You may say, “Well technically, the bride’s family is supposed to pay for the wedding.” Yes. TECHNICALLY. But does that always happen? No. Even if it did, would that young couple be better off starting with $30,000 that they could use for a down payment on a new home? How about spending that money on a mid-sized car? What about just having $30,000 in the bank in a world where 64% of Americans say they live “paycheck-to-paycheck?”
Of course, it could be worse than just spending $30,000, which could make a huge difference in getting your marriage off to a good start. An awful lot of Americans actually GO INTO DEBT to pay for their weddings:
Unfortunately, many couples start their wedding planning assuming they can keep costs under control. But a 2019 study by LendingTree found that 45% of newlyweds went into debt for their wedding.
This is particularly ironic because (depending on which statistics you believe), somewhere between 40-50% of all marriages end in divorce.
[There has been a kind of lifestyle inflation impacting weddings, proms, and other formal rite-of-passage events over the last couple of decades. A fun movie about that impulse is “Keeping Up with the Steins” about a bar mitzvah, although it’s also about family and faith too. Steve Martin’s “Father of the Bride” is even more on point, although that wedding came in ten times the amount John mentions here. Rather than keep those expenses in perspective, consumerism has gripped all of them and imposed expectations that can be financially ruinous. — Ed]
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