I'm so sorry. I agree with you completely about weddings - I stripped mine down as far as I possibly could and I still spent 5k for a backyard BBQ. And I was more-or-less unemployed at the time, so I had time to save money.

How much can you get away with a non-traditional wedding? It sucks if that's what Michelle wants or her family expects, but there's an awful lot of wedding nonsense you can avoid paying for if parents can deal with no centre pieces on the tables and you wear a suit you already own. I wore an off the rack white summer dress and I only had one bridesmaid, which saved a fortune. But I got a lot of flak for not wearing a "real" wedding dress.