worlds going white...and its not snow

It’s that time of my life. Everywhere I turn someone else is getting married, or has just gotten married or wants to get married. I don’t use the term “everywhere I turn” lightly as I found out this morning, while eavesdropping on a phone conversation, that the guy who sits opposite me at work recently got engaged.
I received a group-mail from a good friend who is moving to Hong Kong, where her boyfriend is currently residing. The reply-all responses were mostly “marriage is around the corner” implications. Is there no shame in applying this sort of pressure to a couple?
I’m a bit of an anti-traditionalist. I’m just inclined to ask, “Where has the magic gone?” Not unlike the commercialisation of Christmas and Easter and other holidays, it seems to me that weddings are a big taffeta and flower infused headache right from the engagement until the couple drive away with tin cans jangling behind their marvellously trashed vehicle. I’m not discrediting the value of a grand celebration and I do believe it’s different strokes for different folks but, do couples do it for themselves or to please friends and family? My grandmother would probably cry into her ready-mixed marzipan if I was to axe the idea of a truly “big” day but surely that disappointment eases with time? Is it not enough that your offspring are truly content and no one has to sell their right kidney to pay for it?
I’m hoping I’m not forced to eat my words one day along with my big, ornately-iced fruitcake. I stand by the idea that the whole experience can be beautiful without the necessity of opulence and that the simple value found in commitment is enough to make it a cherished day.