In my experience, weddings costly

I can understand MJ Wedding Planner’s concern (Feedback,

October 3) over my earlier letter regarding the cost of weddings and wish to assure her that I was not intending to threaten her livelihood.

I agree with most of what she says but take exception to her suggestion that I have little experience of weddings and marriages. I was a pageboy at an uncle’s lavish wedding in 1946 which I suspect was some time before she was even born.

My uncle spent all his demob grant plus a lot more on the wedding. It lasted four years.

I have been to many family and friends’ weddings and, of course, have knowledge of many others through the workplace, friends and neighbours.

The whole point of my letter was that you do not have to spend a vast sum of money to get married if you can’t afford it. MJ quotes a wedding costing

£4000 as if it is an insignificant sum. Tell that to people who are trying to arrange a simple funeral to bury loved ones.

If you have £100,000 to spend on a wedding then go ahead but don’t then complain because you cannot afford a mortgage to buy a home.

One last word came from my daughter when she read my letter. Many people are scared to receive an invite to a lavish wedding as they themselves can incur a large debt with the cost of extended stag and hen parties, wedding outfits, travel, hotel costs and gifts.

She has a lot experience of this in the circles she moves in. BRIAN TAYLOR, North Shields