As Kevin Cotter tells the story, when his wife of 12 years moved out of their Tuscon, Ariz. home in 2009, she left behind just one thing: Her old wedding dress, pristinely preserved in his closet. 

"What do you expect me to do with it?" he asked. 

“Whatever the $%^@# you want,” she replied.

The comment hit a nerve, and a couple of months later Cotter and his family started joking about ways he could repurpose the gown. The frock had cost him nearly a grand anyway and seemed like such a waste just sitting in storage.

"It wasn't until a month later that my brother, Colin, encouraged me to bring it on a fishing trip," he said. "It was on this trip that it came out of its fancy box and we started putting it to work."

He started small, turning it into what must have been the world's most expensive Kleenex ever.

Then he and his brother got creative. It became a floor mat outside his buddy's camper and later, a sleeping bag.

From there, the ideas started to snowball. They started a blog chronicling the project and it wasn't long before he developed a massive following. A book deal soon followed and Cotter celebrated the release of 101 Uses For My Ex-Wife's Wedding Dress in October. 

Despite his success, Cotter said the project had nothing to do with revenge or bitterness. It was about creating something light out of a time that could have been quite dark.

We can get behind that. 

Snow camouflage: "We don't get a lot of snow here, but an hour drive away there's a mountain that gets snow every winter. The reaction was pretty good."

Scarecrow: "We had the dress set up, minus the head ... and when I saw the Darth Vader mask, I knew it was right."

Sumo Mawashi: "I think the wedding dress made a fine sumo mawashi. Although it was one of the later applications and did leave me a bit itchy."

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Ask any fashionista on a budget and chances are she can rattle off at least a half dozen ways to rent designer duds at a fraction of the retail value. 

Typical runway-ready dress rentals range anywhere from $50 to $100 on most websites and are shipped directly to your home – cleaned, steamed and ready for wear. 

But for those of you opposed to the whole online shopping thing (fitting can be tricky), here's some good news:

Some online rental boutiques are starting to set up temporary shops in cities across the country, cutting out the middle man altogether.

Bridesmaid boutique Little Borrowed Dress is the latest to open a pop-up shop, offering in-personal dress fittings at a new location in Manhattan's trendy SoHo area.

Through March 11, ladies can snap up 8-day dress rentals for $75 a pop. Most of the gowns retail for more than three times that amount and the price includes dry cleaning and return shipping.

The shop's also offering a 10% discount on top of that. Just don't try going without an appointment – RSVP here, or email hello@littleborroweddress.com. 

LBD's hot on the tails of Renttherunway.com, one of the largest businesses in the dress rental market. It launched a pop-up shop in Hollywood, Calif. earlier this month.

With busy wedding and prom seasons set to rear their chiffoned heads pretty soon, these online boutiques will be a lifesaver to anyone who doesn't want to get stuck with a pricey dress they'll only wear once.

If you can't make it out to L.A. or NYC this month, you can still nab luxury dresswear online from a host of sites. Here are few to get you started: 

http://www.renttherunway.com/

http://www.girlmeetsdress.com/

http://www.weartodaygonetomorrow.com/

http://www.littleborroweddress.com/

http://www.fashiontoenvy.com/

Now see 10 ways to pump up your winter wardrobe >

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The engagement ring is on, the date's been set, the venue is selected and now you think you're ready to have a wedding. You're so not.


Just because a couple has decided to share one of the most important moments of their lives with a few dozen or hundred friends doesn't mean they've become professional event planners.

In many cases, they're just fortunate to get through the whole experience with finances and sanity intact.

Do you really want an open bar at your wedding? The decision is among the minutiae that can cost brides and grooms a lot of money and much of their sanity.

Couples responding to TheKnot.com(XOXO_) and WeddingChannel.com's Real Wedding Survey last year spent an average of nearly $27,000 on their wedding ceremonies, receptions, engagement rings, attire and everything else surrounding the big day. Of those, 42% went over budget and 16% dodged that disappointment by not setting a budget at all.

