wedding bliss?

I was watching this wedding show, Rich Bride, Poor Bride with my mum on TV about brides and budgets. One bride had a budget of 20 000$USD and ended up going over by more than 16 000$. I wonder if that's considered the "poor bride's" budget. The show was interspersed with older couples sharing their own experiences and how much they spent back then. One couple who got married 51 years ago, spent 6000$ on their wedding. I exclaimed to my mum how much money that was 51 years ago! And then my mum so aptly pointed out that there _are_ people out there who have money to spend.

The wedding industry is growing exponentially. They market the wedding day as the "happiest day of the couple's lives" when really, if that was true, what kind of marriage would that be without anymore "happiest" days? In Hong Kong (as I'm sure as with anywhere else), dresses are getting frillier until you're not sure which structure is the cake or the bride; entire forests are killed to make invitations for just one wedding; the amount of photos taken rivals that of any paparazzi; and 20 000$ USD is considered underbudget for a decent wedding *boggle*

When my parents got married 30 years ago, they spent only 1000$ HKD (less than 200$USD). So I told my mum, if I ever get married (considering I can find a guy first), I will only spend 1000$ CND... and the trees can stay standing.

Addendum: When I think more on weddings (since I had a plethora of friends married the past 3 years and more this year), it's not so much the budget but the sheer consumption and its results. The massive amount of paper for save-the-dates, invitations, post-invitation, programs, thank-you cards, etc; the favours that no one ever keeps but everyone still insists on giving; the decorations that goes into the rubbish afterwards; and dresses that are worn once and never again (which boggles the mind when you think about how many brides and bridesmaids there are getting married).