[Tweety]

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For all of you that are saying that weddings are a one day thing and then are done...

You do realize that people actually derive enjoyment and happiness from the MEMORY of an event, right? A perfect wedding will be remembered for as long as you are together.


Also, saying people are dumb for spending a lot of money on a large wedding then spending $30,000 on your own wedding is completely hypocritical. Also, forcing close friends and relatives to fly and stay wherever YOU want to go, which is not cheap for them and could be a huge inconvenience is very selfish.

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You're quite judgmental without really knowing anything about the situation. We only had 25 people, all of whom are very close to us, love traveling and love Italy in particular. They were involved in the decision-making process to do this wedding, and those who were financially challenged to do this trip were covered by us. We're a close enough family that if anyone was inconvenienced by this, it would have been apparent. Everyone had about 15 months notice and it was made abundantly clear to people that they should not feel obligated in any way to come. We insisted on no gifts, and we showered people with free dinners, gifts, and day trips on our dime the whole time we were there. We also got people very good rates at the hotel, rates they could not have gotten on their own.

The wedding worked out great and everyone who was there still talks about how much they enjoyed the experience, both to our face and to other people when we're not around.

So your comments that we are selfish for choosing this type of wedding are totally unfounded, but thanks for attempting to be fair and objective.

As for the cost, again, the 30k covers all of a 10 day trip to Italy, which included us getting married. We also paid for a couple of relatives who clearly couldn't comfortably afford the trip.

In my opinion, we got more on a dollar for dollar basis than the guy who spent $10 grand on just one night.