Lindsey and Tim McDermott married this month at a gas station in Spokane, Wash., for just under $1,000, and the 26 people who witnessed their love gave them excellent reviews.
Couple’s Extraordinary Wedding Setup
Lindsey, a 40-year-old working in healthcare administration, told MarketWatch that the Feb. 3 wedding was ideal for the pair, who didn’t want a huge wedding and rather something more low-key.
The couple, who had been engaged for two years and began organizing their wedding in August, had chosen a favorite restaurant for their celebration, but discovered while having dinner there one night that it couldn’t accommodate groups greater than 15.
They then happened onto Rocket Market, a neighborhood petrol station and speciality food store that organizes wine tastings every Friday night.
Lindsey asked if the gas station would rent out the area where the tastings were conducted, and the gas station, which had never hosted a wedding but had done parties, consented for $500.
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Normal Wedding Ceremony Costs
This included food (chicken skewers, hummus, vegetables, and sandwich ingredients), wine, an in-house sommelier, and flowers, as the owner is also a florist.
The pair avoided one major possible expense, photography, and the wedding ended up costing $986 in total, including decor and Lindsey’s clothing. Choosing more informal food over catered dinners also helped save money.
After all, with chronic inflationary fears and rising interest rates, is it any surprise that some couples would want to say “I do” for less?
Consider the McDermotts’ gas-station wedding a protest against huge, expensive weddings: the typical ceremony and reception will cost $30,000 in 2022, up $2,000 from the previous year, according to a recent study of couples conducted by The Knot, a wedding-planning and registry website.
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