Can you afford to attend all the weddings you're invited to this year?

After receiving a few semi-aggressive inbox messages from a friend of a family member inquiring about whether or not she is invited to our wedding, we recently had to let her know that she will not be receiving an invitation. At first, I felt terrible for not being able to invite her. Then I read up on the latest statistics on how much wedding guests spend on each wedding they attend and I felt alot better about our decision.

She should thank us. We saved her wallet!

Earlier this month, American Express released a survey stating that wedding guests can expect to spend an average of $539 for each wedding they attend in 2013. That's a hefty increase of $200 from last year. A huge portion of this amount goes towards travel expenses, a new outfit and accessories for those aiming to be the most fashionable guest in the building, and the purchase of a wedding gift.

Spending that type of cash per wedding adds up, but it's a consequence of having friends at the average marrying age who are, well, getting married all in the same year!

These figures surprised me. I've been so consumed with making sure that the Mister and I stay within a healthy budget that it never occurred to me that our invited guests share similar challenges.

My curiosity led me to poll my Facebook friends to find out how many weddings they were attending this year. The highest count came in at four. I thought that was an excessive amount until I read about this guy. If Jeremy Wallace were an actual real person, he would get a "Friend of the Year" award. The fictitious story alleges that he has spent every weekend for the past three years attending weddings! Whoa. What about this guy? Poor Christopher Sledzik. CNN reported that he spent over $10K during a whirlwind wedding season in 2012. Yikes!

Chime in, readers. Are you on course to beat Jeremy Wallace's record? Or are you racking up debt like Christopher Sledzik trying to keep up with the wedding goer Joneses? How many weddings do you have lined up this season?