George Kamel - 16 Minutes of People Going Broke Over Weddings

Episode Date: July 10, 2026

💍 Get started on your wedding with our Wedding Budget Calculator!   The average wedding costs over $30,000, and lots of happy couples can’t afford that bill. So today, I’ll be reacting to a horde of TikToks featuring brides and grooms going broke over their weddings.   Next Steps: • 🎥 Watch my video on Smart Money Happy Hour: Spilling the Financial Tea With Our Better Halves • 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! • 📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan.   Connect With Our Sponsors: • Get $5 credit when you join Privacy. • Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. • Go to Boost Mobile to switch today!  • Go to FAIRWINDS Credit Union for an exclusive account bundle!   Explore More From Ramsey Network: 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The average wedding now costs over $30,000. And lots of happy couples can't afford that bill. So today I'll be reacting to a horde of TikToks featuring brides and grooms going broke over their weddings. So let's clink a glass to delete me for sponsoring this video and hop right in. First video. Ready for the wedding cost breakdown? How much a wedding cost? Let's start with flowers.

That's the cheapest thing, I assume. $300? $300,000. No. 15. I will literally go outside and pick flowers right now. Okay, how'd you think the venue is? 20.

Okay. No, not okay. Do you think the food is per person? 200. 200? I was right. $50 a person. $250.

Oh my gosh, I was wrong. What? 250 times 250. Okay, and then we have the DJ. Okay, that's a thousand. A thousand. Five thousand. No.

Diplow! No! And then we have the cake. I'm not even going to eat the cake. I'm blooming free. Same, bro. Three thousand? No, it's, okay.

She's lying. Extravigan. Don't forget. Don't forget. We have hair, makeup, my dress, your tucks, our rings, the photographer, the videographer, the open bar. We have to tip everyone. How much you? think it's gonna be?

My soul? Like 150 to 200. Oh, no. I could buy a house. I'm like, too. I don't know where he's getting two houses for 150 grand, but that, that is insane. Now, I've seen this creator, I believe they do a lot of, okay, they're like couple vloggers. They do a lot of sort of satire stuff.

So I don't buy this, although I can imagine influencers spending 150 grand on a wedding easily. Now, they probably get it all sponsored. So you catch me wearing all these. these logos on my tucks. I'm not above that. But that is not far from the truth, as far as the emotions he's experiencing. All right, there's five stages of grief going on here. And he is in, I think, just denial slash anger right now. He's soon headed to bargaining. And there are no bargains when it comes to wedding. So good luck, my guy. All right. Let's look at some actual data to see what the national averages are for these things. So flowers, lighting, decor, about

$2,800. They said their flowers were $15,000. That is an insane. same amount to spend on flowers. The venue averages $12,900. There's was 20 grand. The venue is likely the most expensive part of your wedding outside of food, which food, about 80 bucks per head on average. There's was $250. But you can imagine the more people on that invite list, it just scales up in a scary way. The DJ, if you're getting a decent one, $1,800 bucks on average, there's was $5,000. Now, Uncle Ricky will do it, but he's going to wear a fedora and he's only going to play Sweet Caroline, so good luck. People love it. It's a hit! You got no taste!

I don't know why they're all from New Jersey, but that's just how the cookie crumbles. Speaking of cookies, let's talk cake. So let's just choose the cake, okay? The average cake, $530? Theirs was $3,000. And if you want gluten-free, it might be $3,000. Because they charge that. For a lack of flavor and texture, we're going to charge four times more. Cool. Now, one thing we can all agree on, it's a lot cheaper to subscribe to my channel and hit like on this video, then pay for a wedding. So do it. For a Uncle Ricky. Say I do. Next up. So how much money did the wedding cost? How much did you think it

cost? We had a very extra wedding international, three venues, multiple days, a surprise musical, six dresses. But we held it in Taiwan, my favorite place on earth, so the cost will look a little different. But take a guess first, comment it in. The budget does include our honeymoon in Japan, flights and hotels for our families, and the China trip we took the week before our wedding. The biggest cost were still venue and food, but let me tell. you the food in Taiwan is absolutely unmatched. None of that dry salmon trash. Then it was video and photos. We hired 10 videographers and photographers and flew them out to Taiwan. This is totally not normal, but this is what we prioritized. So, are you ready for the final number?

