Expensive Weddings

One thing I do not understand is why people spend so much money on one day of bliss.  I have several friends getting married and each of their weddings is a minimum of twenty grand.  Each one of their dresses, and one friend has bought four dresses now, is running them around two thousand dollars each.  That one friend of mine has now spent eight thousand dollars on four dresses and she still has not found the dress that she wants. 

I understand the whole thought process for a woman, “I’m only getting married once.” “I want it to be a day to remember.” “I want it to be better than my other friend’s wedding.” I just cannot personally see spending that much money on a wedding that lasts one day.  I would rather spend my money on a nice two week honeymoon versus a one day wedding. 

Plus, you invite a million and twelve guests (or maybe closer to two hundred), but out of all those people, do you really care if they are there or not?  Or is it about the gifts that they will bring you?  These are obviously close family and friends, and then friends of friends and old high school buddies and old college friends and your second cousin and his family of five… I get that a wedding is a special day, but how special can it be if there are two hundred people there and most of which you barely even talk to anymore?  I guess my thought is when I get married I will have a small intimate wedding with just the people around me that I truly care about such as close family and close friends.  I do not want more than 50 guests max and even that is pushing it. 

When I was younger, I was engaged at 20, I was planning this huge wedding at this gorgeous location that only specific people could reserve (and we happen to know one of those people).  The wedding in the beginning stages already had a price tag of twenty grand and that was not even including all the minor details.  I broke off the engagement not too long after becoming engaged because I realized that I did not want to be married to the person I was with, but I wanted a wedding and that is two totally different things.  I then learned that it is better to be totally head over heels in love with the person you are going to marry and have a small, inexpensive wedding (and maybe a nice honeymoon) rather than get married just because you can have a nice, luxurious wedding.

To me it is not worth it to start off a marriage in debt from a wedding (I have a friend who was twenty thousand in debt from their wedding when they first got married).  These days, not too many families follow the old rule of the bride’s parents pick up the tab for the wedding, especially with today’s economy.  So if you are lucky enough to have your parents pay for your wedding, are they willing to even fork out that much money?  Think about what is important to you before you go overboard and become bridezilla.