Want to know how to have a very inexpensive wedding? Do what I did.
1) Decide three days before your wedding date that you actually are going to get married. This means you naturally avoid many of the things that drive a wedding's cost sky-high, plus you avoid all planning headaches--months of annoying conversations about which flowers you want, what kind of invitations to send, whether the tablecloths should be ecru or alabaster, what crappy food you'll be overpaying for, and how far away to seat your in-laws from one another.
2) No guests.
3) Get your rings someplace cool, but cheap. I went to Little India in LA and got two cool silver rings at an Indian jewelry store for $50.
4) Wear clothes you like and already own.
5) Get married in Vegas. If you fill out the marriage license online, when you get to the Vegas marriage license bureau, you'll get to be in the Express queue and all you'll have to do is sign a couple of papers and pay $60. The online form takes less than five minutes to fill out and the Express window took about about ten minutes (we had just one couple ahead of us, while the regular line had ten couples).
6) Do the Vegas drive-thru window--the cheapest package was $40. I chose the awesomely cheesy and fabulous Tunnel of Love at the Little White Chapel where Elvis got married. You literally drive through the Tunnel of Love decorated with angels, pull up to a window, and do the deed. I never even got out of the car (well, except for taking a picture of the Elvis sign and the adult bookstore across the street). They were nice, efficient, and we had a blast. Highly recommended.
TOTAL COST: $190, including tipping the pastor.
Sure, I'm not including the cost of dinner that night or the hotel room or the gas to drive to Vegas from LA, but the point is, you don't need to spend many thousands of dollars to show your mate you love them and make your wedding memorable.
Getting married was a big deal for me and maybe not for the reason you think. As a child, I never dreamt about what my wedding would be like. For almost my entire life, I succeeded in avoiding it. I didn't want it. I said I wouldn't do it. So for the last twenty years, I've been with the same person, but not "official." You know, sort of like Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn.
When I told my mom I was finally getting married on my 20-year anniversary of being with my "significant other," she told me that being with someone for a long time (like she was before she got married) was being committed 99%, but being married added that extra 1%. I think she's right. Here's the happy couple.
More pictures of my Vegas wedding are on Facebook here.
My very awesome PennySaverUSA.com team at work made a fun video about my PennySaver wedding here. Check it out. They rock.
