what do weddings cost the couple overall??

It is very healthy for couples to be questioning very carefully, assertively and cogently the cost of conventional western weddings as we know them in Ireland.

It is my contention that we can no longer afford weddings as we know them because of the higher cost of housing, the lower rate of wages, and the much lower security of employment experienced by young people today.

The reality is that Irish people are competing for scarce housing, services and other bases of living with people from all over the world who have a much more grounded and realistic approach to life than we have.

The foreigners are more frugal and less pretentious than the class conscious and public show approach that many Irish take to weddings.

In many cases people are not as important or as socially significant as they think they are. The whole purpose of weddings in olden days was to forge and cement alliances between countries and counties and other noble and semi noble families and groupings and owners of large estates etc.

Businesses were often merged through marriage between two competing firms when the daughter of one married the son of the other.

Big social weddings therefore had a pragmatic and business-like reason for existing. This was perverted by hotels and other catering establishments to apply to ordinary people with scarce resources and done so purely for profit.

The unpalatable truth is that most ordinary people do not need large, showy weddings and cannot afford them, in view of the fact that they need every penny for a house, raising their newly born children at the most expensive and risky time of their lives and getting started in their careers.

Being frugal and sensible at this stage in a persons life gives them a much needed boost in the deposit needed for a modern house buyer, it gives them a much needed easing of debt pressure needed in negotiations for higher wages or better working conditions in their chosen profession or trade.

Big showy weddings should be avoided at all costs, even if this means annoying or disappointing the parents. They lived in different times and each generation must live appropriately to their times.

Larbre34 wrote: »

We spent 27k on the day, 15k on a 7 week honeymoon some months later and netted 15k in gifts including our parents contributions. So I guess it cost us 27k. We had the gaff bought 7 years beforehand

You spent 27 on a day

Anyone that pays over 8k for a wedding needs a slap.

You don't need to invite 450 people to your special day...half of them probably don't even like you as you're marrying their Virgin cousin who's too good for you.
And chances are...you're not even getting the ride that night

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This post has been deleted.