>And I ask, why? This couple had been living together
for FIVE YEARS!<
Wrong Sherlock!They had only known each other a couple of years.She had moved her stuff into the home that week in preparation for the wedding.
A large wedding in the south does not automaticly transmit to large expense.John is a youth leader in a church with a average youth attendance of 150 students per Sunday.His father is the former Mayor of the city and the girls family are prominent in the fire and police force of Gainesville Ga.(45 minutes up the road)They were probably having a reception rather than a sit down dinner.
Come on - 15 bridesmaids? Six hundred guests? She must fancy herself a princess.
That isn't a problem. However, if she was living with him for the week before the wedding (do we really know she wasn't sleeping there?) - I would think he would be severely conflicted and feeling guilty because of his role of leadership at the church. He would know this is wrong for him. By leading the youth, he is held to a stricter standard and needs to avoid any appearance of evil. The fact that so many assume they were shacking up before the wedding leads me to believe they weren't careful enough to avoid the appearance. He said himself that she was commuting to her job now, implying she was staying with him.
Just another angle of issues he may be dealing with personally.
Sorry..but I heard on the news that they had lived
together for 5 years. Don't know them personally,
but since you do, I'll take your word for it.