A lot of people can get carried away with wedding planning and sometimes spend more than their means. Desiring God founder John Piper believes Christians have a responsibility to practise financial wisdom and keep God as the main point when planning their wedding so as to avoid the "sad" pressure of overspending.
He writes on his blog post that couples can get so wrapped up with expensive clothing, entertainment, and fancy food that they forget "the Christ-exalting meaning of marriage, the awesome importance of the vows, [and] the preciousness of the people, the lovers."
Whenever couples spend so much money on flowers, the location, music, and clothing, they inadvertently make the act of coming before God at the start of the marriage seem like "an incidental prelude to the big, fancy party afterwards," says Piper.
There is nothing wrong with couples wanting to add special touches to their wedding, he says, just as long as they can afford it. More importantly, they have to keep their focus on the joy of their union and on God.
"But of course, this is not an attack on joy. Just the opposite," clarifies Piper. "Godly poor people regularly have more joy than rich people. There is no correlation between expensive and joyful — none. Unless it is this: more expensive means more hassle, more stress, more distraction — less joyful."
At the same time, Piper is pleading with pastors to help keep the service, Gospel, vows, and God as the main attraction of the wedding.
"Besides pastors who lead on this, we need young people with backbone and radical Christian courage to stand against a culture and show what truth and beauty and joy can look like at one fourth the cost and one fourth the anxieties and one fourth the stress — and double the focus on the glory of Christ and the advancement of his kingdom," he said.
