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Show I . 6 How much does the fantasy cost? By JUDY JENSEN Oh, to be a bride. You've dreamed of it since you were a little girl. You've seen yourself wrapped in clouds of white gliding up the aisle toward your handsome Prince Charming. But, what is this fantasy going to cost? There are certain costs involved with every wedding and certain things that just cannot be eliminated from the total wedding package. According to the book, "The Eternal Bliss Machine," "Nobody, but nobody, has a wedding without music or a photographer photo-grapher or a cake or flowers." The author pointed out that they may be provided by "Cousin Shirley's precocious little daughter on the accor-dian accor-dian and Aunt Beverly with the Brownie Brow-nie Reflex," but you've got to have music and a photographer. As for the cakes and flowers, you may serve enough food to feed, "the population of Vermont for a snowbound snow-bound weekend, or enough to be seen only through a high powered microscope," micro-scope," but no wedding is complete without a cake, and flowers. They are a time honored tradition. Americans spend fortunes on weddings. wed-dings. Some spend more on their children's chil-dren's weddings than on their education. educa-tion. One Beverly Hills father converted con-verted his estate into a southern plantation plan-tation for his daughter's wedding by gluing billions of magnolia blossoms to the elm trees. The ceremony lasted 12 minutes and the floral bill was $150,000. President Lyndon B. Johnson's daughter Lynda Bird's wedding was preceded by 21 prenuptial parties and cost $62,000. Bob Hope offered his daughter, Linda $25,000 instead of her wedding which was held on Hope's own golf course. The fee for rentals of tents and chairs was over $20,000. But what does it cost for an average traditional wedding? Local wedding consultants agree there is no such thing as an "averaee" weddine. Each bride wants hers to be just a little different to make it a one-of-a-kind affair, her "Dream of Dreams." According to the editor of "Brides" magazine, "The American girl is married mar-ried long before she is even in high school. Her images of her wedding day begin when she's practically an infant. If a bride chooses to have her entire wedding planned and provided for by a wedding consultant, the cost will be considerably more than if she does some of the preparation herself. One local mother who was on a "bare-bones "bare-bones budget" was able to plan her daughter's wedding for $850. That included in-cluded 400 guests and her daughter's wedding dress, which she found at a close out special, "at a fabulous price." The cost of a wedding will vary according to the size and the type of wedding. The following list provides some basic price ranges. Using these figures and calculating the cost for a 400 guest wedding with four floral arrangements, four bridesmaids brides-maids and four ushers with the bride purchasing her dress, the cost could varv between $1,839 and $11,736. If the lowest figure does not fit into the budget there is an alternative and it involves a long ladder (unless the bride sleeps on the ground floor). Last year over 50,000 marriage licenses were issued in Las Vegas. Nevada requires no blood test and no waiting period. A couple could hop over to the county coun-ty courthouse, open, like everything else in Vegas, 24 hours a day, and purchase pur-chase the license. Someone in authority author-ity will do the deed and in four minutes flat, they are wed. This does take a lot of the romance out of a wedding, but the cost certainly can't be beat. The following cost breakdown does not include the highest price an individual indi-vidual could pay, for example some wedding dresses may cost as much as $10,000. The chart shows the highs and low's found by most brides. ITEM PRICE RANGE Reception Center Rental Fee $300 $800 Q Wedding Cake $75 $500 Photographer (basic package) $150 $450 Bride's bouquet $25 $100 Bridesmaids' bouquets $15 $35 Mothers' corsag-s $6 $15 Boutonniere $3 $s Floral Arrangements (each) $25 $90 Tuxedo Rental $30 $60 Wedding Dress Purchase $125 $2000 Rental $50 $150 Invitations per 100 $25 $150 Music, four piece band $300 $500 .Reception food per person cost $1.00 . $15 , M |
