Bridesmaid Confidential: The Cost of Being in a Wedding Party
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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Being a bridesmaid can sometimes mean breaking the bank.
“A wedding is no longer just a solitary one-day event,” Sarah Zlotnick, editor at WeddingWire, told ABC News. “It’s all these little events and that’s where it really adds up.”
From the dress, to shoes, gifts and travel expenses, experts estimate it can cost each member of the bridal party roughly $1,500 to $1,800 per wedding.
Bridesmaid Taryn Frawley, of New York City, knows that all too well, as she’s spent around $30,000 on six different weddings.
“It goes to the dress, the hair, the makeup, the travel — the travel is huge,” Frawley, 30, explained on ABC’s Good Morning America Wednesday.
“Going to the engagement parties, the bridal showers, whether it’s the train, gas, a flight and then a hotel, it adds up. But it’s an honor,” she said.
Stephanie Ramos, a radio producer and seasoned bridesmaid from New Jersey, has shelled out roughly $6,000 total on five weddings, not realizing until she had a year off from bridesmaid duty just how much she was spending.
“It all adds up and before I knew it, my bank account was in the red,” Ramos, 27, said. “I was able to save $10,000 and I ended up buying myself a new car.”
And Larissa Crnkovich of Pittsburgh says she’s the real-life version of Katherine Heigl’s character in the movie 27 Dresses, purchasing 16 bridesmaid dresses in 16 years totaling “probably about $16,000, so about $1,000 per wedding.”
“Sometimes I think it’s a part-time job and I think I should go into the wedding planning business,” the 36-year-old added.
TheKnot.com’s site director, Anja Winikka, offered several tips for overextended bridesmaids.
“Make a budget for yourself,” she said. “You have six people who have asked you to be in their wedding, create a budget, do a spreadsheet, say, ‘I’m going to be traveling to this bachelorette party, buying these gifts, buying this dress,’ keep close tabs on it.”
And as for the most important bridesmaid duty of them all?
“The most important thing is that you’re there for her on the wedding day,” said Winikka. “That’s why she’s asking you to be a bridesmaid. It’s not to spend your entire savings account.”
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