My sister is getting married this weekend to the man of her dreams a year after completing tertiary and doing her National Service.  I’m so excited but then again I’m tempted to feel pity for her too.

She is only 25 years old (my parents think she’s old enough to get married) and just received her posting as a nurse in Akropong in the Eastern Region but that’s not the least of my worries because her husband to seems well to do. My main worry is the amount of money going into her wedding.

It’s absolutely preposterous for two young people who are yet to start a life together to spend so much money on a wedding where uncles, aunties, grandmothers, grandfathers and a long list of distant relatives and sympathizers who have never even cared about their existence to come party and dine at their expense. This is pure evil to me and many millennials like me are of the same view.

I’m not being cynical or hating on my sister for finding true love. Please correct the misinformation in case that’s how you felt after reading my introduction neither do I hate these relatives that much.  I actually love weddings so much and the joy that comes along with it. But the fact is in our faces; these are hard times thanks to all the corruption and wrong policies that have been implemented by our leaders. As a young couple you’ll need money to rent a house for starters, get a car, invest money into your unborn children’s education, and so on. So, if you spend just  30,000 Ghana cedis on  a wedding gown that would become useless in your wardrobe then what have you achieved?

It’s nice to have a very beautiful wedding that will be the talk of the town for centuries to come.  Only remember that when you are going through difficulties or you are unable to pay your bills the world will talk about that extravagant wedding you threw. It’s not shocking that most people do not want to have some ceremony that will validate their love, and cohabitate with each other.

According to two wedding planners I spoke to (neither wanted to be named) most couples spend between 25,000 Cedis for a simple wedding to a whopping 80,000 sometimes if it’s very extravagant. This includes the gowns for the bridal party, suit for the men, décor, and venue for the reception, food, drink, printed programs, menus photography and video. The planners may help you pick what you want but can’t dictate to you. However, neither of them would divulge how much they charge couples who consult them to help with the planning and execution of their wedding.

“My clients are a mixture of every race, class, and tribe. As for me, my job is to make sure you have a stress-free wedding with a budget as well. I need to first know your budget before I start working with you but most couples hate telling you their budget until a few weeks to the event. It’s good to know how much you’re willing to spend on what, because, at the end of the day most people tend to go overboard sometimes a 100 percent more than the initial budget,” an Accra-based planner said.

Weddings both traditional and religious have become a show-off in Ghanaian society with many couples opting for an extravagant - version more than they can afford. Couples will either borrow from the bank or rich family members to pull it off and, to me -  this is totally wrong. Considering the fact that you’ll be going into a marriage with debts, I feel it’s best if you have a wedding you can afford.

In a CNN Money poll on the issue of expensive wedding ceremonies, most respondents who took the survey said they had serious regrets for opting for an expensive wedding.  97% of the brides said they had never worn their wedding gown after the event. Half of the respondents confessed their regret on spending so much money on the ceremony.

Statistics say that aside cheating, money is one of the factors that may cause a couple to be unhappy and subsequently lead to divorce. Happily ever after is not your wedding day, happily ever after is 25 years from now when you have had a fulfilled marriage or after both of you have gone to your graves knowing that your partner brought out the best in you.

Prince Charles and Lady Diana are a classical case of an expensive wedding that still landed in divorce. It’s actually on record as the most expensive wedding to date. I’m not saying that the pair fought over money because they have a lot of that from the British taxpayer and even you who continues to buy British goods.

The fairytale wedding that attracted millions of viewers ended up on the rock amidst a lot of controversies.

After the wedding ceremony, there is also a honeymoon of about two weeks or a month to attend in some luxurious hotel or destination around the world. The money spent on the honeymoon is also unnecessary and needs to be stopped.

You’re married to your sweetheart and that should be enough since you’re going to have so much fun with them for the rest of your life. Don’t also spend so much money on a shining rock on your finger because half of the married people who cheat on their partners wear them during the act.

I’m not asking you to cheapen your wedding because of some random guy’s advice; I’m only asking you to work on a budget that fits your lifestyle and will bring you peace.

A wise man once said, “Keep your needs simple; enjoy small pleasures for real values lies in what things mean to you, not in their cost or how they are valued by others.” And he was right after all.

Simply put, Live within your means. It’s a wedding, not a parade.