Wedding Particles
The infinitesimal particles of 'wedding' that turn any easy job of work into a specialist area justified in charging a fucking fortune.

Wedding flowers -v- flowers
Wedding cakes -v- cakes
Wedding hairdressing -v- haircut
Wedding stationery -v- photocopying
etc
(MartinB9999, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 20:44, 10 replies)

blame the rich fathers and their open chequebooks
Mrs Hedonist to be and I visited several wedding fairs and had to walk away from several stalls before we either burst out laughing or fainted at the shite they were peddling. "Oh but you must have this" "it's not a proper wedding without that..you want your bride to be happy don't you?" etc etc

At one staff, a woman was hiring table centerpieces, which was simply a bowl of water which had been coloured with whatever colour scheme that had been chosen, with several tealight candles and rose petals floating on the surface. All very nice and elegant.

Her price?

£20
per table
per hour

So for twenty tables for a 6 hour reception....you can imagine the sort of money she'd be making. She probably picks up all the stuff from Tesco for less than a fiver.

In fact I might go into the wedding business - seems like a good earner!
( h3donist tryin' to play me out as if my name is Sega.., Sun 3 Apr 2011, 22:10, closed)

it's more than a bit cheeky
to assume that marrying the man she loves isn't going to make your bride happy already
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 22:17, closed)

It must work on some people - not us though
We paid for our wedding ourselves so we both understood the limitations of the budget. We made £3000 (including honeymoon) stretch a long way!
( h3donist tryin' to play me out as if my name is Sega.., Sun 3 Apr 2011, 22:24, closed)

tell me about it
my sister's getting married next month, they're trying to do it cheaply by getting siblings(including me) to pay for wedding essentials.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 22:29, closed)

Good on you. I know people who are still paying for their wedding years after the event (7 years in one case), and other couples who have had lavish weddings only to split up a few years later due to, at least in significant part, financial problems.
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 22:31, closed)

I have photographed a number of weddings...
... and for a while had delusions of making a living at it, but my conscience wouldn't let me ask for the sort of money the successful photographers command.
These guys charge more than a premenstrual rhino. Given the amount of work involved and the materials costs, they must use a 'bullshit factor' of 10 by which to multiply their prices. Of course, so long as there are people prepared to pay such inflated amounts, there will be others willing to relieve them of their wedge.
( Snappyuk gets BIGGER with free sample., Sun 3 Apr 2011, 23:16, closed)

The problem is also...
... that it's very hard to tell how good a job people will do with things like that. Yes, they can show you some prior work, but a monkey with Nikon is bound to take a few good shots now and again.

In a situation where you can't really judge the quality until you have already paid, there is a tendency to think that more expensive will be better. See also lawyers.
( Ugi , it's a game of give and cake, Mon 4 Apr 2011, 12:15, closed)

yes
and any heavy selling tactics when you're at an emotionally vulnerable period in your life i.e.

funeral directors
heavy product placement bags/ portrait photography selling in maternity wards

with wedding pricing, I always work on the basis that if the type of woman I'm with falls for nonsense like this along with "valentines day" and other obvious commercialiasm as opposed to genuine spontaneous original sentiment, I probably shouldn't be with them in the first place.
( Clay hopes this bit is long enough to promote my websi, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 23:58, closed)

Ed Byrne
mentioned wedding planning. From 3:00

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwhkzVVapQo
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Mon 4 Apr 2011, 0:05, closed)

Man Stroke Women did this very well.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gimiDBAK2wA

Loved that show!
(stubbledchin, Mon 4 Apr 2011, 11:01, closed)