Name: Meredith Miller
Age: 25
Location: Los Angeles
Profession: Sales Rep, Fabric Designer

Last July, Meredith Miller spent $600 on a plane ticket, $150 on a rental car, $250 for hotel room and another $80 on gifts, all for her high school friend Isabel's bachelorette party. She had a blast reuniting with old friends — a good thing, considering Meredith was more than $1,000 in the hole, and the main event was still months away. No relief there, either: $800 to travel to a bucolic Vermont setting, $200 for a night in a hotel and $250 for the bridesmaid dress, an ivory Vera Wang she'll likely never wear again. "My whole shock with friends getting married is not only the wedding, but all of the additional events surrounding it: the shower, the engagement party, the bachelorette party, " she says.

If the Vermont nuptials had been a one-off, Meredith could have justified the bill. Instead, it was just one of four weddings she attended in 2009, with two more on tap this year. And, invited to be a bridesmaid in all of them, she never considered saying No — not to the engagement party in Palm Springs, not to the bachelorette party on the beach in New York, and certainly not to the ceremony in Cabo San Lucas. For all the joy of celebrating with so many best friends, there's the sunken feeling of going broke after standing by at the alter at all of them.

"Personally I'm freaking about my finances," Meredith says. "I've used all of the money I would normally have set aside for taxes. I've also had to have my parents help. I spent about $1000 extra a month to pay for it all."

At least most of her closest friends are now married or about to be, so Meredith doesn't foresee any more wedding-related expenditures after next year. And those memories will live forever — or at least as long as Meredith's credit card bills. "I'll be paying all this off for years to come," she says. "Until I finally get married, probably."

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