"The Way We Were" lawsuit

Years Later, Lawsuit Seeks to Recreate a Wedding

Excerpt:

... it is not particularly surprising that one groom, disappointed with his wedding photos, decided to sue. The photographers had missed the last dance and the bouquet toss, the groom, Todd J. Remis of Manhattan, said.

But what is striking, said the studio that took the pictures, is that Mr. Remis’s wedding took place in 2003 and he waited six years to sue. And not only has Mr. Remis demanded to be repaid the $4,100 cost of the photography, he also wants $48,000 to recreate the entire wedding and fly the principals to New York so the celebration can be re-shot by another photographer.

Re-enacting the wedding may pose a particular challenge, the studio pointed out, because the couple divorced and the bride is believed to have moved back to her native Latvia.

Although Justice Doris Ling-Cohan of State Supreme Court in Manhattan dismissed most of the grounds for the lawsuit, like the “infliction of emotional distress,” she has allowed the case to proceed to determine whether there was indeed a breach of contract. But she displayed a good deal of amusement about the lawsuit’s purpose in an opinion in January that quoted lyrics from the Barbra Streisand classic “The Way We Were.”

“This is a case in which it appears that the ‘misty watercolor memories’ and the ‘scattered pictures of the smiles ... left behind’ at the wedding were more important than the real thing,” the judge wrote. “Although the marriage did not last, plaintiff’s fury over the quality of the photographs and video continued on.”

Comment: The Way We Were. Without "the bride" would be more like "The Way I Was"!

The Great White Wedding and the wedding-industrial complex

Is Chelsea Clinton Setting a Bad Example?

Excerpt:

I'm constantly amazed at how much some money people blow on the Great White Wedding.

But Chelsea Clinton's forthcoming extravaganza takes the cake. The $11,000 cake, reportedly.

So in honor of this weekend's crazy Gilded Age circus, here are seven financial messages for would-be brides, grooms—and their parents.

1. The wedding-industrial complex marches on - "a recession-resistant industry"
   
2. Spending a fortune on a wedding is a choice, not a necessity. [read article for interesting comment about Bush's daughter's wedding!]
   
3. Spend what you can afford. - The average family ... spend[s] about $17,500 on a wedding.
   
4. Look at the hourly costs.
   
5. The lifetime cost is off the map.
   
6. You might—possibly—be able to profit from others' extravagance.
   
7. How do you cut costs and still have a great wedding?
   
   

Comment: Great article ... now a quote: "Three groups spend other people's money: children, thieves, politicians. All three need supervision.” Dick Armey

Save money on your wedding

5 ways to save on your wedding

Excerpt:

When it comes to wedding spending, bridal couples are tightening their sashes and cummerbunds. Since it peaked in 2007, the cost of the average American wedding has fallen by nearly a third, from $29,000 to $20,000, according to the Wedding Report.

Fortunately, couples are discovering that it's easy to cut wedding costs without skimping on food or subjecting guests to cash bars. Here are their top strategies:

The list

1. Don’t use the 'w' word (read the article for the explainaton!)
   
2. Have your reception in a restaurant
   
3. Bring your own music
   
4. Time it right - from Nov. 1 to March 31
   
5. Use nontraditional retailers - wedding rings at Costco!
   

Comments - I'll add my list

1. For Fathers. Set an amount well in advance. We've set the amount and told our daughter what our max contribution to the wedding will be (the exact amount is private to the Peet family!). I've told her that she can spend as much as she wants on her wedding, but my maximum contribution is $ ____. Why is this a good strategy? Because it is easy to spend someone else's money. (ask the Federal government).
   
2. Keep the guest list low
   
3. Don't have a meal at the reception. K and I had cake, nuts and mints. 35 1/2 years later we are still married.
   
4. Don't serve liquor at the reception. I recently heard of a reception with a $ 15,000 bar tab on Daddy's Visa
   
5. Buy a used wedding dress. You will only wear it once! Or just get married in a real nice dress!
   
6. Honeymoon in Minnesota or a state close to your home (like the North Shore of Minnesota!) (On the other hand avoid North Dakota or Iowa!)
   
   

Feel free to add to the list with your comments

On wedding "traditions" created by the bridal industry

The Myth of the $18,000 Wedding

Excerpts:

Author Rebecca Mead exposed a similar data problem in her 2007 book "One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding," where she cites a $28,000 average figure from a survey conducted by Conde Nast Bridal Group magazines.

"If a bride has been told, repeatedly, that it costs nearly $28,000 to have a wedding, then she starts to think that spending $28,000 on a wedding is just one of those things a person has to do, like writing a rent check every month." Mead writes.

Research has found that Mead's instincts are correct -- our spending choices are greatly influenced by purported norms because the brain attaches itself to "anchors" when making decisions.

...

Consumers' willingness to pay can be easily manipulated because we often don't have a good handle on our preferences or a rational baseline for the decisions. Economic theory suggests that forces of supply and demand are independent, and it's the enthusiasm to pay a particular premium that determines market prices. But consumers are often at a loss on how to assign value, so as Ariely demonstrates, it's just the opposite: Market prices themselves influence consumers' willingness to pay.

Combine anchoring with clever marketing and you've got an expensive right of passage in the making. Mead, for instance, investigates a number of wedding "traditions" created by the bridal industry, including the engagement ring, invented by diamond producer De Beers in the 1930s and 1940s.

...

As Mead told me: "There's a lot of stuff people spend money on at weddings that isn't about the core of a wedding, which is getting family and friends together and celebrating."

Perhaps along the commitment to "honor and cherish" we should add a new vow: "Before spending five figures -- on a lavish party, luxury vehicle or anything else -- I promise to ponder whether the purchase aligns with our deepest values and enhances or compromises our financial well-being. And I promise to look critically at my anchors."

Comment: For my children!

I think that we should put more emphasis on the 25th anniversary!

Bizarre origins of wedding traditions

Bizarre origins of wedding traditions

Excerpt:

Saving the wedding cake

Why do couples eat freezer-burned wedding cake on their one-year anniversary? To answer this, we must look to the lyrics of a schoolyard classic: First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage! It used to be assumed that when there was a wedding, a christening would follow shortly. So, rather than bake two cakes for the occasions, they'd just bake one big one and save a part of it to be eaten at a later date when the squealing bundle of joy arrived.

Eventually folks warmed to the idea of giving the poor kid his own, newly baked cake, but the custom of saving a portion of the wedding cake far longer than it should be saved and then eating it and deluding oneself to believe that it actually tastes good is one that persists to this day.


Comment: We saved the top of our wedding cake and ate it on our one-year anniversary (12/28/75). It was pretty good!