The average American wedding (2012), including the reception, cost $28,427. It's even higher in more affluent areas. In Santa Barbara, California it's over $42,000. Manhattan weddings average nearly $77,000. In other words, many couples are spending on a single event lasting a few hours the equivalent of a year's tuition at college, or what the average American makes in a year.

This marital extravagance is being driven by what's been called the "wedding industrial complex"—a $70 billion business driven by dressmakers, florists, reception halls, event planners, caterers, bands, etc. One researcher explains, "Americans want 'perfect' weddings, but they also want celebrity weddings—where there is no budget and no limit to materializing our fantasies." Author Meghan O'Rourke says, "You're made to feel guilty if you try to cut corners, as if to do so is to cheapen your love."