[a_shane]

I feel the same way; weddings have always felt like an unnecessary extravagance.

Some friends are getting married on the weekend and I was shocked to learn that they're spending close to $50,000 on the wedding, and that's after a raising over $5,000 at their social and getting financial support from both their families to pay for the event. That's like a downpayment on a house! Insanity.

[ido]

That kind of expense sounds outrageous to me. we married in the czech republic (we lived in austria at the time, now in germany - both border CZ) & I believe the bill ended up being around €5-6k which our parents on both sides wanted to split between them (we could have paid for it ourselves had they not).

partially its because it's just plain cheaper there but a lot of it is just how freaking overboard some people go with weddings!

[g00s3_caLL_x2]

That's not 'like a downpayment' that is a very healthy down payment!