His Wedding Only Cost $23,000 — Here’s How
Kosher Money
Living Lchaim
4.9 • 842 Ratings
🗓️ 20 May 2025
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why are Orthodox Jewish weddings so expensive? 💸
In some circles, it’s normal to spend over $120,000 on a single wedding. My friend Mayer Gold joins us to break down why this happens – and whether we can actually change it.
You can contact Mayer here: mayergold@gmail.com
Mayer's awesome Brooklyn-based Kosher supermarket is named Certo Market; check it out here: https://CertoMarket.com
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CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
01:43 Who is Mayer Gold?
02:14 Making a $23,000 Wedding
05:32 Making 5 Different Weddings
08:25 It Takes 2 Sides to Make a Wedding
11:25 Discussing Finances Before Engagement
13:18 Making Bar Mitzvahs Nowadays
15:40 Sushi
16:36 Kesem Media – Where Marketing Results Feel Like Magic!
18:07 BitBean – BitBean Has Big AI News
19:34 Small vs. Big Weddings
22:54 Involving Your Children in Financial Decisions
25:18 Making Engagement Parties
27:49 The Different Costs for Different Circles in Orthodox World
31:44 Use Your Wealth Correctly
34:12 Who Are You Really Making the Wedding For?
37:04 The Benefits of Takana Weddings
38:04 $10,000 for Flowers??
40:22 The Costs of Makeup
43:00 Wedding Invitations
44:30 Are People Really Going Into Debt from Making a Wedding?
45:32 Twillory – Awesome Men’s Clothing
47:06 Colel Chabad – Helping Holocaust Survivors
48:23 The Over-the-Top Gift Giving
49:54 Gift Giving
53:18 Practical Ideas to Help Save Money
1:01:45 We Need to Start Teaching the Younger Generation
1:02:28 More Helpful Money Tips
1:07:33 Outro
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⚠️ Reminder: This episode is not financial advice. Always do your own research.
Kosher Money is the bi-weekly podcast from Living Lchaim, hosted by Eli Langer.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You know, went in with the mindset of let's make a beautiful wedding, a beautiful night |
| 0:03.7 | for the chas and kala, and let's do it within our means. |
| 0:06.5 | What it cost? |
| 0:07.6 | The whole package is $23,000 all in both sides. |
| 0:11.0 | So there's plenty of food to go around. |
| 0:12.8 | The big difference is that people are focusing on the chast and cala and the wedding, instead |
| 0:15.7 | of focusing on more sushi and more carving stations. |
| 0:19.2 | And not the people that are talking about your Semcha afterwards, |
| 0:21.4 | if they're talking about the sushi at the Semcha, you went over the top. |
| 0:24.7 | Because you're not a restaurant. |
| 0:26.5 | You're a Khashana. |
| 0:27.4 | I like sushi. Don't get me wrong. |
| 0:29.0 | But I'm not taking my 500 closest friends out to dinner. |
| 0:31.8 | I don't think it's here to raise a child a certain way with everything up there spending-wise, |
| 0:40.4 | or whether it's Bas mitzvah, whether it's bar mitz, or whether it's vacations, and then when it comes to the wedding, |
| 0:42.7 | oh, we got to stop right there. |
| 0:43.8 | Now we have a new policy, and now we don't overspend. |
| 0:47.2 | For our non-Jewish listeners, how much do you think it costs |
| 0:49.8 | to make an Orthodox Jewish wedding? |
| 0:51.4 | Tell me, $20,000, $40,000, maybe over $65,000. Well, you might be |
| 0:57.3 | surprised to learn that in some circles, it's completely normal to spend $120,000 to $130,000 |
| 1:04.9 | on a single wedding. And to our from audience, to our Orthodox Jewish listeners who are fed up with the pressure |
... |
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