Tips for getting Married Quickly
You've met your soul mate and have been dating for a few months and decide that instead of living together you want to get married.
Maybe you've been dating a long time but haven't been able to save enough money for a big wedding, so you've decided you want to get married on a smaller budget. Why wait any longer?
To begin with you don't have to have a thirty-thousand dollar wedding. You can have a wedding anywhere from four to ten thousand dollars if that's all you feel you can afford.
Go to your Church and see your Priest/Deacon/Pastor and set that date, if your Priest/Deacon/Pastor cannot do the wedding you can check out some of the other Churches nearby. I can't speak for the Rabbis as I don't know if they have stricter rules, but you can also go and speak to them also. You can also try and find a Judge to marry you if it doesn't cause a problem with your religion.
You can get the invitations made up in one or two days; call up family and friends and invite them by phone; send out regular invitations that you buy in a card store or make your own on the computer to send out.
Check out halls, there may be a cancellation and they will give sometimes give you a break on the price since it is found money to them. Sometimes Buffets are cheaper than the whole works that include cocktail hours and dinners. Some halls don't offer buffets but you can explain that you can't afford the whole deal or don't want it, you never know they might feel sorry for you and give you a better dea. A lot of posts do offer buffets or you can bring in your own food if you find a Church that rents out its basement/Gym. [Holy Spirit in Brooklyn may be one of them] Remember you can have a buffet instead of a cocktail hour and dinner because most people eat too much at the cocktail hour and then the meal usually goes to waste or the people feel they have eaten too much.
People have also been know to borrow or rent wedding gowns and gowns for the bridal party if someone in the family has recently married recently or you can pick up sample gowns at many of the bridal shops like David's Bridal Gowns and other Bridal Shops in the area. All gowns don't have to be made to order, people pick up nice ones off the rack. Check them out.
Also check out DJs there are so many out there and you are bound to find one, especially with the internet. If not you can have a family member act as DJ at the wedding.
What really matters is not the cost of the wedding, but the love between two people who want to be married. Perhaps there are some out there who have not been living together and want to wait until they are married and they don't want a long courtship. Perhaps you realize it will take you years and years before you are ready to have a wedding like everyone else in the family has had before you. Don't let these things get in the way of your love for each other. Spend the money on your apartment, because very few couples make back the money they put into a really expensive wedding especially if you do not come from a wealthy family and your family is not footing the bill.
I know in Italian weddings people give cash as a wedding gift instead of sending a gift that will never be used. This does away with the couple receiving seven lamps or twenty bed sheet sets. In those cases the couple will usually make back their money and then can go and purchase furniture for their apartment.
Remember the main reason to be married is because of the love the two of you share for each other. The things that make people have a happy time at a wedding is because they first of all sense the love radiating between the couple. If you have good music with good variety, slow music, rock, cha-cha, rumba, Lindy, line dances like the electric slide, hookey pookey etc., almost everyone will be happy and get up and dance. Those who don't dance will enjoy watching those who do and not get a headache because only loud music was played all night.
Remember that people will overlook having less food, more than they will overlook bad music.
We have planned many weddings and birthday parties in a two/three week span where everyone had a good time and most of those invited attended with dancing shoes on. Most couples get everything done right away when planning their affair and then have to wait a year or two for the happy day to arrive. Good luck and have a wonderful wedding reception.
