Notwithstanding the fact that the economy is very gloomy at the moment, people still seen to be inclined to spend thousands on their weddings. Of course, this is always in the hope that this will be the most special day of their life, therefore, everything really does have to be perfect.

One of the main expenses is going to be the actual wedding dress; the recent marriage of Wills and Kate probably has not helped in taming the desire to have a dress that will knock people senseless in awe.

Then you have all the little extras that come with the modern wedding: be it the flowers, Fall wedding favors etc. By the time the budget has been allocated, the bride and groom to be will probably have to live on bread and water for the next three years, just to pay for it all.

At the end of the day, and this is where we are going to get a little controversial, 99% of the time it is the bride to be who selfishly demands the massive expense of the day. If only she could curb her ambitions and come down to earth a little, the wedding day really need not cost anything like as much as it does.

Some might say that it is up to the groom to put his foot down here. After all, it is his wedding as well. But no, he dare not say that he would prefer a more understated wedding as he could be sure that the bride is likely to hold this against him for the rest of his married life - which would probably be very short if the bride did not get her way.