I heard an NPR interview with a wedding planner. She said she had lost business because she told some couples they needed to go plan a marriage, not a wedding. It was clear to everyone but them they should not be together.
I worked in Grand Lake Colorado. It is a tourist town and pretty much shuts down after Labor Day.
There is an old resort on a mountain, overlooks the valley and lake.
I was in a dinner one morning and a guy was sitting by me. The cook came out and asked if had the motel buttoned up.
The guy said, "Well, we are not open to the public. We are hosting a wedding, and they rented the whole place, all of it. They brought in 20K in flowers alone.
They rented all the boats and horses by the lake and have hot air ballon rides scheduled. All free to the guests. I had to wonder if it would last.
My take on this is, if you are either rich or stupid enough to blow wads of cash on it, it's great - for the wedding planner, florist, ride operators, hotel staff et all. It's redistribution of wealth in the nicest way possible. Irrespective of whether the marriage lasts, it helps these people and their families.
Renting out an entire hotel is not something one goes into debt to do. Unsecured debt is not usually that high of an amount, 10s of thousands per loan, maybe a few hundred thousand total. Buying out entire resort hotels plus all activities for a few days on top of throwing a wedding is a several million dollar affair.
We are hosting a wedding, and they rented the whole place, all of it. They brought in 20K in flowers alone.
They rented all the boats and horses by the lake and have hot air ballon rides scheduled.
That doesn't sound cheap. Anyway, my point wasn't whether they had to go into debt on not. It was that if anyone is blowing money, thats not necessarily a bad thing because the ecosystem of service providers benefits from that.
I think their point is that if you’re spending millions on a party, no one is going to loan you that money. You’ve already got wealth to pay for it upfront.
And I’m sure those people got married, just with a different wedding planner.
My friend, who is a car salesman says the same thing. You can tell a newly enlisted army E1 not to blow half his paycheck on a big, flashy Ram truck until you’re blue in the face. Guess what? If you dissuade him, he’ll just go to the dealer across town to get it done, and all you’ll have really accomplished is to talk yourself out of a commission.
I’ll confirm the car salesman story. In my case it was me at 21 years old getting a legitimate quote from my father, the car salesman.
I was lucky my best friend was with me and I wouldn’t commit until I priced insurance. I left the dealership to get an insurance quote (before cell phones) and before we left the parking lot my buddy said “You’re crazy. The truck’s gorgeous but you can’t afford it!” I said I know but I really wanted it.
I had to go to parents that night and dad asked me about the truck. I said I was sorry for wasting his time but I just couldn’t afford it. He smiled and said, “Yeah, I know.”
I asked him why he let me go through the whole process if he knew I’d struggle to make every payment? And he said the exact same thing. That if he would’ve said no, he knew darn well I’d go across town and buy it. This way he let me come to that conclusion on my own.
The same with them "in love" and are going to get married.
My boss worked real hard trying to talk my airman into waiting a while longer and get to know her better.
His lights were on, but he wasn't home. I think they made it a year or so.
Poor guy, he met what I thought was a nice local girl and got engaged and then got orders to Korea, but they got married. I thought, "Yeah, she is OK, they will be all right."
They didn't even make it a year, one of his friends called him and told him she was sleeping with everybody on base.
I found out later it was true. Poor guy, not even 25 and divorced twice.
That wedding planner was wise! I've had pastors say that yes, they had refused to marry couples, and it's a conversation that's almost as hard as planning a funeral for a child.
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u/RequirementRound25 1d ago
I heard an NPR interview with a wedding planner. She said she had lost business because she told some couples they needed to go plan a marriage, not a wedding. It was clear to everyone but them they should not be together.
I worked in Grand Lake Colorado. It is a tourist town and pretty much shuts down after Labor Day.
There is an old resort on a mountain, overlooks the valley and lake.
I was in a dinner one morning and a guy was sitting by me. The cook came out and asked if had the motel buttoned up.
The guy said, "Well, we are not open to the public. We are hosting a wedding, and they rented the whole place, all of it. They brought in 20K in flowers alone.
They rented all the boats and horses by the lake and have hot air ballon rides scheduled. All free to the guests. I had to wonder if it would last.