It is widely accepted that little girls fantasize about their own wedding and meet Prince Charming. Embarrassingly, I actually dressed up as a bride for Halloween when I was 5 (white dress, veil, fake bouquet…horrible).
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| Yeah, it was something like this. |
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| Jon and Kate minus 8 |
Couples are willing to start their new lives together completely in debt perhaps because spending money on the most important day(s) of your life is more important than financial stability with your lifetime partner. Bridal magazines contribute, but the over-exposure of celebrity weddings doesn’t help.
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| Brad and Jen (I'm still on Team Aniston) |
I remember watching a VH1 show about lives of the rich and famous, which covered celebrity weddings in an episode. Famous couples and their wedding planners were interviewed and explained how they “fell in love”, but mainly about the wedding planning process, and costs. They discussed in detail their image of the perfect day, how their wedding planner made that image into a reality, and how much money it cost. They say their weddings are a couple million dollars like its nothing, but I guess you can never spend too much on the “most important day of your life”.
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| Is it me, or does Nick Lachey look pretty unsure..... |
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| Example #1 |
Specifically I remember the interviews of loving and enduring couples such as: Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro, Marc Anthony and former Ms.Universe: Dyanara Torres, Jamie Lynn Sigler and A.J. Discala, among others, Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz. Needless to say, they threw really expensive parties, and are going to have more than 1 “most important day of their life.”
The main focus of the show was on the material aspects such as the reception, flowers, and of course, the dress. There are entire shows dedicated to wedding dresses. These multi-million dollar weddings became the example of what the perfect wedding should be, and what everyone else down here in the 99% are willing to go into debt for. Brides want that exclusive location in Napa Valley, the Vera Wang dress with Swarovski crystals, diamonds for party favors, you name it. The problem is most of us don’t have the equivalent of a down payment on a house to pay for a dress that will be worn once. Husbands become second to the dress, as the bride is the complete focus of the day. All you have to look at are the covers of magazines. In many, the cover is just of the bride, the husband, love and marriage are an afterthought.
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| Example #2 |
A wedding should be a celebration of couples who potentially will not kill each other after 50 years. Many stay with their partners because divorce lawyers are a pain in the ass. Weddings have become the equivalent of a party in which only one person is allowed to wear a white dress. During all the planning commotion, couples may forget that marriage is a government institution, and the couple are now legally linked, and pay taxes together accordingly. Changing your name isn’t just something cute that goes along with love and marriage, all legal documents for the rest of their lives reflect that name (if they so choose to take their husbands name), and to change it back is another pain in the ass. Love and consummation are not factors in making a wedding “legal”, as I could marry my gay best friend tomorrow and no one would ask questions.
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| If Heidi Klum and Seal can't make it, then no one can |
Celebrities are infamous for their quick weddings, and divorces. Perhaps the reason for this is because they can afford to pay for both a wedding and a lawyer more than once. Money doesn’t buy happiness, but the wedding industry would like you to think otherwise.
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| She can now afford several weddings, and divorces. |
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