Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Fuck The Wedding Industry

I was engaged less than a week before I was already fed up.
My wonderful man was searching for online venues. He's into the idea of getting married someplace that has meaning for us. Our back-up plan right now is this not at all fancy "house" with huge back patio on a college campus. My awesome cousin & her awesome husband got married there like 20 years ago. The man likes that it's on a campus and that there is that cousin connection. I like that it's dirt cheap at $100/hour. For me, any other place has to be close to that price. If it's at all more it has to be worth it by being gorgeous or awesome in some spectacular way.
So the man searched. He looked at the venue where our dear friends who are in an awesome marriage got married. He clicked the "meeting rental" tab and looked at priceing. The BIG room said it held 300 people seated at round tables and was $650 for the whole day. What the holy hell? YES! Plus, it's at a marina and we could have the ceremony on the lawn overlooking the water. YES YES!
So he emails me the link and the next day I go back to the website before calling because I don't remember what the room is called. I click the "wedding & special event" tab and see the BIG room says it holds 280 seated at round tables and is $1800.
Wait. What?
I call. $650 is for "corporate events". $1800 is for weddings. The difference in the seating is the dance floor. I ask if corporate events can have liquor? Yes. Can they have music? Yes. Could I have a dance floor at my corporate event if I wanted? Yes. So, really, the price difference is just the fact that it's a wedding? Yes.
Look, I get that maybe weddings are more stressful for the staff. I get that brides and grooms are possibly more likely to become crazed controlling demanding psychopaths than your average event planner. But almost THREE TIMES as much?
The man doesn't see this as a problem. He thinks the price is still good at $1800 for the reception hall and $600 for the outdoor ceremony. He's right. It's technically still in our as-yet-not-quite-nailed-down budget, but for me the injustice of it all is hard to swallow.


We are still looking. I love the idea of the marina. I know that the "house" isn't going to be conducive to a ceremony so we'd have to find another venue off-campus and the price might get closer to the marina. I know that it would be way easier to just have our guests go from the lawn on the marina into the building right there. But… but… $650 vs $1800 is still pissing me off.

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