April 12, 2010
-
Wedding Industrial Complex
I was never the type of girl who planned her wedding out when she was little. I knew that I wanted to eventually get married someday to the man of my dreams (whenever it was that he came along). I just wanted to plan the details once I met that guy. About three years ago, I did meet that guy. Even once things got serious and I knew I wanted to marry him, I still wasn’t planning my wedding.
One of my first thoughts after the Architect proposed to me and after I got over the initial shock and excitement and made what seemed like a thousand phone calls to friends and family was that “Oh, I guess I have to plan a wedding now. Eek!”
This isn’t to say that I haven’t had a blast planning our wedding. I really have enjoyed it but it hasn’t come without frustration. Most of this frustration has stemmed from the fact that vendors hear “wedding” and think “oh, now I can charge a bazillion dollars more.” It’s the dreaded Wedding Industrial Complex (WIC) and I’ve been fighting it and probably will fight it all the way to the altar.
Cake has been incredibly WIC-ified (very technical term). Cake just shouldn’t be that expensive especially for what I want.
All I was looking for was a pretty simple cake. I wanted a round tiered cake with buttercream icing. We’re decorating the cake with real flowers that we’re getting ourselves. Unfortunately simplicity does not seem to be something that many bakers keep in mind when it comes to price!
After many long hours of searching, we finally found someone with reasonably priced cakes. He supplies desserts for one of the restaurants in my hometown where we’re getting married. We met with him and talked about what we wanted to have done. We also picked out flavors (the top will be chocolate raspberry, the middle layer will be chocolate fudge, and the bottom will be vanilla). I’m so happy that we got that straightened out.
On top of getting the cake settled, I also found a florist and picked out all of my flowers. It feels good to accomplish this stuff!
How was your weekend?
Comments (16)
That cake sound soo good Meg. I am glad you got your flowers taken care of also. Just remember, having too many flowers is an absolute waste of money. I have been there. Twice!!
I know you will have a wonderful wedding, love. I can’t wait to see the pictures.
Im a wedding photographer and yes, its too bad you have to say wedding. I had sticker shock too the first time I priced cakes. The slicing fee is what gets me. Good luck
Very cool and I am happy that you were able to get everythign thing you wanted to make your cake the way you want.
Wow, things seem to be moving along. When did you say the wedding is gonna be? Sorry, I forgot.
@ZSA_MD - We’re getting married outside near a lake. Mother Nature luckily has done a lot of the decorating for us already
@macphoto - Haha, I actually thought about if there were ways that we could work around actually using the w-word
@styx_site - It’ll be nice!
@icepearlz - Not until September so we still have awhile.
Oh my gosh, I know how frustrating wedding planning is. I think my cake, which was actually a cupcake tower, was the second biggest expense to us, next to the flowers. Don’t let things freak you out lol, I had a few freak out moments. Congrats on getting things done!
mmm…cake…I started planning my wedding when I was twelve…hmmm…as you notice 33 years later it still hasn’t happened…LOL
I can SO relate! I didn’t have my wedding pre-planned either. I got engaged to a guy years before I met STeve and had a burgundy colored wedding in mind. Funny, but when Steve and I got engaged, it wasn’t “us.” We went with multiple shades of blue in honor of the water around Okinawa. That was more “us.” It was SHOCKING to see the prices that wedding vendors charge. I swear, when they tack the word “wedding” on a product, it gives them the idea to charge 300% more than they would without “wedding” attached to it. I was lucky and found several vendors with the average price for the DC area but who were very, very talented.
I was the last of my friends to marry, and caught wind of cake prices over the years. I used to swear that I’d buy a sheetcake from Safeway before paying those prices. Ironically, I didn’t do that. We found a cake vendor that was amazing and we did end up paying lots of $$$ for it. My dad was very generous about that, and I think that he thought it was something we ought to do up well. I must have gotten caught up in the moment or something. I LOVED the cake, but Steve doesn’t even remember it. Some day, I want to find that vendor and order the same cake (but small) so Steve can try it, lol.
I’m starting to investigate adopting a baby. I’m getting the same feelings. You’d think that it’s a wonderful, altruistic thing to do when you adopt, right? Instead, so many of these companies seem to prey on infertile couples. I’m trying hard to find a way to have a healthy baby but won’t put money in the pockets of these jerks who want to prey on me.
Glad you got something worked out. The WIC part made me chuckle, and I shared that amusement by reading it to a couple of my friends (we’re house- and dog-sitting together for another friend).
Pleased your plans are going well. You’ve mentioned cake and flowers – but what about your dress and bridesmaids dresses ?
@AlterEgo909 - I think everyone has a few freak out moments. I’ve had a few but it’ll eventually be okay. I’m sure of it!
@epiginoskete - Sadly I’m sure I’ll have to face the WIC machine even more.
@Chatamanda - I’ve had my dress and my bridesmaid dresses for awhile. I think I picked out my dress in November and the bridesmaid dresses in January or February!
@BigToePeople - Gah! That’s sad that it seems to be the same thing with adopting a child! I read a book a few weeks ago about a gay couple adopting a child. One universal thing that they said about adopting a child is that it’s really not fair how some people by their God-given gift are able to have a child while those that cannot naturally have a child have to jump through a lot of hoops in order to adopt. There are home inspections, letters of recommendation and all sorts of legal stuff to work through. On top of all that is the money issue. Adoption is expensive! Something about all of that just does not seem really fair…
@TheCheshireGrins - Ah well I only joined Xanga in Feb so didn’t see your earlier posts about your wedding.
Lol I guess a sneak preview is out of the question ! Lol
*Anticipating a “Definitely out of the question” * reply
I thought so, Lol Oh well – guess September will come around soon enough Lol
@TheCheshireGrins - Yes, I wish it was easier because the “industry” has gone over board. Then again, I’m glad that there is some accountability there…home visits are probably a good idea. I learned when I had to have a background check to become a teacher that pedophiles like to work in schools. Now that I know that, it makes sense. So maybe a pedophile would adopt a child. Eew. I’m sick just thinking of that. Anything we can do to prevent that has to be a good thing.
@Chatamanda - Indeed. I can tell you that the bridesmaids are wearing a very simple strapless black knee length dress.
@BigToePeople - Yeah, I understand some of the regulations. Obviously you don’t want a child to be placed in a house where they aren’t going to be safe!
Can’t wait to see them – and of course your dress !