Dumbled, please. 131,000 dollars. Were we over budget? Absolutely. Was it worth it? I still think weddings are scams, but I am someone who goes all the way with things. So even one year later, Kevin and I wouldn't have done anything differently, except for a few things. Regrets. It looks beautiful. I wish I was in attendance. I mean, 130 grand, we can all agree, is an insane amount of money spent on a wedding. But based on what they just told me, I'm actually surprised it was only 130 grand. I thought it was going to be double, at least, for everything involved here. I mean, flying 10 videographers, that alone feels like 10 grand. So very impressive. I'm guessing

she's a big time influencer to be able to have this kind of wedding and life. Yeah, all right. See, I imagine there's a lot of sponsors involved. If I'm an influencer, which I am not, I'm getting sponsors everywhere. I am paying for Jack Squad, all right? I'll promote the heck out of your brand because nobody in the wedding party cares. Nobody on Instagram cares, but hey, you got a free wedding. I don't know who paid for it. That's another question. Did family pay? Did she pay? Did they split it amongst? I don't know what protocol is these days. Traditionally, Bride's family pays for the wedding groom's family pays for the rehearsal dinner

The groom's got it good That's way cheaper I don't know if that doesn't feel fair to me To let go of your little girl When my little girl walks down the aisle I'm gonna boo who When my son walks down the aisle Go to Reddance

This is your business now Moving on This one comes from Arabic McLevin That was my nickname in high school I was between that and Muhammad What is the biggest waste of money This has got to be without a doubt weddings. Some of y'all will be dropping 2030K on a wedding.

2030K is a down payment on a house. If anything, Y'all can dump 30K on the best honeymoon of your lives, bond and make memories, but instead you should suspend it on this one three-hour party in which you invite two to 300 people you don't even talk to just for those people to talk about your wedding right after. No thanks. Stop having big wedding.

Wow, a lot of anger there from Arabic McLevin. he is right in a lot of ways. He is wrong in that, I mean, 2030K is, that's if you're lucky. I mean, you heard some of these numbers. 2030K in today's America with the wedding industry at large, that's actually more difficult to do than you would think. But that is a lot of money to spend on a party for other people that you barely talk to and your mom and dad wanted to invite their old co-worker that they don't even work with anymore. And you're like, all right, fine. Here's my rule. If you want them on the invite list, you're paying for that person. All in. All right? So if it's an extra 300 bucks per person, mom and dad, everyone you wanted the invite list, you're paying.

That's my rule. That's just the rule I made up. You don't have to follow it, but you can take it for free. For where that money could have gone, can you bring down the wedding budget, increase the honeymoon budget? Maybe use that money for a down payment, get your life started right, instead of spending it on a party that we'll all forget. I don't remember many weddings. Like, you'd have to have a pretty epic wedding for me, be like, dude, that wedding is burnt into it. my memory. Core memory is generally I'm waiting for the ceremony to be over. Once the music hits, I'm a little overstimulated. Now I'm thinking about going home. I'm not a great wedding guest. Let's just put it that way. Don't get invited to a lot of weddings, except by strangers. I appreciate all of you inviting me to your weddings, but I'm not going to send you a free every dollar subscription.

You got to earn that. God bless. 1295 for an elopement. And they look like they're thriving. So let me just say this. The cost of the wedding has not. nothing to do with the success or quality of the marriage. In fact, I believe there tends to be an inverse effect, some diminishing returns at a certain point. If you're spending more than 50k in a wedding, you're likely you're wanting to impress, right? And if you're that kind of person who wants to impress, eventually your house of cards will come tumbling down. And I hope your marriage lasts forever, but I feel like couples who are very showy like that, it doesn't end up working out long term. Versus this couple, all right? They're not spending a lot. They don't care.

about a lot of the material stuff, they don't care about the big party. They just got a loped with the courthouse, spent a few hundred bucks, bada bada boughbibuum for less than $1,300. They're off to a great start. And considering the average wedding cost in 2025 was $34,000, they got quite the deal. That's like 90-something percent off. I'll take it. And speaking of marriages, I've always loved a good union, wholly or financial. And my favorite financial union is Fairwin's Credit Union, a sponsor of today's video. They're the home of an awesome customer service team, a high-e-level savings account with a competitive APY and a checking account that comes with no hidden fees and a special Ramsey branded debit card. Look, I know switching banks is a hassle. It can feel like that,

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as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited Plan. All right, back to the video. Hey, Dad. So I realize my wedding budget's only going to be $99. How? So I'll host it in a park for free. Okay, what about food? So it's potluck style.

