How would you like the marriages to be conducted? simple or grand?

..a penny saved is a penny earned.So if you have that money in your hand you always feel safe isn't it?

I totally agree with you!

I totally agree with you ...but how was your marriage held?

Well, we did get to spend time with our friends and family, and it was a lot of fun. Of course, there were pictures and recordings, and I am very glad of that. When you can look back on special days such as your wedding day and remember the fun and good times that you shared with your loved ones, especially the the ones that are no longer with you, then you are reminded again that those are the happy times that you want to hold on to and remember that you shared with them. Showing them pictures just is not the same, especially if they were not there and are not in any of the pictures with you ... to me it is kind-of like you are excluding them from the most important events in your life, and that does not feel right to me.

Out here, it is such a hurried stuff. Invariably somebody feels slighted for not having been spoken to properly. Then gifts are given to the bride's and bridegroom's relatives. Again, who is given and who is left out creates rifts. I remember I received a saree, and uncle's cousin refused to take hers, saying hers was not as costly as mine. I never took any gifts after that. Marriages are supposed to bring people together, not create such unnecessary feelings. Dont you think? That is why I feel a smaller scale would be a good thing.

Hi PA - I am ok with the affordability clause. Because they really want it, and can afford to pay for it, why not? :) Personally, it doesnt make sense at all! You dont get to spend time with anybody. Just to show oneself dressed well? That can be done with the help of video camera as well. So the next time the friend visits you, you could show them those photographs or recordings. Why call him over, spend fortune, and not have more than 5 minutes to talk to him or her? Just for dinner? Better to take the friend and family out some other time. A more personal relationship would be there, and the time spent like that would become part of good memories. I keep wondering when relationships sour, remembering the grandeur at wedding may add to the pain, isn't it?

..my first thing is why spend so much on marriages...later on we can talk about the tax

But Vandy, there is already a tax placed on everything involving a wedding. The caterers charge a tax and sometimes even an extra fee for delivery, set-up and clean-up of the food or they charge if they have to have servers for sit-down meals. If you are preparing the food yourself, then the grocery store already charges a tax on the food, at least on some items, although many food items at the grocery store are not taxed some of them are. They charge a tax on the gown and tuxedo, and they may even charge alteration fees. They charge tax on the reception site, unless it is held at a private residence. The church even charges a fee (known as a donation), and they have a "tax" or offering for the set-up and clean-up of the church, even if you have a simple wedding without a bunch of flowers and candles and such. I really don't see how taxing everything more is going to help anyone. However, that is just here, and maybe everything is not taxed where you are.

Where brains are not able to decide on why's, taxes would help.