Here comes the bride; there goes your money. Paying $143,000 for your daughter's wedding seems outrageous, but that's how much Steve Martin shells out in Father of the Bride (Approximately 572 guests at $250 per person), not including the nine round-trip tickets from Copenhagen for relatives ($10,323). Is this for real? We asked a wedding consultant on each coast — Philip Baloun of Philip Baloun Designs in New York City and James Deely of Jim Deely's Cheese & Pasta Inc. in Santa Monica — to give us the lowdown.
Tent, decorations, lights, and flowers
New York $35,000
Los Angeles $22,600
Rentals: china, linens, furniture
New York $22,880
Los Angeles $18,304
Seafood dinner and open bar
New York $71,500
Los Angeles $50,792
Two parking attendants
New York $135
Los Angeles $240
Six-man band
New York $5,000
Los Angeles $1,800
Eight limousines
New York $2,800
Los Angeles $1,000
Invitations and postage
New York $7,150
Los Angeles $2,465
Moving van to clear the house
New York $1,500
Los Angeles $625
Two ice sculptures
New York $500
Los Angeles $550
Outdoor landscaping (tulips)
New York $100
Los Angeles $50
Three live swans
New York $975
Los Angeles $200
Wedding planner's fee
New York $22,131
Los Angeles $14,794
Total
New York $169,671
Los Angeles $113,420
Why the difference? ''Catering is dirt cheap in California,'' says Baloun. But Deely says, ''This was no $150,000 wedding. For that we're talking watered silk and damask, we're talking never-never land.''
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