We got married after a quite few years of diligent saving when neither of us were earning very much. Family helped out here and there. Generally we tried to keep the cost of the wedding reasonable so that we could afford a decent honeymoon. It was 2 weeks in the Maldives which might sound extravagant but at that time the cost was no where near what it is nowadays and we could only do it because of some serious saving over a long period of time. After the Honeymoon we came home happy that we owed nothing. Everything was saved and paid for. It may not have been an extravagant wedding but everyone enjoyed it (except for the photos, I have never been to a wedding where someone hasn't complained about waiting around while the photo are being done) and the guy who run the mobile bar said it was the first wedding he had done where there wasn't a fight. We have had issues, serious issues, but we got through it and are together and happy.
The problem that I see is that many younger people are under the illusion that the quality of their married life together is defined by the grandness of their wedding, that somehow the wedding will fix the problems that exist in the relationship. The amount of very plush and expensive weddings that I have been to that have ended in divorce not very long after is just not funny anymore.