This Wedding Brought to You By Dr. Pepper and Snapple

This Wedding Brought to You By Dr. Pepper and Snapple

June 27th, 2008 @ 5:35 pm by Mrs. Cookie

Dr2520

Weddings are expensive, and it seems like every time Mr. Cookie and I say “wedding,” the price seems to triple, if not quadruple. I think what is even worse is the nickel and diming - corking fees, cake cutting fees, food shortage surcharges, photography usage fees - it’s vendors trying to squeeze every last penny out of you! Mr. Cookie and I want to have a nice wedding, but we don’t want to auction off our first child to do so! But one bride did something similar!

Have you seen this article? It came across my RSS news feed yesterday. Apparently, a bride in Virginia auctioned off a spot as a bridesmaid in her wedding to the highest bidder on eBay in order to pay for her $7,000 wedding. With a combined income of $32,000 and a 1-year old child, the couple was on a tight budget, so they turned to eBay to offset the expenses. So who was the lucky winner? Dr. Pepper and Snapple! Not only did the company up the bid to $10,000, but is launching an online competition to decide who the bridesmaid will be — with talk of a surprise celebrity. I have to give the couple major props for being creative! Now, they can not only afford the wedding, but the honeymoon as well.

This article begs for us to ask the question: is corporate wedding sponsorship the new bridal trend? Mr. Cookie and I are trying really hard to stay on budget, but I know that I couldn’t have a corporate brand plastered among our decorations to offset expenses. I know the bride didn’t mean for Dr. Pepper to be her wedding sponsor, but would you solicit a corporate sponsor your wedding?

What are some other creative ways you have used to pay for your wedding?

Tags: budget, denver |

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15 Responses to “This Wedding Brought to You By Dr. Pepper and Snapple”

Guest

sunflowers

We’ve tried to cut costs where ever we can but I agree, it’s a total racket. The one thing we’ve really splurged on is a photographer. Other than that, I’ve tried to keep costs way down (including getting my dress on Craig’s List - whoo hoo!!)

6/27/08 @ 5:50 pm (reply)

Guest

Jenna

That Groom gave me complete control over choosing my engagement ring, and a budget to go along with it. I took that money, found a really really inexpensive ring that I love (less than $1000!) and am using the rest of the money budgeted towards the ring towards the wedding. It upped my wedding budget by 25%!

6/27/08 @ 5:54 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Espresso (message) 1,057 posts, Bumble bee

hhmmm I do love me some Dr. Pepper, but I don’t think I could go to the lengths of having them sponsor my wedding… the banners don’t really go with my theme and colors

6/27/08 @ 6:18 pm (reply)

Member

hwong14 (message) 195 posts, Blushing bee

We’re making up a newsletter to go in our OOT bags, and it will include listings of eateries and cafes near the hotel where people will be staying. I have full intentions of selling ad space in this newsletter, just like they did in high school, to those companies (at least, approaching them with the offer). The ad revenue will at least pay for printing, and if it goes a little farther than that, well, no harm done…

I’m not above the idea of putting ad space in our programs, either, but I do admit it’s a step further than OOT newsletters.

I don’t know that I would have had the guts to place an auction up on ebay, but if I knew I’d get $10000 out of it, I probably would accept it…

6/27/08 @ 6:48 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Pomegranate (message) 956 posts, Busy bee

@Miss Espresso: Hahah! I didn’t even think of the color clashing problem! But yes, I agree - I wouldn’t go to that length. I’d rather have a small civil service and keep it on the cheap.

6/27/08 @ 7:31 pm (reply)

Guest

kate

I really think this is disgusting. If your combined income is $32k, why are you spending $7k on your wedding? You should plan within your means.

Also I’m wondering, why did she think a non corporate sponsor would pay to be in her wedding? Being a bridesmaid is an honor but also comes with responsibilities. It’s like paying someone else so you can work, it just doesn’t make sense. Also, isn’t the position meaningless if it goes to a stranger?

6/27/08 @ 7:32 pm (reply)

Guest

sarah

@kate: I think it’s a bit much to assume that she isn’t planning within her means. Who knows where the $7000 came from? Maybe she has been saving for awhile? Maybe parents or others have offered to help to the tune of $7000?

6/27/08 @ 8:35 pm (reply)

Member

CarolineG (message) 422 posts, Helper bee

Blech. If you can’t afford a wedding, get married at the courthouse. It’s the marriage that’s important, not the party.

