When it comes to the bedrock of a long and happy marriage, it seems the rock on the bride's finger weighs heavy on your chances of success.
Diamonds may well be forever, but the bigger the sparkle of the ice on the engagement ring, the more likely the lustre of love will end in divorce. That’s according to a pair of economists in Emory University in Atlanta, whose study concluded that the more lavish the ceremony, the more the precious couple will have wish they signed a pre-nup.
Andrew Francis and Hugo Mialon, the researchers, questioned more than 3,000 married people in the US, excluding same-sex couples, respondents over 60, and – perhaps rather wisely – anyone who finished the survey in less than two minutes and didn’t consistently know the age of their spouse.
Weddings are big business in the US, where revenues for tulle gowns and three-tiered cakes are this year expected to top $50bn (€40bn), and a ceremony can prove extremely costly to couples.
“The wedding industry has grown substantially throughout the 20th century in part due to the rise of consumerism and industry efforts to commodify love and romance,” the research team said. Bridal magazines were singled out for their role in pushing “the necessity of a lavish wedding for a fairytale marriage.”
Significantly, the study found that when it comes to the popping the question, spending more on an engagement ring is also linked to shorter marriages. The average engagement ring costs almost €2000.
The statistics say that a more austere approach to getting hitched will be better for marital longevity; couples who spend $20,000 on tying the knot – not accounting for the ring – are 46% more likely than average to end up divorced. Fork over $10,000 to $20,000 and that falls to 29%, while the couples who manage to wed on a budget of less than $1,000 are 53% more likely to last.
(Image: MarketWatch)
The paper suggests that the financial burden associated with the fairytale wedding leads to the kind of stress that splits couples up. Randal Olson, a PhD student crunched the numbers, and found that brides who part with more than $20,000 to achieve the perfect day are 3.5 times more likely to end up back on the market.
“In other words, Bridezilla equals Divorcezilla,” Olson says. “Don’t let advertisers fool you into spending your life savings on your wedding.”
The statistically skewered news, however, is that while a cheap ceremony is better in the long run, the fewer guests that attend the service, the worse it is. Weddings with fewer than 10 guests are 35% more likely to split. Couples whose wedding toast was made by more than 200 attendees were a whopping 92% less likely to divorce – even more so when that toast was buttered sliced-pan bought wholesale.
And couples who pray together stay together, as couples attending religious services were 42% more likely to still be wedded into the next life. For those looking for paradise back on Earth, spending on a honeymoon also improved a union’s chances, while being more interested in your partner’s looks and wealth was a one-way ticket to divorcé(e) speed dating.
At the end of the day, the researchers say it comes down to couples understanding the meaning of their means; romance may be the spark that lights the flame, but if we pile all the fuel onto the fire at the start, it might well just burn out too soon.
(H/T: MarketWatch)
