Weddings cost so much money and they seldom deliver on the dollars-per-minute-of-enjoyment side of the deal. So why do we spend so much money on weddings?
If I dared to have a cheap wedding I would make certain family members very angry. Surely my wife’s family would not be thrilled either. So I guess the solution is to take out a small loan to pay for my wedding? I should pay out tens of thousands of dollars for an evening and dinner with the family? Why not take everyone to a nice steak house and get food that is edible and spend less money?
No, that’s unacceptable. You’re expected to have a miserable day, eat (usually) awful food, and spend the equivalent of a base-model Corvette to do that.
I don’t deserve a free wedding and neither do you. You simply must grin and bear it. It’s usually miserable and costs a ton. But it builds character and gives you practice on overloading expenses onto whichever family member will help foot the bill.