Economy and Weddings

RadiantBride Posted: Jan 30, 2009 08:41 AM

Economy and Weddings

With the economy being the way that it is - do you think people have to cut back on having huge lavish weddings in comparison to previous years? Do you think more guests will be inclined to decline the invitation bc they cant afford the expenses associated with going to a wedding?

Discuss.

TGIF - hopefully this gets us through at least the morning.

TheFutureMrsM Posted: Jan 30, 2009 08:49 AM

Re: Economy and Weddings

i definately think guests may rsvp no to a wedding to avoid giving a gift, and maybe just send something small.

As far as the people who have money cutting back, its possible but in these times the rich keep getting richer, by buying up properties while their low, buying up stocks while they are low etc.

Probably the average person is going to make some cutbacks because they are the ones hard hit by the economy

RadiantBride Posted: Jan 30, 2009 08:53 AM

Re: Economy and Weddings

Posted by TheFutureMrsM

As far as the people who have money cutting back, its possible but in these times the rich keep getting richer, by buying up properties while their low, buying up stocks while they are low etc.

QUOTE]

That is such a great point!

I guess for me I dont know if I would be able to splurge on certain things that I did if I was getting married this year instead of last.

It's crazy what a difference a year can make.

TommysWife08 Posted: Jan 30, 2009 08:58 AM

Re: Economy and Weddings

we have SO many weddings in 09... most of them are friends that arent GOOD GOOD friends, but good enough friends that we will still go no matter what... but will give whatever we can give and go b/c we want to be there for them on their special day

if that means we can only give $150, then thats what we will do

futuremrsfab Posted: Jan 30, 2009 09:00 AM

Re: Economy and Weddings

Posted by TM2008

we have SO many weddings in 09... most of them are friends that arent GOOD GOOD friends, but good enough friends that we will still go no matter what... but will give whatever we can give and go b/c we want to be there for them on their special day

if that means we can only give $150, then thats what we will do

yea we have a couple of these too & I feel terrible, I am trying to put money to the side for this- but frankly if either of us lose our jobs or have to take a pay cut, there is no way we will be able to give a decent gift.

RadiantBride Posted: Jan 30, 2009 09:02 AM

Re: Economy and Weddings

Posted by futuremrsfab

Posted by TM2008

we have SO many weddings in 09... most of them are friends that arent GOOD GOOD friends, but good enough friends that we will still go no matter what... but will give whatever we can give and go b/c we want to be there for them on their special day

if that means we can only give $150, then thats what we will do

yea we have a couple of these too & I feel terrible, I am trying to put money to the side for this- but frankly if either of us lose our jobs or have to take a pay cut, there is no way we will be able to give a decent gift.

ITA with what you're both saying. If its paying your bills or giving and extra $100 for a wedding gift then I am sorry but the necessities come first. Maybe its just me, but as long as the people that I loved were there- be it with a card or $20 I would just be happy that they are spending the day with us.

MrsD71208 Posted: Jan 30, 2009 09:04 AM

Re: Economy and Weddings

I think that many people aren't suffering from the economy and that things won't change all that much. The only change I can imagine is those who are affected will not go to weddings for people who aren't really close, to avoid giving a big gift. Other than that, I would assume those who are losing jobs or those still in school may have a hard time paying a lot for a wedding. I would imagine destination weddings are at an all time high.

RadiantBride Posted: Jan 30, 2009 09:07 AM

Re: Economy and Weddings

Posted by MrsD71208

I think that many people aren't suffering from the economy and that things won't change all that much. The only change I can imagine is those who are affected will not go to weddings for people who aren't really close, to avoid giving a big gift. Other than that, I would assume those who are losing jobs or those still in school may have a hard time paying a lot for a wedding. I would imagine destination weddings are at an all time high.

Yeah I think this was more where I was getting at. With the unemploynment rate being so high (and projected to go higher) just wondering how those affected by it are paying for weddings. I know for us we definitely needed both incomes to pay for the weddings and our bills. Maybe more people will just put things on credit cards.

