I don't know about your last three questions, but my wife and I did forgo the expense. Our entire wedding and honeymoon, including reception decorations, food,

I don't know about your last three questions, but my wife and I did forgo the expense. Our entire wedding and honeymoon, including reception decorations, food, flowers (lots of flowers...), photos, dress (with alterations), and rings cost around $3000. I don't even know how some people are capable of spending as much money as I've heard of them spending $20,000+ for a wedding? What in the world are you spending it on? It would've been easy to spend a couple thousand more, but it wasn't that hard to keep costs down. You just have to realize that it is OK to comparison shop, and you don't have to go with the high-status, first-advertised options for everything; if you look at more than just billboards and TV ads, you can still put together a really nice event for far less money. When we went ring shopping, we decided on a budget ahead of time, and it turned out that our budget wasn't even the determining factor in which vendor we ended up buying from- it was who had the rings we liked the best. Tip, though- don't tell the salesmen that you're looking for a wedding ring; if you do, they will only show you a small, high-priced fraction of their total selection. My fiancee also decided ahead of time that she didn't want a diamond (diamonds are boring, green amethyst is much prettier), so it was very amusing when we found a genuine diamond ring on sale for only $90- much less than what we ended up spending on the rings we liked!