[Flabbibulin]

Wow, completely different perspectives- but everyone's suggestions are based on how much of a budget you are working with. So, the most important thing to decide is how much you are working with? Weddings can be next to nothing and they can be in the full year's salary sort of range. Both of those two extremes can be bad and good- for example, I think it is wrong if a man has a large income with plenty of cash and denies his fiance the wedding she wants simply because he is cheap. If both are on the same page for a low cost wedding, then great. On the other hand, having a wedding well beyond your means and going into debt for several years is just ridiculous.

The financial help of parents is a big factor- some people prefer to leave their parents alone even though they are willing to help. Some couple are more than willing to have parents cover a substantial portion. In our case, we have two very successful sets of parents that were insistent on having a very luxurious wedding- and my wife wanted the same thing. At the end of the day, the total cost was essentially divided three ways and everyone was happy. Had we been planning the wedding without the help of our parents, the budget would have possibly just been the 1/3.

My personal opinion is to listen to what your fiance wants and really try to make her happy- Im not suggesting being unreasonable if you can't afford it, but IMO, the first consideration of a groom should be to give his fiance the wedding she wants. Call me old fashioned.