My fiancee and I don't spend money frivolously. I make great money, but I drive a Subaru, buy my clothes at Kohls, don't eat out a lot, etc. We're really not into designer anythings, or spend a lot of money on stuff we don't need. I know people who make half what I make and have houses twice as big and drive 5 series BMWs. We're pretty good about money, for me, I work hard now so that I don't have to later (IE; I want to retire sooner than later). We're actually having a pretty low budget wedding, but I blew most of my liquid cash on the down payment for my house a few months ago. I put plenty away right out of my paycheck into 401k/Roth, so my take home, even if I DID spend it all, still wouldn't be dipping into retirement, college funds, or emergency funds. I am fully vested at the company I work with and put it almost 20% of my paycheck between my 401k and Roth, and my company matches 7% up to 10k a year which I'm contributing well over. Our wedding is going to be under $10k, which is relatively cheap for most people (where I'm from anyway).

The good news is, my house is already valued at 50k more than I bought it for, as we bought at the bottom of the market in our area. I waited and waited and waited to buy a house until the right time, and feel like we got a steal for the neighborhood we bought into.

My father was founder and CEO of a truckline out of Minnesota for his whole life, and despite that, he still doesn't spend more than $10 on a shirt or pair of jeans. He raised me well, and taught me how to make a lot of money, but not spend any of it.

Any cash we get from the wedding will go into savings, or maybe towards a honey moon. We don't even have a honey moon planned because we are both stingy and don't want to spend the money on it right away. :)

Saving come first! I don't want to work my whole life. But I totally get what you are saying. Many people spend too frivolously this day in age and it's kind of sickening. I'm a manager, and people who work FOR me have nicer cars, houses, and things than I do... but I could care less. That's not what I'm working for.