Getting Married on a Cruise Ship

My wedding was a beautiful, festive event that lasted four days and three nights. Total cost - $1500.

It is a well known fact that most little girls start planning their wedding sometime around the age of ten. We romanticize the event and build up this huge extravaganza in our minds. From the tiniest details like wedding favors all the way up to the reception hall. There are dresses that cost anywhere from $99 to $10,000. There are cakes created by master bakers that cost hundreds (and even thousands) of dollars. There are dinners and drinks for hundreds of guests that cost more than the price of the couple's first home. The fact of the matter is that we spend an inordinate amount of money on the events of one day which the bride and groom rarely have the time or energy to enjoy.

When my husband and I got together with an old college chum and his wife shortly after our own wedding, we came to the inevitable discussion of our respective weddings. They had a traditional affair with a conservative 150 guests that included a church ceremony, a rented reception hall, and a full dinner and bar. They had to take out a loan for $15,000 to cover their share of the affair. It is only fair to mention that this amount did not include the large sum they paid for their seven-day honeymoon in Hawaii, two days of which were spent sleeping off the exhaustion of organizing and racing through their wedding day. I felt so sorry for them when they told us that the thing they both remember most about their wedding day was that it was a blur.

By contrast, my husband and I spent $1,500 on our wedding event, had a coordinator handle the details, savored every moment of the day and remained well-rested to enjoy every moment of our honeymoon.