"The biggest mistake that every couple makes when they first get engaged is making purchases without having a really solid budget," says Anja Winikka, site editor for TheKnot.com. "Then they're shocked to find out that they've spent all their money and don't have enough for half the things they need. You have to be open and honest about your budget at the beginning of the process."

The unfortunate reality of every wedding day is that problems and unpleasant surprises have a way of cropping up no matter how much you try to beat them back. Even brides who dodge the reality TV drama of shows such as TLC's Say Yes To The Dress and pick out their gowns without grief can experience heart palpitations when they see the final price tag. Brides paid an average of $1,099 for their wedding gowns alone in 2010 -- the last year for which complete data were available -- but accessories for that dress tacked on another $254. Kim Forrest, editor of WeddingWire, warns brides that dress alterations can drive the price up even further.

"Brides often focus on the amount their actual wedding gown costs, but they don't always factor in the alterations, which can tack on hundreds of dollars to a gown's final tab," she says. "Sometimes, if a bride purchases a relatively inexpensive gown at a sample sale, the cost of the alterations can come close to or exceed the price of the dress." 

Asking about the alteration costs upfront and taking the dress to an independent tailor afterward can save couples some big bucks before the big day, but covering other details can save them some gray hairs and friendships as well. Sharon Naylor, the author of more than 35 wedding books, including The Smart Guide to Wedding Weekend Events, says harried couples can help themselves by keeping older guests and babies sit away from the DJ or band speakers, keeping gifts away from the entrance and out of thieves' hands and keeping diners from getting queasy by balancing out fried cocktail-hour snacks with lighter fare.

Though it may not occur to brides or grooms when they're writing out a $3,000 check to the reception band, couples will also want to make sure that the band's microphone gets nowhere near their table of college friends who came for the open bar.

"Tell your entertainer that your rule is this: No one gets the microphone if they're not on your list of sanctioned speakers," Naylor says. "This prevents guests from seeking attention and avoids the dreaded drunken tirade or goofiness on stage."

With help from Naylor, Forrest and Winikka, we looked past the big wedding checklist items and got into the minutiae many couples overlook before their big day:

Click here to read the rest of the story on TheStreet.com > 

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If the thought of tripping down the wedding aisle makes you cringe, wait until you see this.

The record has just been broken for the world's longest wedding gown train, in Bucharest.

To show it off, 17-year-old Romanian model Emma Dumitrescu wore the 1.85-mile-long piece of fabric in a hot air balloon on Tuesday, letting it dance and twirl in the wind, Jessica Pilot reports for the Daily News.

The previous record for the longest wedding train, as certified by Guinness World Records, was under a mile, and was set by a designer in the Netherlands. 

The Romanian dress was designed by Andree Salon fashion house. It took 10 seamstresses and almost 100 days to make, and its materials cost nearly $8,000, according to the AP.

Here are some photo's of Dumitrescu's ride:

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After walking down the aisle, NPR reporter Caitlin Kenney was convinced she'd overpaid for her mass-produced gown.

And she was right: Kenney spent $2,730 when the dress cost only around $200 to produce in China and the fabric cost $500. 

Determined to figure out where she went wrong, Kenny discovered there were two reasons it happened: First, people suck at buying wedding dresses. We only buy one, so it's not like we're well-practiced at finding a deal. 

And second, there's what economists call signaling, or the message you're sending with your purchase. "I love my husband, this is a memory that will last," Kenney recalls telling herself. 

Watch the video below to see what she learned: 

Don't Miss: This man came up with 101 uses for his ex-wife's wedding dress > 

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When little girls dream of their wedding day, they imagine "The One."

No, we're not talking about their future husbands, we're talking about the perfect wedding dress.

New Yorkers, Nigerian princesses, and stars of TLC's reality show "Say Yes To The Dress" all flock to Kleinfeld, the sprawling Chelsea boutique that's become the go-to place for brides-to-be to pick out their wedding dresses.

