WEDDING ON A BUDGET: Yay!!! Ignore the silly slam on Miss Manners–this is a good and necessary piece, via Dappled Things. The “wedding industry” sucks, sucks, sucks. Ginger Stampley agrees. The belief in the wedding as an immense pricey party a) keeps couples away from the altar (either because they really are saving up for the Big Day, or because he or she wants to use that as an excuse to keep from getting engaged for reals–I see a lot of this at the pregnancy center), b) coaxes couples into spending much, much more moolah than they can afford, c) therefore provokes an obsession with making sure that each pricey item is exactly right and that nobody gets in the way of the Perfect Wedding, d) therefore fills the pre-wedding atmosphere with tension, and e) makes the wedding all about the Bride’s Special Day!!! and not, you know, the marriage.