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And speaking of the wedding industry, here's the first and best way to stay on a budget and save money. Don't hire a wedding planner. Wedding planners account for around 15% of the cost of a wedding, and they often create more problems than they solve. Many wedding planners have working relationships with wedding boutiques, hotels and caterers, and while that can work to your benefit if you just want to hire someone to get it all done without counting the cost, chances are you will wind up paying more for the services recommended by your planner. Not only that; some planners forget whose wedding they're doing, and may pressure couples to make choices that don't really interest them. Skip the planner: do the planning yourself using free online resources and personal connections and keep the extra money yourself. Another mistake many people make is that of believing that if they spend enough money, they will have "the perfect wedding". Weddings are the perfect medium for breeding and growing serious control issues. They take lots of time, attention and energy; there are hundreds of details; they cost a fortune, and you only get one shot at it. Women who seek the perfect wedding are bound for misery, because anything that involves so many people and such tight scheduling is bound to have an occasional glitch. And think about it: you have combinations like parents and children, crying babies and irritable clergy, red wine and white satin. How could it possibly go right?
But some remain hopeful that perfection is attainable if they only strive hard enough. These are the brides who go into hysterics when the brie en croute appetizers turn out to be chevre wrapped with smoked salmon. Who storm out of rehearsal dinners because a bridesmaid arrives late. Who make people unhappy, who suffer migraines, who faint at the altar from months of stress suddenly released. Let's get this out of the way right now.
No matter what you spend on a wedding, no matter how hard you work or how great your love, it will not be perfect. Think of your wedding as a metaphor for marriage.
Last year, hopeful couples spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $72 billion in the U.S. alone. In Japan, where the average cost of a wedding is around $93,000 U.S. (!) it was probably somewhat higher. Wedding gift registries in the U.S. alone racked up sales of $19 billion. That's a lot of toasters! I'm telling you these facts to give you a sense of what is possible. It is possible to spend every cent you have on a wedding. But that would just be dumb.
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