How old do you have to be to get married in germany?

I want to get married in Germany but I am only 22 and don't have much money at all.?

• My girlfriend and I want to get married in Germany but want to wait to also do it in the States where we can invite everyone. We are young and don't have much money and want something very simple. Does anyone know where we can get this done for very cheap?

• Answer:

  My husband and I got married in our hometown of Felton, Delaware but here are a few things that we used for our budget wedding. These might be useful when you have your wedding in the states. 1. Smaller guest list = more bang for the buck; My husband and I only had 15 guests, all people who really meant a lot to us. Instead of renting a hall and having a catered reception we went to a family run Italian restaurant with a real intimate atmosphere, FANTASTIC food and low prices (the most expensive meal on the menu ran about $20). We just let people order whatever they wanted. Everyone got to choose a meal that suited their tastes and was of much better quality than a similar priced caterer. 2. Tell your girlfriend to hit the clearance rack at the bridal salon first. I bought a $1000 designer gown off of the return rack at a bridal shop for $300. It was returned because it was missing the dress hooks on the back but needed no alterations and fit the style I was looking for. The needed repair cost me an extra 5 bucks and 20 minutes of time in front of the TV. 3. Buy the wedding cake from a good grocery store bakery. I got a very pretty (and very tasty) made by the bakery at an Acme supermarket in Dover, DE for $50. The bakery manager was ecstatic to have the opportunity to do something this unique and did a fantastic job. A specialty bakery would have run me about twice as much. Plus it was so big that all of our guests got to take home huge pieces of leftovers. 4. Try to find a photographer that won't INSIST that they perform any service that you might not really need (photos of bride getting dressed, pre-made album, etc). These things will add up quickly. I had called photographers that wanted to charge me close to a thousand bucks for only the photography and album, no pictures included. I found a woman who did beautiful work and was willing to photograph only the ceremony and a few shots at a really pretty small town river front park for about $300. I later spent another 350 on pictures, including a framed 16x20. She retired 8 months after my wedding and GAVE me all of the wedding negatives and developer's photo disk. This was the big splurge. I'm doing the album myself and using the digital disk she just gave me to make a DVD slideshow to give to people who couldn't come to the wedding. 5. If your girlfriend is moderately crafty or has a family member who is, make the bouquets out of good quality silk flowers. They're much cheaper than real, look the same and never wilt. I spent about 2 hours and $20 making a simple rose bridal bouquet. I'm 20 and my husband is 23; we did the entire wedding for about $2,000. Neither of our parents could pay for the wedding. I was working in a retail store at the time and my husband (who is a full time student) was working the summer as a maintenance mechanic in a metal cabinet factory, so its safe to say out budget was tight. Congratuations!!!!!! & Good Luck!!!