Forced Marriage Proposal Kits

[cutiebunny]

For those of you who have had to stomach the 'delightful' wedding/family renunions/baby parties without a spouse (or kids...), here's something you might enjoy...

http://www.japantrends.com/forced-marri ... irlfriends


I still don't get the piggy bank that stores 500 yen coins, but I do highly approve of the candle in the picture that says "Bathtime makes you shiny girl!".

[Sky Rat]

I get the piggy bank. I proposed to my GF a whole year and a half ago, and we still haven't actually planned the wedding because every time we sit down and review the cost of venues and caterers it makes me seriously freak out. It's easy to just keep putting it off, saying we can't afford a wedding. Having a big shiny reminder sitting around would probably actually make me think twice every time I decided I want to buy a latte or whatever. :/

[Shampoo]

I get the piggy bank. I proposed to my GF a whole year and a half ago, and we still haven't actually planned the wedding because every time we sit down and review the cost of venues and caterers it makes me seriously freak out. It's easy to just keep putting it off, saying we can't afford a wedding. Having a big shiny reminder sitting around would probably actually make me think twice every time I decided I want to buy a latte or whatever. :/

I hear ya on that one! Have you two thought about just doing a small wedding instead?

I managed to do a traditional small chapel wedding (mostly for the parents ) reception, photography,
and wedding accoutrements (dress/tux cake/makeup) all for under 5k. It can be done, it just requires
alot of researching and patience. May-July being the busiest wedding months can actually help because
there's alot of discounts due to the competitive high demands. Also, going local venues
can help keep the money in the neighborhood and offer more customization and often (in my experience)
better service. I guess I just wanted to post and say -- don't get discouraged especially by price.
Done on a budget can still make for an amazing, cozy, and intimate wedding. ^_^
Wish you 2 luck!

[cutiebunny]

In the event that you do have to invite a lot of people due to either side having a large, mostly local, family, I'd highly recommend booking a reception room at a community center and then having both the ceremony and the reception there. In addition to drastically cutting your costs, having it in one place, at one time, makes it a lot easier on both you and your guests. There's nothing like going to weddings may miles away from your home where the ceremony is in the morning and the reception is 12 hours afterwards.

In regards to food, what I did was just have a buffet and attendees could pick out what they wanted. This way, you don't have to worry about any icky dietary restrictions that your guests may have. Just remember that you probably won't eat much, if anything, at your reception. The meals are more for your guests than you. It's something to keep in mind, especially if you were hoping to munch on the filet mignon you ordered.

Yeah, I'd totally fail at saving 500 yen coins. I always save them up for the UFO machines...

[sensei]

Suicide Bridge down our way has some attractive wedding reception packages. They advertise all the time on local TV, and, having been there, I can vouch that the food is pretty good and the setting very pretty, with sunset paddleboat cruises available for the surviving members of the family.

Seriously, though, you should consider avoiding the big wedding planner package and plan as much as you can for yourself. Not long ago I came across the Mastercard bill for the month of our wedding and realized how much we'd saved by opting for nice but not fancy touches. We had the wedding reception at our church parish hall, kept the invitation list limited to family and close friends, had family members take turns in serving the refreshments, and even ordered the cake ourselves at a bakery in a small town the next county over and driving it back ourselves. (It was awesomely good.) In my family's experience, the length of a marriage has always been inversely related to the money spent on the ceremony and assorted hoopla. Better to put the time into marriage counseling and planning, have a sincere but not ostentatious wedding, and move directly to preparations for your 25th anniversary celebration.

[iceman57]

Time change, in the early 19th century they do get illustrations (porn pictures) to figure out "how to make childrens"
About wedding, we do plan (one day) to rent a boat for a little cruise with whole family at the bottom of Notre Dame Cathedral

[Sky Rat]

I've never heard of Suicide Bridge, Sensei, thank you for the suggestion!

My real problem is that we already found a venue in Baltimore that we really really want to use (we would have both the ceremony and reception in one place). But they require you to pick a caterer off an approved list. The venue's cost doesn't seem too unreasonable but the caterers are all really expensive so there is not a lot of choice for saving money with the food. We've been trying to keep the list small, but there are a lot of family friends that I feel obligated to invite and the list stacks up pretty quickly. There are definitely some cheaper venue options close to home, we just have to really decide how important certain aspect s of the wedding that we had already decided on are to us and how much we need to compromise. (We'll probably have to compromise quite a lot.)

Hearing that you managed to do it all for under 5K is amazing, Shampoo, that's really encouraging to hear! Our original goal was to keep it under 6K and everyone laughed at us for being naive, including my parents. It was really discouraging, so we just kept postponing planning.

[iceman57]

I've never heard of Suicide Bridge, Sensei, thank you for the suggestion!

My real problem is that we already found a venue in Baltimore that we really really want to use (we would have both the ceremony and reception in one place). But they require you to pick a caterer off an approved list. The venue's cost doesn't seem too unreasonable but the caterers are all really expensive so there is not a lot of choice for saving money with the food. We've been trying to keep the list small, but there are a lot of family friends that I feel obligated to invite and the list stacks up pretty quickly. There are definitely some cheaper venue options close to home, we just have to really decide how important certain aspect s of the wedding that we had already decided on are to us and how much we need to compromise. (We'll probably have to compromise quite a lot.)

Hearing that you managed to do it all for under 5K is amazing, Shampoo, that's really encouraging to hear! Our original goal was to keep it under 6K and everyone laughed at us for being naive, including my parents. It was really discouraging, so we just kept postponing planning.

Honestly over 50 guests focus on 10K, especially if they are fan of drinks. You can't imagine how fast your vallet collapse with Champagne or sparkling wine bottles.
At my side I discussed with a boat owner, for a wedding cruise in Paris, and postpone the project till fund raise.