How fancy does your wedding need to be when you are broke?
The question should be, what specific mental heath issues pollute our society that result in our obsession with spending tens of thousands of dollars for a wedding? Doesn't matter if you are dead broke, or retired at forty with a few million in your stash, high dollar weddings are for fools and followers.
Twenty nine years ago my lovely bride walked the isle in a tiny Moravian Church, in her brand new $75 dress that was mail ordered from J.C. Penney. After doing the deed, we departed for a small picnic grove in the woods, along a nice stream. The reception was burgers, hot dogs, salads, and beer on tap. Total cost for everything was well under a grand. We didn't ask a mom or dad for a penny, and wouldn't of accepted one. Decades later I still hear from guests with comments like, "that was one of the nicest, most memorable weddings I have ever been to", and "I sure wish we had the sense to do what you guys did. You know we spent the next seven years making payments on our "special " day. Talk about a dumb decision".
The whole wedding industry is fascinating madness. We had a young mom in our neighborhood who decided that she was going to become a highly paid wedding photographer. She spent a few years, here in the northeast, as a photographer's helper. She basically worked like a dog, for a very successful wedding photographer, getting paid peanuts as she learned the trade. One day she announces that she is moving the family to Houston. Her logic was clear. The culture there is obsessed with high dollar weddings, and she had the chance to charge several times the going rate here, in a region much greater opportunity. She accomplished he goal, and makes a great living at it.