status, it IS possible to get married and not spend $10K. I was curious so I Googled...in my neck of the woods, you can get a marriage license for no more than $75 (many counties/townships/whatever charge less) and can be married at City Hall for under $100. Alternately, you can get friends and family members to contribute to the cost of a wedding. Probably my all-time favorite wedding that I attended was for my good college friend "J". She got married on her grandmother's farm land and as a wedding gift, both her grandmother and the groom's grandmother (coincidentally both licensed ministers) performed the ceremony. Chairs, tables and tents for the wedding and reception (held under a different tent next to where the ceremony was) were provided by the bride's church, music was handled by another friend and bff and I did most of the decorations. The groom wore a suit and J found a simple white sheath dress in the JCPenney's catalog for around $50. A bunch of family members cooked the reception meal as their gift to the couple, who'd been living together for quite a while and didn't need "stuff". Someone else took the pictures as part of their wedding gift to the couple.
Years later, my niece got married at City Hall. Again, she scored a cheap dress and the groom already had an appropriate suit. There was no official photographer; my then SIL took pictures for them. The biggest expense was a wedding "lunch" for...I wanna say maybe 20 people?...at a nearby restaurant.
Speaking only for myself here...when a couple says they "can't" get married because it's too expensive, I think they're just making excuses. Unless they absolutely HAVE to have the $50K wedding...and that's OK. And if they want to NEVER get married, well, that's OK too.
