JEDDAH — Many couples dream of having the perfect wedding night that will be remembered for a long time. Newlywed couples plan for a big wedding night in a fancy hall, inviting as many people as possible and making sure that the food is the best. That is not to forget the wedding singers, flowers and special decorations. This requires a lot of money, but newlyweds starting their life in a job with a modest salary tend to forget that taking out loans to pay for a lavish wedding night will land them in deep trouble. A victim of this problem is Faisal Al-Amoudi, a Saudi man married for five years now. He said he was dreaming of a wedding night to be remembered for a long time. He and his bride were thinking of making their wedding night so perfect that none of their friends would be able to top them. He took out a large loan from the bank, borrowed money from his friends and bought and sold cars on installments thinking he would be able to pay the huge debt in no time. He said: “Life became very difficult, especially after we had our first child. “My biggest mistake was to do something that would impress my friends and I ended up suffering for five years until now. “I receive threats from the bank each time I fail to pay an installment.” He added that his friends whom he borrowed money from also call him every day asking to be paid back. “I thought of getting another loan to pay my friends but that is digging a deeper hole under my feet. “My wedding night was something to remember; yes, but I remember how stupid I was when I did it. “My friends whom I was trying to impress with my wedding night forgot about how beautiful the wedding was in two days but I am still paying for it.” Hadeel Gasadi, a mother of four, said she did not want a night to remember and wanted a simple wedding because she did not want to start her life with heavy debts. She said: “I managed to convince my husband to just organize a simple wedding night, but the problem was that the wedding coordinator brainwashed him into paying for a lot more than I wanted. “Without consulting me, he took out a large loan to pay for flowers, decorations, gifts and many other things. “The problem now is he is still paying back the loan after so many years and that has caused problems in our life because we are continuing to fight about who is to blame.” Fares Ghaleb, a newlywed Saudi, gave the choice to his wife either to have a huge wedding to remember and suffer from being in debt for the following four years or to have a simple wedding, a nice honeymoon and live a life after that without debt. He said: "Some people may think that I am stingy for not having a huge wedding. “In reality I have seen others committing this mistake and suffering for years to come and some of these marriages ended in divorce because of debts. “That is why I gave my wife this choice. She was smart enough to choose a simple wedding. “Now I am living a peaceful life without any financial problems.” Dr. Majed Qansh, family consultant, said a marriage needs stability. “This may not happen when someone starts his marriage life with debts. “Starting a marriage with debts carries many problems and the main one is the lack of stability.” He said it would cause the husband a lot of stress because he will be constantly worrying about how to pay his debts. “This has a knock-on effect on the wife. “The husband may get angry with his wife because he will see her as the source of this problem. “These problems at the end may lead to divorce or abuse.”
