How much does it cost (minimum) to marry off a kid? I know there's a huge range, so let's aim for the cheap end, but respectable. Minimum wedding in a low-end American hall (not hotel) that won't be viewed as "cheap."

You need to specify which of these are included/excluded: • Chosson/Kallah Gifts • Furnishing the apartment • Shabbos Sheva Brachos • Vort and/or L'Chaim • Clothing (not including whats by the wedding itself) • Probably more stuff

Are you in a community that requires an apartment purchase?

The social pressure to do wayyyy more than necessary is extremely high. I think the gifts chassanim and kallahs give "each other" (read "the parents give") are ridiculous. Noone needs a $1-2k watch or a $3k necklace But I also think diamond rings are ridiculous as well. Spending thousands of dollars on something nobody cares about at all other than maybe the kallahs friends for the 2 minutes they see it the first time is ludicrous.

I would be retired many years earlier if our parents let us do a modest wedding and gave us the excess to invest.

All costs of marrying a kid off. No apartment, let's say both mothers involved (i.e. 50% of total cost of marrying off a couple on average), no weird watch thing. Nothing insane or extravagant or pointless.

Do you want to spend 10k on sushi?

Aha, happy to hear, because my mind had unconsciously anchored on $20k.

Then you are my target audience https://frum.finance/planning

I remember seeing a link to an article in mishpacha about this...

@nutritious-raincoat-28876 just keep in mind you won't necessarily get to decide what's "extravagant" and "pointless"

Lakewood weddings tend to be cheaper because of sheer volume. Baltimore also had a package of $13k for a wedding but I am not sure if it still exists.

Wedding is one thing, marrying off is another 🙂 I have heard of it costing about 50k a side as normal (shidduch till wedding) Chasidim if that matters

I think Baltimore managed to keep things pretty low, although it's rare as an out of town community. Mainly because there is one standard wedding hall that really tries to stay affordable and does a beautiful takanah wedding. but it's rare for an OOT wedding to be so low

20k for the wedding, maybe. for the whole process of marrying of a kid, it's much much more

The Binah had an article a while ago about where it's worth splurging for a chasuna, where one after another, each person said they want the simplest cheapest chasuna there is but X means so much to them. So you have 6 ppl (Chosson/Kallah + parents) who each want to budget but have one place they want to prioritize and t adds up.

Interesting. What means so much to me is everyone coming into the wedding without being stressed about how to pay for it 😂 I'm approaching my 12th wedding anniversary and have yet to watch the second half of the video or get my photo album. Talk about a waste of money that can't be avoided 🙈

I've been married 5 years and I still haven't responded to the photographer about what song to put in the background of the music video.

Our photographer was in a car accident and we didn’t get the photos until 10 years after the wedding