6/27/08 @ 11:11 pm (reply)

Guest

Christine

As a vendor, I have to confess - the idea of sponsoring the right wedding does actually seem intriguing. Of course, that could be the insomnia talking… I’m not sure if I would actually do it, but I would consider donating my time for the perfect situation.

6/28/08 @ 4:56 am (reply)

10.

Guest

kate

sarah - the fact that she’s looking for outside sponsorship makes me believe that the $7,000 isn’t a gift or coming from savings. The article also says they wanted to, “raise some quick cash to pay for the $7,000 wedding.”

Also, and this is totally my bias, if you only make $32,000 and have a small child I’d much rather see someone put $7,000 towards their or their child’s future rather than blow it on a wedding.

6/28/08 @ 10:57 am (reply)

11.

Member

finbladez (message) 145 posts, Blushing bee

http://www.weddingsponsorships.com/

I actually saw this on this thread in the boards:
http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/wedding-sponsorships

I can’t really tell how I feel about this. I mean, when I think about how corporate all of the “traditions” are - i.e. how much revenue is made on the wedding industry each year - I kinda think why not have someone else cover the cost of my ridiculous costing wedding dress, venue, etc… I mean, I can’t believe that I really have to pay 60$ a head in addition to $4,000 just to have one place and some food for guests…the profits are amazing. Dr. Pepper already reaps profit from me when I drink their beverages, why not have them use it to sponsor my wedding? Isn’t that essentially channeling profit from the larger corporations into the hands of smaller vendors?

wow, I feel very…hippie with that last paragraph. then again, it really is about being with the man I love for the rest of my life. I’m starting to like the potluck idea my dad thinks I should do….but I still want to feel specialness of the day.

6/28/08 @ 2:01 pm (reply)

12.

Guest

blessed16

You can’t blame someone for wanting their dream wedding, but yes they definitely shouldn’t break the bank to have it. She has found creative ways to fulfill her dream.

I know that I have been working extremely hard in cutting corners, but still ensuring that our wedding is fun, beautiful and elegant. My dress was $600 (my initial budget was $1k). Our cake FREE. Amazingly free. I happen to find a baker who was opening up a new shop and I’ve designed her brochures and menus in exchange for our wedding cake. We got sooo lucky! Our videographer was $400 - someone we found on CL that was building thieir portolio. We booked the hotel for our reception back in October of last year and since they raised their rates. Thankfully they are honoring their rates from when we initially signed the contract. We’ve also been blessed to have wonderful friends. One paying for our transportation as his wedding gift to us. Another who works for a beer distributor who is gifting a keg of beer to us for our reception. And then another who works for an audio/visual company to help us with our slideshow.

Even after all the great deals and gifts, I still feel like our wedding is too much to handle financially.

6/29/08 @ 12:20 am (reply)

13.

Bee

Miss Peacock (message) 374 posts, Helper bee

I hope that the bride is prepared for all of this. I was under the impression that she was hoping for just a normal girl, some wanna-be bridesmaid, would win the auction. I wonder if she is regretting it or if she is having fun with it.

I would never sponsor any part of MY wedding, but to each his/her own. I like things being small and family oriented and I think a corporate sponsorship would take away from that warm fuzzy feeling. For the right couple and the right wedding though, this might not be a problem.

6/29/08 @ 11:00 am (reply)

14.

Guest

Joy

I am a soon-to-be bride and my fiance and I started 2 businesses in the last year. We were planning on a courthouse wedding with a McD reception for 15 friends when a friend insisted we set a limit and she created a reasonable budget for us. Her dad is letting us use a great space for our reception, friends are baking our cake, we bought our rings for $60 on ebay, friends are taking the pictures, the flowers are coming from the grocery store, and the ipod is our dj. Our budget is $3000 and our biggest expense is the minister at $450. My dress was $300 on sale and my fiance bought a suit on sale. A friend of a friend is making the food at cost. I just took a chance and posted our wedding on Ebay…I’ve made such an effort to be frugal and I’m still struggling…

6/29/08 @ 12:45 pm (reply)

15.

Guest

james braselton

HI THERE WELL THIS IS THE MASTER CHIEF SPARTAN 117 WHEN THE BIG DAY COMES EVERY SPECIES IN THE UNIVERSE SPACE SHIPS WILL DECLOAK A UFO ALIEN DAY TAKE TAHAT AREA 51 THE BORG ROMULANS VOLCANS REMAN RELUV SPACES 8472 GRAVE MINDS THATS WHY YOU SEE A TON OF UFO IN THE SKY FLYING SCAUSCERS

12/4/08 @ 4:16 pm (reply)