Church Hopes to Break ‘Spend, Spend, Spend’ Wedding Culture (UK)

[struggle4progress]

by Maria Mackay
Posted: Sunday, February 11, 2007, 18:51 (GMT)

... If you’re getting married any time soon, the Church of England hopes you might take a leaf out of its new book and buy your wedding dress and suit from a charity shop - and give it back afterwards ...

Other novel suggestions to make your wedding more cost effective include inviting your guests to bring a bottle and arriving at the church as part of a flower parade or in a taxi ...

In addition to the tips on saving money on the events of the big day, Making the Most of Weddings offers ideas for arranging an environmentally friendly wedding, such as using organic food for the wedding breakfast or fairly-traded materials for the dress, or arranging the wedding list with a charity ...

Against a backdrop of recent figures suggesting the average cost of a wedding in the UK is now £17,000, Andrew Body believes the Church has a duty to “blow the whistle on commercialism” ...

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/church.hopes.to.break.spend.spend.spend.wedding.culture/9494.htm

[DonkeyInChinaShop]

1. That would be great

I'm getting married soon and it's going to break the bank.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

3. You and your future spouse are in control of whether...

the bank will be broken. Why go overboard if it can't be afforded?

[Silent3]

8. Think of how more more good...

...it would do most young couples starting out to have most the money spent on the damned wedding as cold, hard cash, or practical things like cars and furniture. It drives me crazy thinking of spending the cost of a new car or two on what's essentially nothing more than a f*cking party.

[tekriter]

2. Good luck with that...

My wife and I recently attended a wedding that had everything except the Blue Angels and a heart transplant at the reception.

Talking to one of the bridesmaids, she told me that the reception alone cost nearly $30,000. That didn't include the cake, the flowers, the dresses, the limos, the tuxedos, the church, the photos, the videos, the invitations, the honeymoon, etc.

That was just for the reception hall and the dinner.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

4. LOL @ the "Blue Angels".

Did you place bets afterward as to how long the marriage would last? My fave is the wedding that cost as much as a 12-cylinder BMW, and the divorce that followed about two years later.

[tekriter]

6. It has lasted...

so far, and I don't expect any problem there. They are both pretty decent people. The wedding, though, was entirely the creation of the bride's mother.

[havocmom]

5. Read about old homestead tradition re wedding cake

Each family coming to the celebration of union would bring ONE layer and maybe enough filling to join it to the previous layer. The community made the cake! The cake could be filled with all sorts of different layers and not always just what one would hope for. It struck me that it was SO appropriate how that would represent life!

And since a marriage is a partnership within in a larger community, the metaphor was multi-faceted. Every household plays a part in the sweetness of life, the building and the fun.

That no one person had a huge burden for the refreshment made it possible for the poorest to celebrate their joining.

Always thought it was a beautiful custom which we would do well to reconsider.

Have also noticed that the duration of too many marriages seemed directional and inversely proportional to the $$ spent on trying to satisfy unnecessary whims and infantile competition. Trying to start out like fairy-tale royalty does not set the stage for real life. Just assuring that it seem like all downhill from the wedding day. That is a stage set for failure.

[TechBear_Seattle]

7. Best wedding ever was my brother's

They rented a covered ramada in Balboa Park in San Diego, on a hill overlooking the Pacific. The bride wore a white sundress and hat, the groom wore white bermuda shorts and a Mexican wedding shirt. The minister was hired for a half hour to do a short ceremony. They bought a cake and the rest of the reception was a potluck picnic on the beach organized by the two mothers. Total cost: $320.

By far, the most enjoyable wedding I have ever been to.