Wedding - The Mustachian way

We melt some gold (from some chains and bracelets we owned) and paid the jewelery just his service to turn these into rings. Make sure gold source is good.

  1. We did electronic invitations (well, not simple mesage, but made nice picture/frame with photoshop) via Watsapp and etc. It’s 21 century after all and all those invites goes to bin anyway. Also it was 2020 summer, first relaxation of corona measure thus had to quickly improvise.
  2. Official ceremony in Zurich Stadhaus.
  3. Apero - between Zurich Stadhaus and Fraumunster Church there is small passing with gates on both end, but one end is locked. Very cosy between old buldings, just need to make sure it’s free as there are more weddings happening every 15 mins or so. Just bring your champagne and small one bite snacks or cakes https://goo.gl/maps/XApRNnmbaWhdj2Au6
  4. Pictures around Munsterbrucke/water - Zurich is our love city.
  5. Photograph, we got lucky our friend is interested in photography.
  6. Evening location we rented this cheap for 150 or 350chf Google Maps. We used to live close by and walked there a lot. Since it was August and weather was perfect, view and sunset over Zurich city was amazing. There are tables/chairs and you can sit inside number of people, but since weather was good we setup everything outside. No passers were disturbing us.
    They do have cutlery, but you need your own food. We hired catering for like 30 people. 2k maybe, don’t remember. 2 people served food they made and wine which we provided.
    You need someone to prepare everything, like decorations, table sets, balloons before event. Luckily my wife likes these things, thus prepared all and just hired one lady to prepare all before we arrive after ceremony on the day.
    We did not have dj or lead and made all evening part casual/cosy. Basically everyone saying toast some story, then first dance some more dance and cake.
  7. Rings like 600 and 800 or so from here Google Maps
    Not a fancy place, but ring is ring and actually found one which I liked, when in general I hate rings.

I think we made it in less than 5k. We did not ask any presents, just to be with us on our special day in Corona times.

I hope it gives idea what can be done in your case.

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I’ve been married for more than 20 years now, but it’s still interesting to read about your experience.

Businesses are masterful at offering overpriced stuff and services in at least two life situations: Births and weddings… they make you feel like a miserly cheapskate if you’re not willing to splurge like a fool on these “once-in-a-lifetime” events.

Maybe, there’s death as well… but haven’t experienced that myself :sweat_smile:

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I do not remember exactly but they are very simple (white gold, thin size). We had them gifted by our wedding witnesses.

I guess no more than 4-500 chf in total

Same price for our rings.
We bought them in France so we managed to detax them and received 250 euros of VAT back (around 12%).

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235 for her 265 for him (simple gold band made by a goldsmith with engraving on the inside)

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Funny, since my Wife is a Goldsmith, I wondered how much people spent on their rings even when I know where the prices for a regular pair of gold-rings are.
There are major differences from the material used (Silver, Gold 8 to 24 Karat or Carbon), also if you take something that its molded or machine made its obviously cheaper. More different materials combined are also more expensive for example, carbon inside gold outside, etc.

As @SteveDB said if you turn in “old” gold make sure it is good otherwise its not going to be pretty.

I probably would rather make a “cheap” engagement ring (or none at all) and a bit better wedding ring, but to each their own.

We were interested in hobby jewellery smithing at the time, and ended up buying a few silver ring blanks and spent a week or two hammering in semi-secrecy. She did my ring, I did hers. They are by no means perfect, but they are ours and we appreciate them for the work & emotions that went into it rather than the material value (which is <30 CHF).

She went through a brief phase of social/status anxiety, and we agreed that we can upgrade to gold at the 10 year anniversary. It has been more than that by now and we had no regrets.

I appreciate that this would not be for everybody and depends not just on the partner but also, to lesser but non-trivial degree, the social network you are embedded in. Status anxiety is a real thing unfortunately, and on wedding stuff you really need to be both on board.

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This discussion is getting interesting to me, I thought with our customized gold rings (bought in Switzerland) costing us 1k+ we were more on a modest side :rofl:.

Dear all,

Thank you for the (incredible) amount of response in such a short time. Thank you also for your wishes and tips.

For the context, we are going to celebrate our wedding in two steps; a first one purely administrative with the direct family as well as our respective witnesses. On the program, the administrative formalities required by our canton of residence, an aperitif and that’s all. The idea is to do this again this year.
In the second stage, we wish to celebrate our union in a place that resembles us, namely close to nature, simple, calm and clear. We now have some ideas of places to combine the wedding celebration + the after wedding (including food & drinks, animations and wedding party with family and close friends). We are in the “exploratory” phase and the observation is that everything is possible at all budgets, hence my original post. We wish to take our time on this point and thus imagine celebrating with friends and family during 2024.

Since we want to keep our wedding in our own hands (at least, that’s my will but my wife is following me in this idea), we are mainly looking for places where it is possible to combine the celebration of the secular wedding + aperitif + meal + animations and wedding party. Also, we want to take advantage of a place that already has a certain charm and nature/gardens at disposal, this to be able to focus on the decoration rather on the dining tables.

I have the chance to have been in the music and photography business for several years, so I already have contacts and possibilities to take animation and professional photographer at a very low price.

Concerning the aspect of invitations / announcements and other documents, I have in mind to do it in a hybrid form, namely digital sending for friends and people who are comfortable with digital, in paper form for people less comfortable with digital as well as the family abroad (who do not speak the same language for example).

I gladly take the tip to take care of the drinks myself. I see a difference of simple to triple between the prices proposed by the establishments compared to the commercial price.

Regarding the orientation during the ceremony, here too I have the chance to have two friends (my groomsmen) extremely organized in an almost military style.