Everyone brings a dish. No supply and demand issues. If 100 people come, 100 people are eat. But where do we sit? Are we too good for the floor? What if bell doesn't agree? Well, then it'll be zero budgets. There'll be no wedding.

Good. Oh, this is brilliant. I love everything about this. I know that, like, I get this dad. I love this dad. I get it. Let's see who this guy is. Devin Patel, M.D.

See, that's why the dad doesn't care. His son's a doctor. He got everything he wanted out of a son. A doctor. So now he doesn't care about the wedding. And he doesn't have to pay for it, so that's nice too. But I like the principle behind this. How creative can you get to still have a great time

where people had an amazing time. You got to be celebrated. You can still, you know, wear cheap tucks, wear cheap wedding dress, make it a potluck. Sitting on the ground? Questionable. But can everyone bring a blanket or a folding chair and make it a party?

Bring a boom box, put on a playlist. That's all you really need. Food, music, maybe some beverage, if it's legal. You got a party on your hands. That's actually more memorable than most weddings I've been to. So good for you, man. I hope they actually did this. This was back in 2023.

Where are they now? Is he actually married? Was there actually a woman? Oh, Sarah got us the air friar we asked for. I need to send her a thank you, though. That's so sweet. Yes. Count that money.

Wait, this can't be right. Can you believe Im Hakim only gave us $1,300? For our wedding. You would think it was a birthday party. In this economy? Buy with this. A sofa? Oh, I love that.

As someone who is Arab, surprisingly, I relate. We just want cash. And don't skimp, Haqeem. I don't have an uncle Hakim. but I do have an Uncle Yusuf. But I feel like he came through on the wedding gift, so I appreciate you. I'll get married if someone gives me $1,300.

That, you know what? I'll take you up on that challenge. Do it. Do it. Can I just coax people into getting married if I just walk around with a thousand bucks? That feels like a crazy, that could be a future video. Right there.

Let's be real. No new nice sofa is going to be $1,300. I'm fin of merry one of y'all. The way my family is Hakeem and we're known for being cheap. Girl, summer suits you incredibly. You look amazing. You gotta love the internet. So much support. Well, that was a fun one. I enjoyed that. Thank you for that content. Very relatable to me and my people.

Last but not least. Okay, the producers included my video. We created this video, my wife and I, for a wedding giveaway back in 2018. A local wedding giveaway that included like a $28,000 wedding package. In this video, I'll show you the first minute. of it was the winner. Let's check it out. Hey everyone, I'm Whitney Wollashen. And I'm George Campbell. And we're engaged! So George and I actually met at work, and the first time I went to meet him, I literally

walked up just to shake his hand like I would anyone else. And I actually felt as if I got shocked, like something inside of me jumped. I actually thought, is this my husband? Oh, Lord, I met a girl at work today. And I am friends with her work. at the time so I was over for dinner one night and his wife prodded me to ask Whitney out on a date and as a fully grown mature adult man I decided to ask her out the snapchat text message that said your story Vicki thinks we should go on a

date fellas please give the girl a call snapchat is not the way I responded to him and said I'm sorry I don't know how to respond to you right now are you just putting it out there to see what I would say, or you just stating a statement because I don't know how to take this. So I ended up manning up and asking her out officially after that. That's all you're getting. All right, you can go watch the whole thing on your own time. That was adorable. I feel so, I was so much younger, nicer than. I've really, you know, I've really aged like Obama in office. Has not gone well for me. But that's a true story. And our little four-minute video took the cake.

Wedding cake, that is. The wedding was awesome. We had a live camel. It was fantastic. Good times. Going on eight years, baby. Cheers, mate. So lesson learned here,

you got to stay on top of these wedding expenses, otherwise they will get out of control. And the best way to stay on top of that is to create a wedding budget, get aligned on it, and stick to it no matter what. And if you want to help with this, we have a free wedding budget calculator

that goes through every line item to make it easy for you and does the math. So if you want to check that out, I will drop a link in the description below. And listen, money and marriage, it's a hot topic. And there was a rare moment where my wife joined an episode of Smart Money Happy Hour, another show that I host with my friend Rachel Cruz, and we had our spouses on to spill some financial tea with our better half.

So click here to watch it next or use the link in the description. That's it for today. Thank you guys for watching. We'll see you next time.