Noting the sharply increasing costs of weddings, marriage advocates have begun to urge couples to be less extravagant in their nuptial celebrations for the good of their relationships.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ran a survey early this year with a law firm that looked at reasons for not marrying, and the top reason for men was the cost of the wedding,\u201d said Harry Benson, an official with the U.K.-based think tank The Marriage Foundation.<\/p>\n
Benson said that the average price for the event in the United Kingdom is around $30,000, according to wedding magazines. Such expenses, he told CNA in a June 13 interview, are \u201cdefinitely a barrier\u201d to getting married.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the celebrities have set the bar very, very high with all these hyped-up, high profile, highly photographed weddings, very extravagant events.\u201d When couples want the \u201cbig, dream wedding,\u201d he added, \u201coften it\u2019s very unrealistic.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Marriage Foundation was recently established by British judge Paul Coleridge, an expert in family law. Having seen a \u201cstream of human misery pass through his doors,\u201d Coleridge decided to launch the charity to promote strong marriages, Benson said.<\/p>\n
Part of the promotion of strong marriages, he believes, is focusing more on the marriage than on the wedding.<\/p>\n
Melissa Naasko, a Michigan-based wife, mother, and blogger at Dyno-mom, agrees. \u201cIf I was going to give a bride advice, it would be to focus more on the marriage and less on the wedding,\u201d she told CNA June 12.<\/p>\n
Naasko advocates celebrations that won\u2019t break the budget and put burdensome financial stress on the married couple. She recalled planning the wedding of one of her friends a year ago, helping keep the cost reasonable.<\/p>\n
When her friend got engaged, the first piece of advice she gave her was \u201cnever ever, ever buy a bridal magazine\u2026because they\u2019re all geared just to sell stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnytime you pick up a bridal magazine, they\u2019re at least 60 percent ads. You\u2019ll look and see that all the articles in it are sponsored articles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Avoiding wedding magazines \u2013 and shows such as \u201cSay Yes to the Dress\u201d \u2013 helps brides to \u201cpay attention more to what their friends and their family are saying, and it becomes more about the people and less about the stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing wrong with having smaller weddings,\u201d Naasko urged. \u201cAnd the marriage obviously is the most important part of a wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut one of the reasons it\u2019s a social event, is because it\u2019s the public aspect of our lives. Making the wedding itself about people always makes it less expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not being influenced \u201cby all the propaganda that surrounds the wedding mystique,\u201d will ultimately benefit the couple, Naasko reflected.<\/p>\n
Catholic commentator Matt Archbold added to the discussion in a blog post for the National Catholic Register May 19, noting that \u201cbig weddings\u2026might just be causing heartbreak, damaging society, and hurting people\u2019s faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being engaged for more than a year, saving up the money to splurge on the big day, can put couples in a precarious moral situation, often involving cohabitation, which in turn is linked to higher rates of divorce.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dream of the lavish Hollywood style wedding is not only ridiculous but harmful to one\u2019s faith and society in general,\u201d Archbold wrote.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Read more.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some are making the argument that, when it comes to the big day itself, less is more:\u00a0 Noting the sharply increasing costs of weddings, marriage advocates have begun to urge couples to be less extravagant in their nuptial celebrations for the good of their relationships. \u201cWe ran a survey early this year with a law […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[11180],"class_list":["post-23973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marriage","tag-marriage"],"yoast_head":"\n
Are Expensive Weddings Hurting Marriage?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some are making the argument that, when it comes to the big day itself, less is more:\u00a0 Noting the sharply increasing costs of weddings, marriage advocates\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/are-expensive-weddings-hurting-marriage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are Expensive Weddings Hurting Marriage?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some are making the argument that, when it comes to the big day itself, less is more:\u00a0 Noting the sharply increasing costs of weddings, marriage advocates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/are-expensive-weddings-hurting-marriage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-16T12:27:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-30T20:03:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2013\/06\/wedding-tree-decorations-575x394.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/are-expensive-weddings-hurting-marriage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/are-expensive-weddings-hurting-marriage\/\",\"name\":\"Are Expensive Weddings Hurting Marriage?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-16T12:27:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-30T20:03:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\"},\"description\":\"Some are making the argument that, when it comes to the big day itself, less is more:\u00a0 Noting the sharply increasing costs of weddings, marriage advocates\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/are-expensive-weddings-hurting-marriage\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/are-expensive-weddings-hurting-marriage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/are-expensive-weddings-hurting-marriage\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Are Expensive Weddings Hurting Marriage?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\",\"name\":\"The Deacon's Bench\",\"description\":\"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\",\"name\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Are Expensive Weddings Hurting Marriage?","description":"Some are making the argument that, when it comes to the big day itself, less is more:\u00a0 Noting the sharply increasing costs of weddings, marriage advocates","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/are-expensive-weddings-hurting-marriage\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Are Expensive Weddings Hurting Marriage?","og_description":"Some are making the argument that, when it comes to the big day itself, less is more:\u00a0 Noting the sharply increasing costs of weddings, marriage advocates","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/are-expensive-weddings-hurting-marriage\/","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2013-06-16T12:27:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-30T20:03:35+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2013\/06\/wedding-tree-decorations-575x394.jpg"}],"author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deacon Greg Kandra","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/are-expensive-weddings-hurting-marriage\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/are-expensive-weddings-hurting-marriage\/","name":"Are Expensive Weddings Hurting Marriage?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-06-16T12:27:38+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-30T20:03:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970"},"description":"Some are making the argument that, when it comes to the big day itself, less is more:\u00a0 Noting the sharply increasing costs of weddings, marriage advocates","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/are-expensive-weddings-hurting-marriage\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/are-expensive-weddings-hurting-marriage\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/06\/are-expensive-weddings-hurting-marriage\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Are Expensive Weddings Hurting Marriage?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23973\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/56\/2013\/06\/wedding-tree-decorations.jpg\" "\\"wedding-tree-decorations\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n