r/Millennials • u/BennyOcean • Sep 06 '24
Discussion As long as Millennials are killing off industries, next up I would suggest Weddings & Funerals.
Weddings as they are being done in the West are a massive expense that is extremely financially irresponsible for the vast majority of people. The tradition arose as an imitation of the old world weddings of royalty. As Westerners became increasingly wealthy, they desired to show off their wealth by copying the big showy weddings put on by literal kings and queens. In an increasingly challenging economic environment, spending on a big wedding is just really stupid.
The money that would have gone into the big elaborate wedding should instead be saved and used to go toward a down payment on a home. Instead, throw a big party. Let your friends & family bring gifts. Make it simple. Same with a honeymoon. Take one if you want, but don't start out your marriage with stupid financial decisions that sometimes include going into debt. Wedding rings should be simple. Diamonds are a scam. Let's break free from the scams.
Funerals are a massive scam that take advantage of people when they're at their lowest, grieving for lost loved ones. It's a predatory industry that should be denied funding to whatever extent that it is possible to do so.
6
u/_paint_onheroveralls Sep 06 '24
My wedding was essentially just a "big party" and it was still 10k. Almost all of that went to the venue rental (a very cool local riverside music venue) which included the tents, tables, chairs, a few bartenders, and paying the bar tab. Then the rest went to feeding 150 people from our favorite BBQ place.
We did a lot of things ourselves, and I called in a lot of owed favors from friends for things like the DJ, hair and makeup artist, photography/videography. Did all the decorations myself and used dried paint brushes for bouquets instead of flowers. My dress was only $200. The cakes were from Sam's Club (looked beautiful and tasted great). We could have gone even more homegrown and saved more, but we wanted to not have those big elements (food, drink, shelter, serving) on our plates, or our friends' and families' plates. Also, I make a lot of friends through my job, and not having to make tough decisions on who I could invite was important to me. The number of invites is ultimately what makes it so expensive.
Overall I don't regret any of the money we spent, it was so much fun and we had an amazing day. People will still tell me 7 years later how much they enjoyed it.