Click here to tour the store >

Mara Urshel, who has more than 30 years experience in the luxury business, and partner Ronald Rothstein purchased and revamped Kleinfeld bridal boutique in 2005, transforming it into the centerpiece of "Say Yes To The Dress," which is currently filming its ninth season.

Kleinfeld itself is now a recognizable luxury brand—it claims to have the largest selection of designer dresses in the world, it collaborates exclusively with designers, and even sells its own line of dresses. The bridal gowns range in price from about $900 to $30,000.

"It's not about the price of the dress," Urshel said. "It's about the workmanship, embroidering, crystals, the fineness of the silk, and beading."

Urshel and Rothstein moved the struggling company from Brooklyn to Manhattan in 2005. The location is a massive 35,000-square-foot space with a lobby that resembles a hotel. It has 28 dressing rooms—all with special mirrors and lights so that customers can see the "true" color of the dress as it will look outside the store.

The rest of the space is dedicated to a men's bridal department, costume jewelry, storage, alterations, beading, and sewing stations.

In 2006 TLC pitched its reality TV series idea. Business has been booming since.

Women who want to be featured on the show must apply through TLC, and then TLC schedules the appointments for the bride and her family, Urshel said.

"When a bride who is going to be on the show comes in, it's not that different for us," Urshel said. "It's just them filming our bridal consultants doing their job."

The store boasts about its customer service policy, and says that it's with the bride "until she walks down the aisle."

Both Urshel and Rothstein list their home phone numbers on their business cards, to let brides know that if there is a disaster, someone from Kleinfeld will be there to help.

Customers have only taken advantage of the personal number a handful of times, but it has made a difference.

Once, when a bride was getting married at St. Patrick's Cathedral and her fascinator blew away while exiting the limo, the bride's mother called Urshel. Urshel called her old contacts from Sak's Fifth Avenue and they ran a new one across the street wit in 15 minutes.

"Something new happens every day in retail," Urshel said. "There's always a challenge. Always something happening. And always a new dress."

Kleinfeld is located at 110 West 20th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.

The boutique has a three-window store front. You'd never imagine 35,000 square feet of space is inside.

Upon entering, you see the reception area.

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It can take awhile the find the perfect guy, but finding the perfect dress may be even harder.

Not everyone can have the chance to work with a bridal consultant at famous bridal salon Kleinfeld's in New York, which is featured on TLC's "Say Yes To The Dress." So co-owner Mara Urshel was kind enough to share some of her tips with us.

Do your research: Bring pictures of gowns from magazines and websites to your appointment. It will give your bridal consultant a general idea of the kind of dress you like: traditional, straight, empire, princess ball gown, etc.

Planahead: Give yourself six to 12 months to order a designer bridal gown.

Know your budget:Know your budget. A lot people forget that they have to pay for alterations ($675 at Kleinfeld), a headpiece, a veil, and undergarments. 

Don't bring an entourage: Do not bring a crowd to your bridal gown appointment. Bring along one or two trusted partners, like your mom, a close friend, etc., for a second opinion. Make sure you bring people you can trust and who will help you select the perfect dress for you–not for them.

Keep an open mind: Listen to the consultant, and try on gowns she suggests. Gowns don’t always look as good on the hanger as they do on the body. Try on as many styles as you can. “Do it; try everything. This is your chance to try on all the dresses in the world and any salon should take the time to work with you to make sure you are happy.”

Don't forget your underwear: Wear appropriate undergarments, since you will be undressing in front of a sales consultant you never met before. You may also want to wear a strapless bra or the salon may have samples for you to use.

Trust your instincts: You’ll know when it’s “the one,” Urshel says. If you have to be reassured that the gown looks great on you, it's probably not “the one.” Is this how you pictured yourself looking as a bride? Does the gown suit your personality? Are you comfortable enough in it to enjoy your wedding day?