Regarding the clothes, my wife will probably rent her wedding dress. She doesn’t want to keep it after the wedding. On my side, I was actually more interested in buying a “classic” 3-piece suit, with a vest decorated for the occasion and the two remaining pieces interchangeable to use the ensemble in other occasions.

I am not at all for giving a gift to guests. I know that this is easily done in France and Italy.

On our side, we would rather ask the guests if they would like to contribute to our honeymoon. The location is still to be determined, but I think this is more interesting than hypothetical toasters and dish sets that clutter up more than they help.

Regarding alliances, we are not yet at that stage. I do have a few contacts to turn to who could either organize something for us or direct us to small independent designers. I think that a 2/5 - 3/5 split of the price seems fair (3/5 being the price of the bride’s ring).

For Info, concerning the prices of the photographers, a good photographer has prices starting at CHF 2000.-, including the coverage of the entire wedding (from the preparations to the first dance), as well as the photo album offered in a nice box.

I am not yet aware of all the points to be considered, respectively what needs to be organized. We will soon get in touch with different places that have package deals to get a better idea of the services and prices offered.

In any case, I really appreciate your input. I have the impression that there was a certain taboo about this subject (represented by the absence of topics about it on the forum). I’m glad to have cleared the air :slight_smile:

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In my experience, you do not need to worry much about the money as the gifts basically pay for the wedding. Provided it’s a frugal one.

In our case, we asked people non to give gifts but just money if they wanted to. Moreover, we did without photographer (2 friends with good cameras did the pictures), and skipped all the unnecessary things (gifts to people, invited the minimum amount of friends, decoration, etc). We organized ourselves. We did not skip on location, good food, and we hired a friend as a DJ.

All in all the gifts covered the entire expense.

From my experience, a wedding could be « cheap » and still be your best souvenir.

We rented a simple farm shed, and did the decoration with the cheapest Ikea curtains (my mom then cut them in half and sewed them to make 12m long drape) and some cheap Ikea light garland. Some guests where asked to take back the flowers from the church to put them on the table, pillar, etc (everything was described on paper, yes organized as much as possible). Total cost of the decorations: 180.- CHF.

The music took me and my wife several evenings, but we did our own playlist and played them with my iPod on my Sonos installation (I tricked the sonos by creating a fake wifi with a 4g router with the same name and password as at home). Cost of the DJ: 0.-CHF.

The mistakes we did:

  • photobooth wrongly oriented (counter light, bad photo :smiling_face_with_tear:)
  • didn’t want to pay 1000.- for a photographer, asked my brother, photos are not great nor bad but…

Total cost of the weeding including location rent, wedding dress, smoking, food, drink, etc… : 15’000.-. (We were 80 for the cocktail and 50 for the dinner)

Hope that might give you some ideas

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Second that, when you put a little bit your own sweat and it works out, you get really nice and personal memory.
Yeah, photographer is better not to skim off.
What we also did, we bought some Poloroid photos and some decorative paper glasses/hats/mustaches etc to make fun photos which people could put together into wish book.

One advice for expats, when some foreign relatives don’t speak common language. Organize some translator next, otherwise they might feel left out at some segments of wedding.

I was puzzled. You described a cheaper way to organize and then you spent 15000chf. Then I read “smoking” and thought you spent most of it in weed.
:man_facepalming:

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8000.- for the gatering
1000.- for the drinks (yeap, we drink a lot)
1800.- for the wedding rings (platinium isn’t cheap)
1600.- for the dress
1600.- for the weed (i mean smoking, or suit)
180.- for the decoration
300.- for the flowers
300.- for to rent the place
Maybe I forgot 2-3 small details but it’s pretty much that.

I didn’t mention that I bought 2 suits (because voila) but I then used them for my work, so don’t know if I should count them on the wedding or not.

Food was the most expensive post but I would take the same if we have to (you know in case you want to get married more)

One year has passed since the creation of this topic, marked by Madame’s “yes” during our civil union in September 2023. Currently, we are finalizing preparations for the secular ceremony scheduled for the second quarter of this year.

Opting for the convenience of an “all in one” package in a 3-star hotel, we found the best balance of quality, price, and service, simplifying coordination with a single point of contact. This avoids hiring a dedicated wedding planner, as the quote covers all elements, from the flower arch to the dining room decoration.

The costs incurred so far break down as follows:

  • Civil registry fees: 325 CHF
  • Flowers, boutonniere, and hair accessories for the civil wedding (bride and bride’s niece): 120 CHF
  • Attire for the couple: 810.20 CHF
  • Civil wedding reception cocktail: 650 CHF (15 people)
  • Digital invitation (creation of a dedicated website): 180 CHF

The total costs incurred currently amount to 2085.20 CHF.

Deposits have been made, and the total costs will be specified upon receipt of the final invoices.
That’s it for now :slightly_smiling_face:.

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Impressive!
Especially because we spent over 40k for 180 persons in 3 different places and a brunch for 100.
It was already a negotiation to meet my wife expectations!

NB: you are not enlisting the rings?

Also, no photographer?
I find it one of the few life events which I would like to have documented properly.

Thank :smile:! I haven’t counted the rings yet because the wedding rings will be exchanged at the ceremony this summer.

I haven’t counted the engagement ring either, as I consider it more of a gift than an integral part of the wedding.

We’ve booked a photographer for our special day, emphasizing the importance of quality. Currently, we’ve made an initial deposit, with the total cost expected to be around 4,000.- covering the civil wedding, ceremony, engagement photos, and three photo books (one standard size for us and two smaller copies for our families).

While we acknowledge it’s not the most budget-friendly choice, we opted for a trusted professional friend of mine. The photos provided thus far have more than exceeded our expectations :grinning:.

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So it’s rather a 7k+ than a 2k wedding. :grin:

Nevertheless, I find it worth to splurge a bit for the special day (I plan to too :slight_smile:).

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