SOCIETY
My Wedding Cost Me €40 and a New Suit
At fifty, I’m as frugal as ever
Three years ago, I attended my brother’s wedding near York (UK). It was a grand affair set in a 15th-century Tithe Barn with champagne and nibbles, a four-course meal, free booze, a barn dance, a cake, and speeches. Plus the usual drunken couple who decided to have a full-scale argument to prove a point neither of them could remember.
Other people’s weddings are great. You get to see old friends and family, you get a good nosh, a good dance, and provided the family aren’t Puritans, you get shit loads of free booze.
But there was no way in hell I was ever going to have that sort of occasion for my wedding. While I love watching the drunken guests make a fool of themselves, having my own extravaganza wouldn’t be the same as rocking up to someone else’s party.
One, I couldn’t afford it. Two, I would rather spend the money on something else. Three, the stress of organizing it would kill me. And four, I’m too old for that sort of thing.
I got married in August this year at the age of fifty to my partner of twelve years. We did it at the local town hall (Mairie) in Livarot, France, where I live.
