My godmother’s oldest daughter had a very specific idea of what her wedding needed to be, and what it needed to cost (obviously, a lot). But she was also cheap. So I go for the tux fitting because she decided I’m going to be in the groom’s wedding party. The tux felt like it was made of cardboard, the pink pocket square and tie looked like a pretty pink that had been sun faded and looked TERRIBLE. The shoes were ugly and uncomfortable. His kids are also part of both wedding parties. His kids were little monsters, and she decided that the wedding parties were going to do a choreographed number courtesy of his oldest daughter.
If you want dancers, pay for dancers. Instead, she lost her shit because we “didn’t put enough effort in” to the half-assed, last minute dance. The food was meh, the ceremony was far too long and stodgy, and the bride and groom didn’t spend any time with anyone (thank god). They were divorced within two years. It went about as I expected.
On the other hand, my stepsister’s wedding was held outdoors in the summer heat. They had a gorgeous, 15 minute ceremony done by one of their friends who was witty and funny. After that, we all went inside out of the heat into the air conditioned hall and everyone hung out and had a great time. The couple mingled with everyone despite being very in demand. None of it looked expensive, but was all tasteful. The food was good and the DJ was awesome. They are, unfortunately, also divorced, but lasted much longer because they knew what they wanted, didn’t have pretense, and knew each other well.