A Wedding on Credit for the Sake of "Status"

"My fiancée and I were madly in love and wanted a modest, warm wedding with a small circle of people, and to put the money we saved toward a down payment on our future modest home. But when our families in Atlanta got involved, hell broke loose.

My fiancée's parents declared that they "can't be shamed in front of the community." They needed a prestigious hall, top-tier catering, and no fewer than 500 guests, including people that my fiancée and I had never seen in our lives. My father is a simple teacher — he has no such savings. In the end both families took out enormous loans to pay for this "festival of vanity." We got married three months ago. Instead of rejoicing in the start of our life together, we fight over every penny, because we give away half of our modest income to pay off the debts from one single evening. The community partied and forgot, while we begin our married life in a deep financial pit, all so that "people won't think we're poor."