wedding woes

The New York Times reports that many newlyweds (and their parents) are going into serious debt to finance lavish weddings. In the end, it even costs some couples their marriage as the stress of having to pay off creditors for their wedding debt is just too much for them to handle.

"Wedding bills are weighing down couples and their parents long after the 'I do's,' and many have been forced to seek financial counseling as a result, according to credit counseling agencies."

This couple takes the cake:

"[Because of the $20k debt incurred from their wedding, Stacey and Justin Blair] also parted with their two leased cars in favor of sharing a used car, and they enlisted a financial planner to monitor their spending, even submitting their credit card statements for review each month. "Everything was just a mess," Ms. Blair said. Still, she considers the wedding well worth it: 'It was such a fun day, I didn't care how much we put on our credit cards.'"

What kind of wacko society have we become that encourages (and even expects) this kind of irresponsible behavior?