"With ice sculptures."

A good WaPo article about the perils of "fantasy" weddings. Comparing my wedding costs to those of the heroine of the piece alone made it worthwhile.

Consider this little stat from the story: "the average wedding these days costs $22,360."

With all due respect to those of you who spent in that range on your wedding--but that's just nuts. Ours took about 18 months to plan, but only cost us $7000. As my wife repeatedly said, "Emily Post is not invited to our wedding." Yes, my parents picked up the open bar tab (which, given our friends and family, was hardly a pittance), as well as the rehearsal dinner bill. But we got the rest, from the invitations to the reception room. If we'd had another $15,000, it would have gone toward the house, not doves, believe me.

I wonder if there's a correlation between ornate weddings and short marriages.

I mean, after the fantasy, there's "only" the routine beat of married life. It makes the wedding seem hard to top.

[Link via Domenico Bettinelli]