Mishpacha magazine (Family First) ran a fascinating article in the Pesach edition (April 5, 2020) on the wedding expenses in the frum community in the US, with lots of detailed numbers. This is obviously an overwhelming financial burden for many but one that's hard to solve.
Being a numbers guy and being stuck at home, attached are the numbers mentioned all lined up and categorized in excel.
Among a sample of 7 families,
the median spending for one side was $67K, (the average was 76K), before any financial support for living expenses or a car (which are common) and the article indicated that the boys side is generally only 15% less than the girls side.
Even the latest proposal with about 1000 people signed-up for self-imposed restraint at
https://simchainitiative.org/ only addresses part of it.
Thoughts? B'H for simchos? This needs to be addressed? It's a problem we can live with (See poll)