Get married, divorce Leica?

[kievman]

I say fire fiancee, marry Leica service manager....

It might be cheaper in the long run.... and hey you'll get all those Leica Freebees!!!!

Anyways Good luck! and keep you leica stuff just in case, I know my Leica stuff lasted longer than my marriage!! Hope you have better luclk!!

 

[Spider67]

Fas forward more than a few years yor son/daughter talks with a friend:
"....a Leica.... yeah dad used to have some and also some great lenses, then when he married Mom he sold them and now he whines from time to time tht he should´t have done it..."
Congrats to your marriage! I like to read your report so keep your cameras! On the other hand they are easier to replace than a good companion!

 

[M. Valdemar]

Get married in City Hall. Cost, about $75.

Keep the stuff you like.

Wait until you have a baby. Then the marriage costs will look like chump change.

 

[Colman]

Have you considered giving her a nice little Leica as a wedding present? Then she can use your lenses when ever she likes ...

 

[Film dino]

Keep the Leicas.. they are part of you & what you bring to the marriage... and Congratulations!

David

 

[noimmunity]

Ask your fiance, not us! Involving her in a major decision is worth more than any Leica lens.

From your own description it sounds like both downsizing and continuing the Leica love affair are your goals. If you downsize now while renewing your commitment to shooting, that may send the strongest message and bring a whole new mutually-enriching intensity to life and love. Sounds like not a time to choose and/or compartmentalize but a time to expand and intertwine, to do some creative thinking about ways of taking things to the next level.

Sounds like an excellent life koan, if you ask me.

 

[former member]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding, all the best wishes for you and your Fiancee.

As my wife told me, if you don't like it and don't use it, then sell it.

 

[varjag]

Dante, historically RFF was not the best site to seek relationship advice 🙂

 

[kully]

Commiserations from me too - I'm doing it this August as well.

I took the chance to get rid of all that stuff that I didn't really use but didn't want to sell either.... and bought the wedding rings with the proceeds.

I feel good that the money didn't go on booze or impulse "Paypal money = monopoly money" splurges and I got brownie points from the missus.

Just weep a lot when you package the parcels 🙂

 

[kbg32]

You have to ask yourself if you really need to spend that much $$$$$$$ on a wedding? I got married 2 1/2 years ago. We had one reception for family and close, close friends, and another that we had for our friends back home. All in all, we spent far less then we thought. Our party with our friends cost us less then 2K, and this is NYC. It was catered and open bar for 2 hours. In-laws paid for the wonderful family reception. As others said, you don't have spend much to have a happy wedding.

I have all the photo gear I ever want. My wife does not complain about that. I'm also a cycling geek and had 8 bikes. I'm done to 6 now!

 

[Eric T]

Get married in City Hall. Cost, about $75.

Keep the stuff you like.

Wait until you have a baby. Then the marriage costs will look like chump change.

I agree entirely with Valdemar. In my experience, the success of a marriage is inversely proportional to the cost of the wedding. My wife and I spent less than $100 on our wedding nearly 18 years ago. Friends of mine who spent many thousands on their weddings are all divorced. A big wedding sets the expectations to high. Keep it simple.

With regard to your Leica gear, keep it. A good wife will allow her husband one simple hobby. And although Leica gear is expensive as camera gear goes, it is not expensive relative to other hobbies such as sports cars, boats, golf, etc. I am willing to bet that she will allow you this one. Just as you will need to allow her to have occasional indulgences in her own interests.

So stay with Leica and your new wife and enjoy life! She will enjoy the photos you take of your new life together in the coming years.

Eric

 

[Ronald M]

Just explain you don`t smake, drink, or chase other women. And this is all paid for.

You probably can`t get it back until the house and cars and kids college is paid for so keep it for now.

 

[Nando]

Keep the Leicas. Save money by hiring yourself to photograph your own wedding. 😀

 

[novum]

Hm, I'm going through a divorce and I just bought my first Leica.

edited update: I just noted Mr. Hick's post--further down--about being married to his first wife for three years, exactly my experience. We're friends, not lovers (current wife, not Roger Hicks and me!).

 

[M. Valdemar]

This seems pretty common here on RFF, especially with the mid-life crisis crowd.

I look forward to your photos of bums, cats, cups of coffee and/or glasses of beer next to cameras, and self portraits in the mirror.

Hm, I'm going through a divorce and I just bought my first Leica.

 

[jasoncohen]

Or you could have one of us shoot it in trade for all of your leica gear 🙂 I might be open for the date 😉

 

[ferider]

Congrats Dante !

All vices that you take into the marriage will be easily tolerated in the future .... Not so with new ones 🙂

Also, a wedding ring should be equivalent to three monthly salaries .... 🙂

 

[bob338]

sheesh, anyone bitter here? keep the fiance, keep the cameras you want and you'll be fine. if you NEED to sell something, start with what you use the least.

my wife and i got married on a beach(free) and had our reception at a local pub/english b&b(not so free.) it was about as cheap as you can go without doing the city hall thing and it was still $12k. we didn't even go on a honeymoon, we bought a house in a pretty expensive town months before the wedding so we didn't have any money left for anything. and like i said before, as long as i keep up the zero sum game, i don't get any raised eyebrows about spending money on my hobby.

weddings are expensive but giving up your hobby may be a problem for you later.

 

[ampguy]

You only need one camera. You should sacrifice anything within reason to make that day and your beginnings together as nice as possible for both of you.

If you want to keep more gear, you need to justify it, like showing revenue from selling prints.

Oh, and when you register for gifts, feel free to put down some of my prints for your wish list... 😀

 

[Olsen]

As far as I can remember, my, - our, economy improved when getting married. Then we could split the cost of living on two salaries and both my wife and myself could spend more on our hobbies; her's traveling, me photographing.