Now take a tour of Kleinfeld's sprawling bridal salon >

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NYT's Linda Lee reports on a shocking new procedure brides are using to shed a quick 20 pounds before the wedding.

Women get a nasogastric tube inserted into their noses that feeds them 800 calories a day for about 10 days. Women drop the pounds quickly through ketosis, the process where the body burns fat instead of sugar.

During the 10-day period, women complained of constipation, bad breath, and dizziness. A small price to pay, it seems, to be a size 8 instead of a 12 in a wedding dress.

The procedure, which has been popular in the Mediterranean for a few years, costs around $1,500.

Let us remind you that a gym membership is cheaper and less disgusting.

DON'T MISS: Go Inside The Massive Bridal Boutique Where 'Say Yes To The Dress' Is Filmed >

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An obscure designer has been bombarded by brides since she designed the wedding dress worn by Mark Zuckerberg's new bride, Priscilla Chan.

The designer, Claire Pettibone, normally gets 1,500 unique site visitors a week but is now up to 26,000 since Saturday, Women's Wear Daily reported. 

Brides were lining up for the $4,700 laser-cut gown with matte sequins. Pettibone has received orders from at least 14 boutiques.The dress is lined in silk and has a simple chapel train.

And quick-thinking designers have already tried poaching Pettibone's design. WWD's Rosemary Feitelberg writes:

The company also heard from its Italian fabric supplier, Sky Between the Branches, Monday morning “to warn them that another designer wanted to purchase the exact fabric of Chan’s gown, but, lucky for Claire, she has the exclusive rights to that particular beaded fabric.”

According to Pettibone's biography posted to her website, she is inspired by vintage fashions and started designing gowns in 1994.

Pettibone's site showcases this dress, which looks very much like Chan's and could show what the back of her dress looks like:

and the back...

Now go inside the giant bridal boutique where "Say Yes to the Dress" is filmed >

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For the first time since the recession took hold in 2008, wedding budgets have surged.

Couples spend an average of $27,000 to tie the knot, with one in five dropping more than $30,000, according to a report by TheKnot.com. That's not even including the honeymoon. 

Manhattan is by far the priciest city for newlyweds, where they spend more than $65,000 on nuptials. That's about four times as much as couples in West Virginia, where weddings average $14,000.

PTMoney personal finance blogger Michael Pruser knew he and his fianceé would be shelling out big money to fund their "destination" wedding in New Jersey. The couple live in Miami, but wanted to move the event closer to their extended families in New England. 

Pruser was kind enough to share his budget with us. At $25,207.90, they came in right under the national average and far below the typical $38,000 to $46,600 people usually pay to get married in New Jersey.  

True, some of the expenditures were a bit extraordinary—$1,250 for table centerpieces and a Nerf gun for the ring bearer?—but Pruser said he and his wife had saved for years to do their day justice. 

"Even though I would say this event was 100 percent anti-frugal, we had an absolute blast," he said. "Yes, saving money is important, however, I would argue that the biggest priority when it comes to your wedding is having a good time because if you’re lucky, you’ll only get to do it once." 

While the average guest list is 141 people, Pruser and his wife served about half as many (75). Even so, they spent about ten times the average price on their venue, which set them back a whopping $9,745 and included an open bar. 

Here's what the Pruser's modern day wedding budget looked like: 

Vs. The nation's average budget: 

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Wedding costs have gotten so crazy that some couples are forgoing the whole affair to stage their ceremony in a public place like a museum or park. But even doing that will cost you, as SmartMoney's Alyssa Abkowitz found out.

Abkowitz hit the streets with her fiance Scott to see if they could pull off the stunt in a busy metropolitan like New York. They hoped to cut down on significant wedding costs—the venue ($1,150) and wedding dress (about $800)—and do everything by the book so they'd keep their day jobs. 

