One should remember that the minimum cost for a wedding involves a ring (perhaps $100 at most, though some hold that one can substitute a vegetable for a ring if it is worth a prutah), a pre-printed kesuba available for a few dollars at any bookstore (and can be “run off” the web), and enough light snack so you can make all the brachos (and in all fairness, the suedah isn’t really a requirement).

Baruch ha-Shem we live at a time where the rabbanim have to complain about spending too much on weddings. The times when they didn’t complain (such as 70 years ago) were generally not pleasant periods in our history. Our great-grandparents would consider it a bracha to live at time where the rabbanim complained that people were able to splurge on weddings.