I feel the same way; weddings have always felt like an unnecessary extravagance.

Some friends are getting married on the weekend and I was shocked to learn that they're spending close to $50,000 on the wedding, and that's after a raising over $5,000 at their social and getting financial support from both their families to pay for the event. That's like a downpayment on a house! Insanity.

That kind of expense sounds outrageous to me. we married in the czech republic (we lived in austria at the time, now in germany - both border CZ) & I believe the bill ended up being around €5-6k which our parents on both sides wanted to split between them (we could have paid for it ourselves had they not).

partially its because it's just plain cheaper there but a lot of it is just how freaking overboard some people go with weddings!

That's not 'like a downpayment' that is a very healthy down payment!

That seems like a good way to get divorced within a week or weeks of marriage.

Annulment based on fraud possibly (that way you avoid assuming the debt post-marriage)

Honestly, more than anything I want to know how you get approved for a loan for that amount without any real security behind it?

Why would you assume they didn't have any real security behind it?

Because the poster said they took out a $150,000 loan for a wedding.

If they borrowed it against an asset, fine...but no bank is going to approve a loan for that amount for “a wedding”.

The main point I was getting at was that the scenario isn’t likely to be a pattern among people.

If I took out a home equity loan in order to do X, I would say that I borrowed money for X, not that I borrowed money for X using a home equity loan.

Taking out a $150,000 loan for a wedding describes the purpose of the loan, not the collateral.