This show makes me sick.

Something most people who are posting here forget is that these lavish weddings provide a huge amount of work and income for many, many people, who otherwise wouldn't be able to pay their bills. I work in this industry and participated in the planning of a 3.5 million dollar wedding several years ago. I, too, was initially disgusted by the seemingly pointless and ostentatious display of wealth; that is until I realized that hundreds of designers, cooks, seamstresses, venue managers, servers, bartenders, bussers, florists, truck drivers, bakers, and on and on..., would be able to pay their rent and fill their cars with gas because of that wedding. I think most casual observers of these lavish affairs forget that.

"jealous?" please. some of these folks aren't even spending their own money; nothing to be jealous about there. that being said, people should spend their money any way they want to. and we can choose to watch them do it or not. i'm certainly not going to rain on anyone's wedding day. but i can't stand couples that don't foot their own bill, are oblivious to (or knowingly exploitative of) their parents' love and willingness to do whatever they want, and are then unabashed in their quest to show off. it just disgusts me.

Spoiled Brat Syndrome aside, i think a lot of folks' negative reactions are more geared towards the fact that the lavishness, excessiveness, and, let's face it, blatant flaunting of wealth are just signs that some of these people, their families and the circles they move in are used to living with these vices; they embrace them as their birthright, their reward for being so wonderful and exclusive. People who are not so wealthy have very predictable reactions (right?) and we may think that they have no social awareness or feel no responsibility to fellow citizens to level the playing field for all, as it were.

the instinct to feel like they are rubbing the collective face of Joe Sixpack America is a natural one. but attacking them by holding up the social banners of child hunger, schools in Africa etc etc is a little hypocritical. after all, almost every american has it quite a lot better than most of the rest of the world. every one of you who attack these couples has at some point changed the channel when another plea to give $10 a month to another Organization comes on. you still consume and throw away way too much food. you still don't have solar panels on your roof for anything but hot water, a convenience that much of the third world does not have. you still drive when you could walk. almost 50% of you didn't even bother to vote. there's a patch of plastic in the Pacific the size of Texas and you still throw away your Diet Pepsi bottle instead of recycling.

just do what YOU feel is right. if you don't like the way these couples get married, don't watch. and don't complain about their money - even if they did understand how the rest of us feel their money would never go where YOU want it to go. Those dollars are lost dollars. Forget about them.

An interesting discussion! While I can completely understand the opinion of the original poster, I'd like to offer a different perspective. My sister is a florist whose main income comes from weddings. Instead of thinking that all of the money spent on these elaborate weddings are just being wasted, I would suggest that it's going into the pockets of some very hardworking wedding vendors in order to support their families. In fact, in the case of my sister, when she has more expensive and demanding orders to fill she often hires more people to help her out.

Also, as we are not privy to these couples' tax returns we don't know about their levels of charitable giving or even their possible volunteer work. The show only profiles big weddings and not the daily lives of the couples. I can't criticize or judge as I know that my 'disposable' income is often spent on me (ahhh...shoes!) and not given to the homeless shelter. (I would argue though that when I'm buying shoes I'm contributing to the employees of the department stores, the shoe designers and their workers and all the middlemen along the way.)

People are free to spend whatever they want on their wedding, or for anything for that matter. Yes, it is an obscene, flagrant, selfish display, but that is also their choice and their right. Lots of people with money (and some without) think that displaying wealth is a sign of, what, class? I personally think it's a sign of poor judgment but again, their money, their choice.

One of the worst attitudes I ever saw on Platinum (or was it My Big, Fat...) was a very young girl - she was of Asian descent, he was African-American - who cared not whit what her father was spending, she was worth it, etc. No judgment, no sense, an absolute brat. Her wedding cost a million.

Go platinum, ladies and gents, if you wish. Just don't expect me to sit back and drool at such wastrel, pretentious behavior. Nothing to admire there.

I can't watch the show, either, as longas there are starving people in this world. Yes, the show is pretty to look at. And yes, you have the 'legal' right to spend a million dollars on your wedding. There is nothing wrong with it. But there is also nothing right with it. The most troublesome aspect for me: MOST of the couples comment that they want this to be the grandest wedding their friends have ever seen. That seems terribly silly. One couple so far has mentioned that they want to spoil their friends and family. I can stomach that one a little better. Should my children want a wedding like that, even if they can afford it, I would be dissapointed.

what is wrong with an expensive wedding? if you have the money and you want your wedding to be nice then spend it. mine is going to be a platinum wedding and there is nothing wrong with that. girls dream about their wedding since they are little and it is their day and it should be what ever they want. they should go all out on it. go big or go home.