At first it seemed easy. A Central Park wedding could easily happen with 20 guests and no permit required, but trying to seal the deal in the Museum of Modern Art, the "holy grail of NYC guerrilla wedding locations," wouldn't go over well with security—or friends and family who couldn't record the special event. 

Watch the video below to see how hard it is to plan a guerrilla wedding: 

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Considering the fact that the average wedding budget blew past the $25,000-mark this year, taking out an insurance policy on the Big Day might seem like a wise move. 

Basic policies that cover the usual unwanted disasters–lost rings, injuries and inclement weather–aren't that expensive, ranging between $155 and $550, according to TheKnot.com. And in the grand scheme of things, that's little more than most brides spend on their wedding bouquet.

"To have some peace of mind, that's not a lot if you're already blowing thousands of dollars,"Insurance.com managing editor Michelle Megna told Business Insider. "But if you're going to spring for wedding insurance, you should find out exactly what the policy covers." 

As a guide, we've outlined some of the trickier steps to planning for wedding insurance: 

Maximums and deductions: The fine print on policies is where you'll see exactly how much coverage you're paying for. Many premiums have deductibles that must be met before the insurance company will start covering expenses and some coverage is capped at certain dollar amounts. You can easily find an insurance quote online from a host of sites, including Wedsure, Wedsafe and Wedding Protector Plan. 

Extreme weather. Most basic policies cover weather-related delays, but some insurers might not consider a tropical storm on the same level as say, an ice storm that shuts down entire cities. "Find out exactly what their definition is, because they may not think two feet of snow classifies as a snowstorm that will qualify for extreme weather," Megna said.

Change of heart (and other things that aren't covered). Insurers generally won't cover weddings if the bride or groom makes a run for it, but there are so-called "change of heart" policies you can purchase on their own. Most policies also won't cover lost engagement rings (wedding bands should be covered), stolen or lost gifts, or your honeymoon. 

Overlapping coverage. Think about your wedding venue. If it's an established event hall or your own backyard, chances are both are covered by existing policies. At-home affairs are likely covered by homeowners insurance, though you'll want to contact your insurer to find out how far coverage extends. On the off-chance a hurricane obliterates your reception hall a week before the wedding, the site should have its own insurance in place to reimburse you. Again, you'll want to double check before booking.

When to buy insurance. You can buy some policies as soon as 12 hours before your nuptials, but the sooner the better, Megna said: "Do it in advance and not the last minute when bad weather reports start coming in." The earlier you take out a policy, the longer you'll be covered, especially when it comes to your event space. It's not unheard of for reception halls to shut down abruptly, leaving couples hanging out to dry without their deposit. TheKnot recommends taking out a policy – if you need one – as soon as your venue's booked.

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When my husband and I got engaged back in 2010, I felt simultaneously thrilled … and like I needed to brace myself for an oncoming wave, whose only purpose was to sweep over me and pull all of my money out to sea.

The engagement wasn’t a surprise—being mature, rational adults, my then-fiancé and I had discussed marriage, finances, child-rearing and any number of important topics we thought we should cover before agreeing to be legally bound for life—and I had already been poking around the internet, looking at wedding-themed websites and blogs.

I‘d therefore had plenty of time to feel my heart drop into my stomach as I looked at people’s budgets. From lovely outdoor weddings where tent rentals ran up to $20,000, to charming hotel affairs that cost $175 per person, I knew that a conventional (and expensive!) wedding wasn’t for us. We’re in our mid-twenties and have savings, but we certainly didn’t want to spend them on a one-day event.

While I would have been happy to run off to City Hall and cover dinner for a few close family members, my husband had other ideas. He has a big family that expected a wedding … so we gave them one, on our budget.

The Surprising Thing We Booked Sight-Unseen …

After examining our finances, and considering our spending priorities, we thought about what kind of wedding we could agree on—and came up with relaxed and simple. That is, lacking tiny, expensive details that would stress me, and by extension, him, out.

