more important than all of these, the dress, has to be absolutely perfect. But to what cost do these brides demand perfection?
The Association of Wedding Professionals online statistics state that 2,160,000 weddings occurred in the United States between December 2005 and December 2006.
Every one of these couples feed into the overwhelmingly huge wedding industry, worth a whopping $86 billion.
According to costofwedding.com, the average wedding cost in Dayton, Ohio, is over $45,000. The website goes so far as to offer a breakdown of this average budget with about $4,000 dedicated to the wedding dress, veil, accessories, hair, and makeup. This would be considered a low-budget wedding by some people. Style Network and Women's Entertainment Television, or WE T.V., are littered with shows such as "Platinum Weddings," "My Fabulous Wedding," "Rich Bride, Poor Bride," and "Bridezillas," encouraging extravagant, over-the-top weddings and similar brides.
These brides spend over $100,000 on their weddings and anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 on their dresses and veils.The shows send the message that brides are nothing without the high-priced designer gowns, extravagant decorations, and imported flowers.
Yet the average woman who cannot afford these outlandish prices has found ways to cut down on the cost of getting hitched, especially when it comes to the dress.
"I bought my dress for my second wedding at the Price store in Dayton for $250;it had beautiful beadwork and a gorgeous train," says recent bride Tiffany Wall.
"The dress I bought for my first wedding was a vintage dress that I picked up for $25."
Jaime Langston, who will walk down the aisle later this year, spent a bit more on her dress, but still managed to stay under the average.
"I paid around $800 for my dress, $100 for my veil," Langston said.
Contrary to these extravagant shows, brides are doing their best to get married on a budget.
Couples still strive for the perfect ceremony; brides still strive for the ideal dress.
But more and more people are beginning to realize that the word "perfect" does not have to be synonymous with "expensive."
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 5
Don
posted 3/19/08 @ 2:43 PM EST
Bethany, if you're going to snag one of the photos off my website you'll need a live link back to my site. My photos are under copyright.
Don
Anonymous
posted 3/20/08 @ 9:57 PM EST
Obviously, the Torch's advisor has failed to teach the staff about copyrights.
Don, you have every right to be angry. If I were you, I would seriously consider legal action, as I don't believe that this is the first time this publication has done this type of thing. (Continued…)
Tara Osborne
posted 3/26/08 @ 1:59 PM EST
Hello,
Thank you for your comments on what our paper needs to do to improve itself, while the paper is student-run...we make our own mistakes when dealing with these issues. (Continued…)
Bethany Hart
posted 3/26/08 @ 5:08 PM EST
Don,
My name is Bethany Hart and I am Editor-in-Chief of the Torch. I truly apologize for the mistake. I spoke to my news editor and she had no idea that this particualr picture was copyrighted. (Continued…)
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