I got nothing... I married my wife six years ago on a wing and a prayer... my long time pastor/church married us at no charge (I could and did offer to pay him)
But I hear you about the "predatory" thing... ours was super small group of family and friends... but we still wanted flowers... walk into a florist and say the word "wedding" and their eyes get real big and A little bit of drool starts running out the corner of their mouth.
Then there is the price tag on the dress she will only wear once.
And lets not forget (not on you but) the "ring"
my wife said she would rather spend the money on the honeymoon so we went cubic zirconia... that turned out to be junk but gave us time to find a nice small but ornate antique diamond ring at an estate sale.