I like weddings. I like to see the happy couple, I like the big party. It doesn’t have to be formal, one of my favorite weddings was a close girlfriend of mine who was married in a Catholic church late morning, and then we all drove to her parents house, which is on 100 acres, changed to jeans and shorts and ate barbequed chicken, sides and danced on the driveway.
I also keenly remember the wedding of a friend who when the bride first entered the room to walk down the aisle her groom had tears coming down his face. The whole room sighed. The wedding was amazing. Flowers everywhere, a floating chupah, the cocktail hour had four food stations, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, and American, and then after was the three course meal, and a live band. Must have cost $40k, but they had the money.
If someone wants to spend a lot of money on a wedding and they have the money to do it, why shouldn’t they if they? It’s a celebration of their new life together, that is a pretty big deal. It is an excuse for family to get together, which is a nice thing. These events, barmitzvah, weddings, birthdays, can be like family reunions. The four hours is too short to really spend time with people, but out of town people are usually there for at least the weekend. Some weddings have events planned all weekend. Rehearsal dinners, golf games, boat cruise, night at the movies, brunch the day after, I have seen all sorts of events.
Small weddings are fine too, simple, a nice meal, but I like a good party with dancing and the whole nine yards. But, I don’t think anyone should go into debt for a wedding, I find that ludicrous.