Beech Tree News Network

One of my granddaughters recently married, causing me to think about weddings. These occasions can be expensive or inexpensive, casual or formal, private or well-attended. Though weddings may be one of life’s milestones, the statistics surrounding the ceremony can be entertaining.

 First, I read a recent Sound Vision article that provided the following wedding statistics (https://www.soundvision.com/article/wedding-statistics-in-the-united-states):

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Every year 2.3 million couples wed in the U.S.

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The average age of a bride in the U.S. is 25.3.

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The average age of a groom is 26.9.

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The average number of guests invited to a wedding is 178.

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One-third of those getting married each year have been married before.

Traditionally, the father of the bride paid for the wedding. Today, however, with the cost of weddings on the rise, a Bride's magazine survey found that the bride and groom themselves pay for the wedding about 30 % of the time, and the bride's parents pay about 17 % of the time. As for the rest of the time, costs are covered by different sources -- the bride and groom and one or both sets of parents. The Sound Vision article also reported that about 99 % of newlyweds take a honeymoon, and the average couple spends three times more on their honeymoon than a regular vacation.

Similarly, Nick Morpus also wrote an article in 2017 that included twelve wedding statistics (https://blog.capterra.com/12-useful-wedding-statistics-all-planners-need...). Two of these statistics were new to me. The author reported that the “average engagement time (between ‘yes’ and ‘I do’) is a year and a half.” He also found that “couples who spent more than $20k on their weddings have higher divorce rates than those who spend less.”

Finally, Susan Breslow Sardone’s recent article about wedding and honeymoon-related facts included the following statistics (https://www.tripsavvy.com/wedding-statistics-and-honeymoon-facts-1860546):

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99 % of grooms do the proposing.

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3 out of 4 couples live together before getting married.

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13% of engagements do not end in a wedding.

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3% of brides intend to sign a prenuptial agreement.

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80% of brides plan to change their name after marriage.

Glennon Doyle Melton advised, “Young people: marry simply, start your life, and party later….Invest in your marriage, not your wedding” (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/wedding). Weddings certainly mark a lifestyle change. Nonetheless, I agree with Melton. While some money should be spent on the wedding, marriage is the more important investment – regardless of the statistics.