The venue needed to be somewhere we could hold both the ceremony and the reception. Once we realized that a full meal was out of our budget (given that we would likely host about 100 guests!) we decided on a dessert reception. We also considered flowers and photography, as well as necessities like an officiant and invitations, and decided on a budget of $4,000.

A lot of crafty wedding blogs feature weddings where everyone involved seems to have some kind of incredible talent—

“My graphic designer brother designed all of our invitations!”

“My best friend is a professional florist and put together all of the flowers!”

I know my limitations. I am not even a little bit crafty. I can repair buttons and socks, poorly, and that’s about it, and I felt uncomfortable outsourcing details to my friends and acquaintances.

But we found our perfect (and fantastically inexpensive) venue in Southern Virgina, where my husband is from. My mother-in-law had suggested looking at local parks for venues, and one option had a beautiful lakeside gazebo for a ceremony, and an indoor facility with a wraparound porch that would be a great location for the reception. We booked it sight-unseen (minus a largely ineffective Google search for “Claytor Lake State Park”) for $1,000.

(Getting married away from home? Keep this in mind.)

Flowers, Food and More

After receiving another excellent recommendation, we met with a local florist who very kindly took the few magazine photos I’d torn out and put together 12 beautiful mason-jar centerpieces with hydrangea and delphinium, and a bouquet and boutonnière for $400. She also very politely listened to me say “No” to just about everything—“No, we wouldn’t be having a bridal party”; “No, we don’t need flowers for the gazebo”; etc.

I found our photographer during a late-night Craigslist search. Her photos looked lovely, and she was just starting her business in the area, so when I asked her if she could photograph our wedding day for $600, she agreed. After seeing constant reminders that wedding photography can start at $2,000, I was incredibly happy to have found someone willing to work with our budget (and the photographs turned out beautifully).

Especially since our reception was dessert-only, our most important expense was the cake and pie we’d be serving, as well as the drinks (an open bar was a non-negotiable). We found a local baker who makes wedding cakes as a hobby; she created a delicious three-tier confection for $200. We picked up a dozen pies the night before the wedding, and we bought beer and wine from a wholesale liquor store, bringing our total food and drink cost to $650.

A wonderful friend made pennant flag bunting for the reception venue as her wedding gift to us, and it was the perfect (and only) decorative detail, in addition to the flowers. My mother bought my wedding dress, which came in at $750, because she knew I would buy something cheap rather than something I loved, and wanted me to be happy with what I was wearing.

My mother-in-law anticipated we’d need extra hands on our wedding day, and found a few local students who served drinks and cake (and kept it all replenished) for $100 each. We rented the cheapest chairs available for $316 (even though they were a less-than-attractive brown) because I reasoned that people wouldn’t be paying much attention to what they were sitting on. They didn’t.

When we started planning, I kept things simple because I didn’t want to add stressful detail after stressful detail to my plate. In the end, the simplicity made our wedding lovely, and kept us under budget.

The End Result

I did my own hair, a friend did my makeup and I felt perfect.

Once we threw in the incidentals—the official’s fee of $150, the invitations I found at an online press for $275, the $40 guestbook, the $30 marriage license, and the quirky $70 cake-toppers that sit on our mantle now—we came in a few hundred dollars under budget.

Most importantly, the things we’d said “no” to didn’t matter. Guests commented on how much they’d enjoyed the wedding, and no one seemed to notice that we didn’t have a DJ (we used an iPod and speaker system), or that a professional hadn’t done my hair, or that my husband wore a navy blue suit he’d owned for years.

We even ended up in the DC/Maryland/Virginia edition of The Knot, and our photographer threw in a CD of our photographs to thank us (for which some photographers charge extra).

The wedding industry constantly attempts to up-sell brides and grooms on so many items, and it was reassuring to realize that none of those (expensive) superfluities mattered.