Kimbalina Posted: Jan 30, 2009 09:18 AM

Re: Economy and Weddings

I think that people will still attend weddings of people who are important to them. I think that there might be less in the envelope if they still feel that they must attend. However I can see some brides/grooms doing less for their wedding, as in extras.

Mici n KC Posted: Jan 30, 2009 09:48 AM

Re: Economy and Weddings

I think there will be a lot less OOT guest at weddings.

ETS: I think vendors will be willing to negotiate a lot more too. I'm sure they are feeling the pinch as well!

yelley77 Posted: Jan 30, 2009 09:50 AM

Re: Economy and Weddings

I have to tell you. I'm so glad I am not planning a wedding now. With jobs being cut and no one really being safe and secure in their position, i'd probably postpone my wedding if I were planning to get married in the next two years. I think it's a bit late for the 09er's since there year is year and mostly everything is paid for, but if i was planning a 2010,2011 wedding, i might take a step back and wait to see what the economy does.

SparkyandAng Posted: Jan 30, 2009 09:59 AM

Re: Economy and Weddings

Posted by yelley77

I have to tell you. I'm so glad I am not planning a wedding now. With jobs being cut and no one really being safe and secure in their position, i'd probably postpone my wedding if I were planning to get married in the next two years. I think it's a bit late for the 09er's since there year is year and mostly everything is paid for, but if i was planning a 2010,2011 wedding, i might take a step back and wait to see what the economy does.

I agree with you. while I am totally effected by the economy at this exact moment, I am definitely being way more cautious then before and am not spending unnecessarily (except for my coach traveling bag ). I had about 4 people reply no to our wedding with a note saying 'with this economy I'm so sorry, but we just can't make it'

nifheim Posted: Jan 30, 2009 10:04 AM

Re: Economy and Weddings

personally if i was planning around now I wouldn't have had our wedding the way we did. I would of done it very simple more down to earth version not that we spent a ton on our wedding but I would of made sure we would of had more money in the end. We had to use 2k worth of the money we received to pay off debt from the wedding.

As far as going I would decline any OOT weddings outside of the one I am going to in October. I wouldn't expect any OOT guests to come to mine during this time either.

Bride908 Posted: Jan 30, 2009 10:09 AM

Re: Economy and Weddings

I feel bad for people who are planning a wedding right now. Alot of people are still doing well but at this point jobs are being lost all over the place. How can anyone know if they will have a job in 3 months?

RadiantBride Posted: Jan 30, 2009 10:18 AM

Re: Economy and Weddings

Posted by Bride908

I feel bad for people who are planning a wedding right now. Alot of people are still doing well but at this point jobs are being lost all over the place. How can anyone know if they will have a job in 3 months?

That is what is so scary. You are incurring some may bills and we dont know exactly who will have a job in the next couple of months.

Espo22 Posted: Jan 30, 2009 11:17 AM

Re: Economy and Weddings

its hard, they reported 10,000 people are losing their jobs a month at this rate. Even if youre not effected and planning a wedding, your guests can be and then that effects your rsvp's.

And dont be fooled and think that none of the rich are affected either. While there are some that arent effected and getting richer, many are effected too. BIG companies went bankrupt, so CEO's and all those big positions these ppl had are gone. Not only that but that Madoff(sp?) guy screwed over alot of rich ppl, youre talking about alot of the rich in manhattan who invested ALL their money with him. Most of my moms clients are those rich ppl in manhattan, those who own big companies, ceo's of huge corporations and so on. She said quite a few of her clients lost alot with this guy or even lost it all. She had one client who didnt come in recently for a bit, and she spoke to her and the lady actually said to her 'i cant afford it right now, my husband and i lost EVERYTHING' this was shocking to my mom to even hear she cant afford something bc were talking about millionaires who probably never thought about money, they do live in a big apartment or penthouse on madison, and so thats their only investment at the time. These ppl invested everything they had with this guy, but they said that he was paying them the interest off of it all these years so thats why they didnt think anything of it. They said they were able to live off just the interest they got from it.