Eddie Hobbs - Wedding Plans

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gearoidmm

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Couldn't help noticing that Eddie seems to have gotten it wrong with the wedding financing. He suggested asking more people to the wedding and that the gifts that the increased number would bring would cover the entire cost of the wedding.

I think he failed to realise that you would only get one gift for every two people and inviting more people would probably cost a lot more in the long run.
 
Only saw a fraction of the show, but it seemed a strange attitude to be looking for (relying on) money gifted by guests to pay for the wedding itself. I accept that in practical terms this is what happens to some degree in almost all weddings, but surely the thought behind the gift is normally to provide something for the couple for the future and not to pay for the food on the day.

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....and the only people benefitting financially from the whole event are the hotel owner, the photographer, the florist, the ............ zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Just what exactly is the point? I can't believe for one minute that most 'happy couples' actually WANT each and every one of the 200 or so people to be there on their big day. I think it's a mixture of crashing under parental pressure and/or just wanting to keep up with the Jones's, both of which are wrong reasons for spending that obscene amount of money, but of course that's just my humble opinion!!
 
I thought it missed the point altogether. The couple were spending an awful amount of money on a wedding, where they could have cut costs.
For example, €1K on a band, which was good value for a band in fairness but they could have done without the band and had the DJ for the evening, saving straight off.
I think with applying themselves a little they would have saved a good bit of money. Eddie going in with 3 months to go was hardly much of a help, it would have been more informative and educational if he had featured at the start of their plans before they put down booking deposits.
 
I switched off when your woman said that certain things were a "must" including the church etc.
 
This current series is just not cutting the mustard in my opinion. He is at his best when people are crumbling with debt and he shows them ways at getting out of the pit. Very little tips are being passed on in this series whereas the last series had me seriously looking at my credit card spending and also looking at my mortgage with a different eye.
 
I though last nights show was pretty bad really, I watched with Mrs C and we were thrown back to when we were planning our own wedding on a very tight budget. I didn't learn anything from it and I didn't think there was much entertainment value in it either. The whole premise was quite flawed really- invite loads of extra people to your wedding to cover the cost- sure they'll never know they were just filling in the numbers! I suppose on the one hand it's good to have high expectations or "something to strive for" but I didn't see a whole lot of realism in last nights programme. I can't imagine why the couple wanted to appear on the show anyway- is the lure of reality TV that strong?
 
I agree with gearoidm - Eddie seemed to miss the likelihood that most of those 200 guests would be there as part of a couple, i.e. 100 couples, giving only one gift per couple, rather than one per person.

I think the guy was right when he initially rejected Eddie's suggestion, claiming that if they were relying on 'gifts' to finance the wedding, then they were no longer gifts, rather they were a 'tax' on attendance at the wedding.

It would have been a far more useful exercise if Eddie had looked constructively at ways to reduce the ludicrous cost of Irish weddings.
 
ClubMan said:
I switched off when your woman said that certain things were a "must" including the church etc.
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The church was obviously a "must" for that particular couple. different strokes for different folks and all that....


Personally I switched off when the girl said there were so many things that cropped up that were pushing them over the edge like flowers for the mothers. I'm sorry but if two bouquets of flowers (€100 maybe) tip you over the edge, you can't afford to get married.
 
If you married couples out there were doing it again, the wedding I mean, would you do things differently?
 
I always give cash, about €200 for the 2 of us.

Similarly we got mostly cash presents for our wedding - people are very generous. I dont like wedding lists - I'd rather leave it up to the guests. They seem a bit pushy to me, and its one of those situations where the less you push, maybe the better you go.

Re the no's - there are a certain amount of "must invites" but that goes with the territory, its in the fabric of a typical Irish wedding (particularly country ones). Theres obviously no compulsion to going with this flow, and its not unheard of to "have a small family affair".