At the end of the day, we have photographs we love, memories of delicious cake and happy friends, and the relief that we could throw a party without drowning ourselves in debt or liquidating our savings.

More from LearnVest: 

 8 Financial Red Flags in a Relationship

The Trick to Dividing Household Financial Tasks

Getting Married? You Need Getting Hitched Bootcamp

DON'T MISS: 8 money moves that will save your marriage > 

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The average American bride spends $1,500 on her wedding gown. 

But that won't do for celebrities. Forbesrecently compiled a list of the most expensive weddings and included some of the more exorbitant gowns. 

Jennifer Aniston and Tori Spelling spent over $50,000 on their gowns. Victoria Beckham, Melania Trump and Catherine Zeta Jones all had dresses worth six figures. 

And Kate Middleton's gown is worth enough to buy you a very large house. 

Even the best dress can't buy you love, though. Very few of the celebrity brides we profiled are still married to their grooms. 

We wonder what happened to the dresses.

12.) Liza Minelli married David Gest in 2002 in what was said to be the most expensive wedding of all time. Her Bob Mackey gown cost $45,000.

11.) Jennifer Aniston wore this Lawrence Steele gown when she married Brad Pitt in 2000. The dress was said to cost $50,000. The couple divorced five years later.

10.) Tori Spelling married Charlie Shanian in 2004, but divorced a year later. Her custom Badgley Mischka gown cost around $50,000.

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A New York bride spent more money on alterations than her actual dress, but that didn't stop the gown from falling apart on her special day.

In a recently resolved lawsuit, Samantha Shea claimed she paid seamstress Dalia Cohen $600 to alter her $599 wedding dress, but the zipper broke an hour before her pre-ceremony cocktails.

The mishap forced Shea to pay Gansevoort Hotel employees $200 to sew her into the dress, Reuters reported Monday.

Shea filed a $1,000-lawsuit against Cohen, claiming the seamstress ruined her dress by installing a faulty zipper.

And the judge agreed.

District Judge Gary Knobel acknowledged Cohen "robbed [Shea] of experiencing the joy of her very special day."

The judge ordered the seamstress to pay Shea $1,000 and compensate her for the money she paid hotel staff to sew her into her dress and the $100 she paid the minister for delays caused by the fashion mishap, according to Reuters.

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Couples spent an average of $28,500 to tie the knot in 2012, according to a Wedding Channel/TheKnot.com report.

That's just a couple thousand dollars shy of what the average homebuyer spends on a downpayment today ($31,000 by Trulia's estimate). 

And we're not even including the honeymoon. 

"In 2011, budgets increased for the first time since the economic downturn, and this past year, in 2012, we saw that wedding budgets are continuing to rise even more and to an all-time high since 2008," said Carley Roney, cofounder of The Knot.

It's not the bridal gown that had couples tipping their budgets either. Brides dropped just $1,200 on their wedding dress last year, only about $100 more than the year prior.

They spent twice that much on the reception band alone. 

Blame the venue. Couples spent $800 more on the location of their ceremony last year than in 2011, which ate up nearly half their entire budget at $13,000. The only expense that came close was the engagement ring, which cost more than $5,400 on average.

Manhattan is still by far the priciest city for newlyweds, where they spent more than $77,000 on tying the knot –– a major leap from 2011's $65,000 price tag. That's more than five times as much as couples in chilly Alaska, where weddings averaged $15,000. 

Here are a few other interesting tidbits from the report: 

• Average Marrying Age: Bride, 29; Groom, 31
• Average Number of Guests: 139
• Average Number of Bridesmaids: 4 to 5
• Average Number of Groomsmen: 4 to 5
• Most Popular Month to Get Engaged: December (16%)
• Average Length of Engagement: 14 months
• Most Popular Month to Get Married: June (17%)
• Popular Wedding Colors: Blue (33%), Purple (26%), Green (23%), Metallics (23%)
• Percentage of Destination Weddings: 24%

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The average modern wedding costs more than an astronomical $28,500 — enough to put any couple in debt.

