Love, Marriage And Money?

I have a somewhat unpopular opinion when it comes to weddings. It's not that I don't think they are special events, because they are. It's not that I don't think you shouldn't do what you want, because you should. But I also think you should be reasonable about it.

Master and I had a courthouse wedding and a small reception at a banquet room in a restaurant. The wedding was $100 and the marriage license was $100. The reception was an even $500 and that included the room, the food and the use of a bartender. (It was a cash bar. I'm not going to pay for people to get drunk. Sorry.) Then of course there were our wedding rings and Master's suit. I already had the dress I wanted to wear, so we didn't have to spend money on that. I didn't want a traditional wedding dress. I wore a little sexy black dress that I love.

So after everything our wedding, all told, came up to $900. That's pretty cheap when you're talking a wedding, but it was exactly what we wanted, it was what we could afford and we had a great time.

I've heard of people who spend that much on a cake. You eat it. You shouldn't pay that much for something you are going to eat, in my opinion.

Where is all this coming from? Well, Master's friend who He's known since high school is getting married in November. The friend asked Master to meet him for lunch one day and told Master the news. Master is going to be one of two best men. Yes, two best men. Apparently his finance couldn't choose between two of her friends for the maiden of honor spot so she picked two, so he chose two best men.

This is all well and good. But then we found out that are spending quite a bit on money on this event. Again, regularly I wouldn't say a word because it's their day. They can spend it how they want it, ya know?

But there is this little moral problem I have about it. If they could actually afford it, that would be one thing. But they had only spend 6 months in their own place before they said they couldn't afford it anymore and moved in with his parents. Guess where they are still living? Yep, his parents.

To me, if you can't afford to live on your own (there is nothing wrong with that, we all have hard times) you shouldn't be spending a lot of money on a wedding. And yes, they are the ones footing the bill for the wedding, no one else is helping.

So, you can afford to have this somewhat expensive wedding but you can't pay rent? I mean hell, we're not even talking about the honeymoon here... we're just talking ceremony and reception.

I'm not saying a word of this to them. It's not my place and it's not my money. I don't agree with it. It's not that I don't agree with them getting married. They say they love each other and want to be married. Congrats and good luck! My problem is that they aren't paying rent to his parents or bills, but they can have this somewhat expensive wedding? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!

From the sounds of things they have already passed the $1,500 mark and it's only March. They haven't gotten the dress or the tux or anything like that. I don't know about the rings... but somehow I doubt they bought those yet either. Hell, her engagement ring isn't even paid off yet. He dropped about $3,000 on that.

I know, I know, it doesn't effect us really so why do I care what they do? Well, I like his dad for one thing and to me it feels like they are taking advantage of the fact that they don't have to pay rent and bills.