<prompt> Human: edit: Just to clarify the title, I dont mean it to come pretentious. I just googled average wedding cost which says the average wedding costs 26K. Since its more or less what I spent, I thought itd make a good title.I just got married. I know there are people who can pull off a wedding for 4K or maybe even for 500. Well, that wasnt us.I wanted to give you guys a rough list of our expenses to show why weddings are so expensive even when youre trying to control costs. I hope this post will be useful for some of you in some way.July 2014: 2700 20 deposit for the engagement ring. Financially, Im doing pretty well but even for me the ring she liked had a steep price tag. But I decided I wasnt going to cheap out on the ring and got the ring she liked.December: Well, she thought about it and decided she doesnt want the expensive ring. So we returned it. We got a much cheaper ring. While we were there, I went ahead and bought our wedding bands too. Paid another 3700 for all 3 rings. Total ring cost: 6400.February: 1300 deposit for the venue. 600 deposit for the DJ. He was a recommendation from a friend whose wedding I had been to. A band would have cost more, I assume. 2000 for the brides dress. There were many purchases and returns in this month from bridal shops. I dont understand the process so I cant quite comment on it. My understanding is 2000 is not a terrible price. We also paid 100 or so in shipping. 250 for the brides shoes.March: First makeup trial: 120. She didnt like it. Florist deposit: 850. This is insane. I was thinking Theyre just flowers! How can they cost so much? Well, there is more to it apparently. Theres the design, colors, blah blah, and of course, its a wedding. Everything costs 10x of what they should. Catering deposit: 4300. At this point we expected about 100 people. Not a big wedding really. edit: I went back and looked whats included. The price includes the cake, linens, food, beerwine, apps for the cocktail hour, and the dance floor. I paid a little extra for the beerwine since we had craft beer choices and not the usual domestics. The venue required a dance floor to be installed since its a historic venue. So, not quite 100plate as I quoted elsewhere. Second makeup trial: 160. She didnt like it. Dress alterations round one: 60April: Photographer deposit: 550. Shes a friend so she gave us a good rate. Yep, thats half of a good rate. More wedding dress stuff: 330. I have no idea why so much. Third makeup trial: 120. And we found THE ONE before the makeup trials bankrupted us!May: Grooms suit: 200. I also bought shoes for 350 but I didnt quite include it in the wedding cost since Ill wear those shoes for the next 10 years I hope!June: Venue second payment: 1100. We had a Friday wedding so it was 1000 cheaper. Well, thats good I guess. Photographer second payment: 500. Marriage license: 60 Cash to tip the DJ, venue people, catering people: 540. These people worked hard and they deserved it. Venue late-night cleanup fee: 200. We wouldnt have to pay this if we could do the cleanup the next morning but the timing didnt work. DJ second payment: 980 Florist second payment: 1000 Catering second payment: 4600 90 peopleJuly: Nails, pedicure, makeup, and all that jazz: 460 Hotel for the newly weds: 410 Hotel for one guest who couldnt pay her own: 220 Officiant: 100 - was a friend who gave us a deal. The fees Ive seen here go between 200-400.When all is said and done, we ended up spending 28K or so -- 22K if you exclude the rings. Definitely not the cheapest wedding. Definitely could have saved more money somewhere. But everything worked really well with no incidents or crisis. The bride never got into the bridezilla mode. I also found out that things just add up. I was hoping for a 15K wedding excluding the rings, we blew that budget by about 50 and not because we were careless.The biggest costs, as you can see, are the rings and the catering. We went with the buffet style to save money but its still about 100plate. Im sure smaller towns have it cheaper. We also went with a caterer we know -- and to their credit, the food was really really good, and the service was excellent -- and didnt really too many options anyway since the venue gave us a few caterers they prefer and have worked with before.My wifes second choice of a wedding dress was considerably cheaper about 800 but she liked the primary one so much we stayed with it. You know what, she looked incredible in that dress so Im glad.Anyway, I hope you guys dont ridicule me for over-spending : The good news is its a once in a lifetime thing hopefully! so I wont be spending this much on a wedding again!Assistant: Thanks for the breakdown and detail. I am afraid you will just be picked on for certain things you might have paid more for than you could of but thats not always what weddings are about. Good stuff and I hope you enjoyed the day.Human: This will sound very cliche, but it really was the best day of my life. I didnt think that would be the case Im usually grumpy! but it was really great.As for being picked on - Id be glad if other people pointed out what can be done cheaper and how. It wont help me, but can help some others here!  <response>: This will sound very cliche, but it really was the best day of my life. I didnt think that would be the case Im usually grumpy! but it was really great.Mentally I was crying a little as I read through your budget, but ultimately this is the important part. If you remember it as being a fantastic day and a good start to your marriage, thats what matters as long as you didnt impoverish yourself! I had to say it, sorry! 