In 2003, Trae Bodge and her then-fiance, Chris, were determined to spend a more modest amount: $9,000 ($11,200 in today's dollars). 

But Bodge, then running a small cosmetics company, and her entrepreneur fiance still wanted an elaborate affair. They had envisioned a three-day event and had more than 100 guests on their list already. 

"We didn't have a lot of money and our parents didn't have a lot of money, so we knew we couldn't spend a lot," says Bodge, now senior retail expert for couponing site Retailmenot.com.

Through careful and creative planning, they were able to trim $18,000 from their budget and still have the wedding of their dreams.

All price estimates were sourced from TheKnot.com's annual Real Weddings Study.

THE ENGAGEMENT RING: $0

Average price: $5,431

Trae's engagement ring was actually her grandmother's wedding ring. 

"I think using a family ring to propose is something that’s really sweet and special," Trae said. "There’s no need to go out and spend $10,000 on a new ring. As a woman, maybe you’re wanting this big rock and maybe you’ve picked one out but ultimately you’re marrying that debt. Why would you want to do that?"

HIS RING: $5

Average cost: $150

Chris was thrilled when Trae showed him his wedding band –– a sterling silver ring she had made by hand in a jewelry-making class. 

"He was so excited to hve a ring I made myself that he totally didn't care that it cost probably all of $5," Trae said. "I wanted to make sure he was cool with that."

REHEARSAL DINNER: $500

Typical cost: $1,135

The couple invited half of their guests over for a barbeque and group breakfast the day before the wedding. 

All of the food and supplies were sourced from Costco. 

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Target normally makes headlines in the fashion industry for its mega-hyped designer collaborations.

But, this time, the chain is in the news for something it did all on its own.

Target — or rather, Target.com — now offers bridal gowns in sizes 2 to 28 in the thoroughly unbelievable price range of $69.99 to $129.99. 

That's practically unheard of for wedding fare, which is progressively getting more and more expensive.

This is actually an extension of the pre-existing Tevolio collection, which included bridesmaid and flower girl dresses, at a similar price point.

Given the glamour-craving Bridezillas of the world, we're not sure how popular this will be, but with the simple designs and amazing prices, we certainly have no objection. (Racked)

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One of the daughters of billionaire Marc Lasry, who runs distressed debt hedge fund Avenue Capital, was married this weekend. 

Samantha Lasry was married to John Fleisher on Saturday at the Beach Club in Sea Island, Georgia during a black tie ceremony.

The weekend kicked off with a "southern casual" BBQ dinner and drinks and then an afternoon of leisure and lunch before the ceremony on Saturday.

The wedding gift registry included silver from Tiffany's and various household items from Bloomingdales, Barney's and Michael C. Fina. 

The couple met when they were working as congressional interns on Capitol Hill in the summer of 2005 for Congressman Rahm Emmanuel. (You can see a photo of them interning together below). 

From SamanthaandJohn.org:

Samantha and John met while interning for Congressman Rahm Emmanuel in Washington D.C. Despite the fact that Samantha misinterpreted their first date as "just dinner" with a friend, they never lost touch and spent the entire next fall emailing while Samantha was abroad in Rome. They finally began officially dating on April Fools Day that spring, and have spent the past six years playing a long game of "where in the world are Sam and John". Finally, last year they both took root in New York City and have been enjoying every minute of sharing the same zip code!

The groom works as a vice president in mortgage trading at Nomura, FINRA records show.  He previously worked at Lehman Brothers and Barclays, the records show.

He graduated with his bachelor's degree in government from Dartmouth in 2008, according to his LinkedIn profile.  He's originally from Chicago. 

Last year, Samantha bought a three-bedroom Greenwich Village co-op for around $4.3 million, the New York Post reported. 

Best wishes to both of them!

SEE ALSO: The Fabulous Lives Of Wall Street Offspring

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