Money money Miami!
September 4, 2009
8 West Coasties: in aggregate, it feels like we could have financed the GDP of a small small country. (Or perhaps a small territory.) Let’s see if that’s true with some approximations.
Lodgings: $950
Variations: 1 night Fancy hotel+ 1 night Basic hotel/3 nights Basic hotel/2 nights Basic hotel shared room
Airfare: $2100
Variations: Mostly 1-stop flights, two nonstop returns.
Rental Cars: $600
The car itself was about $100 for 4 days, but parking at the hotel was insane at $30/day.
Friday Night out: $620
Those folks can really eat. And order way too much food. And drinks. — $250 dinner
Did you know that you could negotiate cover charges? My friend totally negotiated the bouncer at Bed down from $20/person to $30/pair. She tried for $20/pair but it didn’t work. That included open bar until midnight on certain drinks. And then some ambitious soul decided that rounds of Patron were a good idea. *dizzy* — $120 cover + $250
Saturday Wedding Day: $128
We only had time for one meal out and swimming at the hotel pool.
Sunday: $140
Brunch and gelato.
Misc (transportation, airport food): $300
Water was only slightly less ridiculously priced at $3/1.5 Liter bottle in the deli/shop downstairs versus the $5/0.5 L bottle in the room. Rather than go out again post-wedding, we ordered a movie for the room.
I didn’t grill the group on all their spending patterns, much as I would have liked to, so there are holes in this tot-up, but it’s pretty clear: I can’t hang with these folks! Without counting the gifts, the total spend was at least $5000.
*stares in disgust at burritos for lunch after seeing Revanche’s Miami post* LOL! Looks good!! Hope you’re having fun (even if it’s pricey!) !!!
Carrie: It was a good time, but I was pretty disappointed that there weren’t enough food pictures afterward.
$5000 for a weekend? My goodness, mind you I guess there was 6 people!
It looks really lovely! I hope you all had a really relaxing time!
Indulgent!! Hope you had a wonderful time, sure looks like you did!
That cake is beautiful, so elegant. I hope you enjoyed the trip, Miami is a lot of fun. Most of my friends are married now, so no more worrying about wedding attendance costs. Every one of my friends got married out of town, meaning travel costs, hotels etc.
notesfromthefrugaltrenches: Well, there were eight of us, but a greater percentage of the costs were incurred by those who could afford to: fully employed, white collar professionals, DINKs. I didn’t want to come off as judgmental singling out their expenditures since they can more than afford them.
eemusings: My favorite part of the whole thing was the awesome thunder and lightning storms. Tried to sneak to the window to take a photo, but it was during the first dances so it seemed … a little gauche. š
Miss M: Sadly, this wasn’t even one of my core group of friends. We still have ten/nine weddings to go! At least one will be in Greece, probably next year.