Bridezilla on Steroids

So, I’ve previously written about the Wedding of the Century that’s taking place in Switzerland later this year (if you missed it, go here to have a squiz) and since that post, things have taken a rather interesting turn!

Bro-in-law and his wife-to-be popped over for dinner on Easter Sunday. Partly because it was Easter, mainly because they wanted advice from someone with a university degree in common sense (ie: Husband).

It turns out they think the wedding is costing them a bit more than they’d expected…..

Husband and I are straight-forward people. So we made a list. We extracted every single little piece of information out of them.

What is the church hire costing? What is the reception costing? Does that include a drinks package? What about flowers? What will the suit hire cost? What has been paid for? What hasn’t been paid for? How much have you got in your bank account? How much can you save between now and then? Are you getting financial help from the parentals?

That took a long time. Wife-to-be was very, VERY reluctant to admit how much some things are costing. And, having been married myself, I knew to ask about things such as music (string quartet for the ceremony, live band for the reception), if the bridesmaids are paying for their own dress/shoes/hair/make-up (they aren’t) and the wedding rings (platinum, of course, with a row of small diamonds for the bride).

The cost for the wedding (remember – this is Switzerland at Christmas and wife-to-be is having a reception at a chateau) is a measly $55,000. This does not include the honeymoon in the Maldives (another $12,000) or things such as boarding their dog at a kennel while they’re away, the mortgage repayments they’ll need to make whilst they’re away (for 8 weeks) or other bills that will come in during that time.

So including all these things (such as pesky mortgage repayments which they hadn’t thought of), ideally they need about $75,000 to cover all their costs.

Have I mentioned that Bro-in-law has a fairly standard job – pays well, but not great. His wife-to-be works in retail three afternoons a week. This wedding (and the other expenses) will cost them nearly an entire years salary.

This came as a shock to Bro-in-law. Wife-to-be had told him how much certain things had cost but neither of them had added anything up.

They have already paid deposits for a lot of things and already bought the wedding dress. They do have some savings. They are getting a little bit of financial help from wife-to-be’s parents. But they’re still short about $38,000.

However, they have a mortgage and two car loans. They do not earn a six-figure salary. I think they may actually be financially fucked.

Their only other option is to get a bank loan. A rather large, unsecured bank loan. I got out my laptop and Husband and I put their numbers into the online banking calculators. They’ll be lucky if a bank will lend them half what they need at an extortionate interest rate of 14%.

At the end of the meal (and after quite a few glasses of wine), I tentatively asked them, “What will you do if the worst happens and the banks won’t lend you the money?”

Wife-to-be said, “Well you guys are rich, you’ll lend us the money, right?”