Planning a wedding isnt the worst ordeal in the world - not a patch on having a house built - and people should be advised to go with the flow a bit and enjoy the day - no point stressing about everything being perfect - because in the end its only you and your close family will really remember it - for everyone else it'll mesh into all the other weddings they were ever at.
 
brodiebabe said:
The church was obviously a "must" for that particular couple. different strokes for different folks and all that....
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I realise that. It's just the way it was casually thrown in with the other "must have" trappings that put me off. On the other hand chances are I would have switched anyway as I don't really find these programmes (or much else on TV) interesting.
Grizzly said:
If you married couples out there were doing it again, the wedding I mean, would you do things differently?
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Nope. Registry office job and just immediate adult family (c. 30 people) for a meal afterwards with other friends dropping in later on for drinks/nibbles. Flew to Donegal for a relaxing weekend away the next day and had a proper holiday/honeymoon in Sicily a month or two later. Can't remember the total cost but pretty sure it was well below €5K.
 
I didn't see the show last night but if Eddie was presuming that inviting more people would cover the cost of the wedding as serious financial advice then he is making money for old rope in my opinion.

When I got married nearly 7 years ago we had the money for the wedding and were not depending on guests presents to pay for it. It would not have covered it anyway as many people gave gift instead of money and a lot of people gave very modest presents also.
 
differently to the show? I cannot answer that because I have not see it but what i would have done differently..

Simplify as much as possible. My other half spent too much of the day running around looking after small details that I am not too sure if she enjoyed the day as much as I did.

Find out who is getting married in the church on the same day and see if they want to share flowers for the church.

A single flower in a vase is just as elegant as a bunch of flowers on a table (and a fraction of the price!).

Scrap bridesmaids dresses - I have been to a load of weddings and they never look right. Just tell the bridesmaids to wear a certain colour and let them buy and outfit that they will wear again.

Have a buffet rather than a sit down meal. I think that most places will do reasonable cold food and spare the guests the standard 'chicken or beef'. I think that it is also a lot more social.

Limit ALL the speakers to maximum 10 minutes ( ideally just 7) and make sure the bestman informs the guests of this so they will start to heckle when they run over.

Get a competent and organised best man as he will take a lot of the burden off the groom (ditto on groomsmen).

Don't invite anyone who has not been in contact for the last two years (this is especially true with your wife's extended family).
 
The whole wedding thing in Ireland gets me. It's when you're planning for people's expectations that I get worried.

It's not actually something I have to worry about right now, but when I get married (if, come to think of it), I want a small intimate wedding, with the wedding ceremony at 11am, lunch afterwards, and straight to the airport for an evening flight to wherever, preferably not long haul. Huge "keeping up with the Joness" style wedding receptions and honeymoons do not do it for me. The actual getting married part is not the expensive part, it is all the trappings, and I don't believe in doing the trappings for everyone else's benefit when I don't want them myself.

I prefer giving presents than money myself as wedding gifts (must be a few disappointed marrieds who got things rather than cash over the years then). There's something seriously wrong if a major personal event like marriage comes down to money. There are other ways of doing it.
 
JohnBoy said:
Don't invite anyone who has not been in contact for the last two years (this is especially true with your wife's extended family).
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Eh!? Can you expand on that (the second part) please... :confused:
 
Grizzly said:
If you married couples out there were doing it again, the wedding I mean, would you do things differently?
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No! We had a small church ceremony, (not a white wedding ..no flowers, music etc..) followed by a meal in a hotel in Cavan for 25 of our friends and family that played and continue to play an ongoing role in our lives. It was a weekend long affair and all cost under 5000 in 2003 !
 
Problem is that despite the fact that it makes no economic sense at this time of our lives, a lot of people still want the big traditional white wedding where there is no doubt who the centre of attention is and damn the expense.

Rational thought seems to disappear out the window when that ring goes on the hand.

That said, I'll be happy to pay whatever it takes (within reason) to make sure that we remember the day for the rest of our lives, it only happens once!
 
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