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You’re not the only one spending fewer summer weekends watching other people get married—but don’t worry, the weddings you’re still invited to might feel a little more special these days.
Fewer Americans are getting married, and the ones who still are have scaled back their weddings. Their nuptials are becoming smaller, though not necessarily cheaper, affairs.
Many couples are waiting longer and longer to schedule their weddings. In 2015, the median first-time American bride was almost 28 years old and the median groom almost 30, according to the most recent data available from the Census Bureau. (Ten years earlier, the typical bride was 25.5, the typical groom 27.)
The U.S. marriage rate—the number of new marriages per 1,000 people—has been falling for decades. It fell especially fast during the recession, in 2008 and 2009, but there’s little evidence that people started getting married again even as the economy recovered. And research firm IbisWorld predicts the marriage rate will keep falling over the next five years.
From a global perspective, that wouldn’t be a surprise. The U.S. marriage rate would need to fall by about a third to reach the marriage rates in other developed countries. The most recent data show a U.S. marriage rate of 6.9, compared with an average rate of 4.6 for countries in the European Union.
Are weaker economics the cause, or has marriage gone out of fashion?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 30 2017, @06:44PM (6 children)
Low cost shouldn't be an embarrassment. It should be something to be proud of. Embarrassment is what you should get from living together unmarried. What has gone wrong in your values??? You're also throwing away the easier and safer half of the woman's fertility; some have difficulty conceiving at 28 and the risk of defects goes way up.
I was dirt cheap, and I mostly wish I'd been even cheaper.
We rented a cheap place. I think it was something like a VfW or Knights of Columbus hall. There was no alcohol. We didn't hire a photographer. We did get a "proper" wedding dress and cake. We did pot luck because my father-in-law somehow thought that it would be less embarrassing than pizza. I let my father-in-law be the DJ, leading to an unwelcome surprise Jewish blessing.
Fixes: Get pizza. Get an angelfood cake instead of the standard tasteless foofy nonsense. Get a plain cheap ordinary white dress that won't drag on the ground. Ask my uncle to bring his camera; the in-laws are worse photographers than wild baboons are. Consider hiring a DJ.
So, with or without the fixes, that was a few hundred dollars in 1999. To compare, I suppose it was: 2 days of pay for me (beginning software developer), 6 days of pay for minimum wage, or 1 day of pay for an experienced software developer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 30 2017, @06:48PM (4 children)
Why? Not participating in some social ritual is not necessarily embarrassing to a rational person. Why not just do a rain dance instead of getting married and then pretend that that's your version of marriage?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 30 2017, @10:22PM (3 children)
Whether it is a homosexual couple, or any of the myriad of poly relationships, there are tons of nontraditional family units that can't get a wedding. And if you look at how messy and common divorces are, you might better understand why more people aren't getting married. It is less embarassing being a single mom out of wedlock for many today than it is to be a divorcee. And many women now are even going the AI or one night stand route to pregnancy so they can have a child early without holding the man responsible (bad idea for the man in case she ever requests financial aid from the government, but so long as she doesn't, nor demand child support/identify him as the father, good for her!)
(Score: 3, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Monday July 31 2017, @05:48AM
There's nothing really nice about it. But in our world -- with the long courts and with the vicious lawyers, and with all of the problems -- if you have money or if you think you're going to have money, you have to have a prenuptial agreement. A prenup is an ugly instrument. It’s a hard, painful, ugly tool. Believe me, there’s nothing fun about it, but you'd better have one. There comes a time when you have to say, "Darling, I think you’re magnificent, and I care for you deeply, but if things don’t work out, this is what you’re going to get." Prenups have made my marriages stronger. If I didn't have mine, I would not own all these beautiful buildings. 🇺🇸
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday July 31 2017, @07:18PM
And many women now are even going the AI or one night stand route to pregnancy so they can have a child early without holding the man responsible (bad idea for the man in case she ever requests financial aid from the government,
My understanding is that for AI, they can't do this; sperm donors have legal protection from this. One-night stands, however, do not. Keep it wrapped.
I've heard about a ton of women around my age going the AI route; it really makes me worry. I was raised by a single mom, and it really wasn't the greatest experience. I guess it's better than growing up in an abusive household or something, but I think it's bad to deprive kids of seeing a loving adult relationship, and to get too used to being home alone and seeing singledom as normal. On top of that, many of these women are still looking for men to date; having a kid by yourself will immediately kill most of your chances on the dating market, so they're shooting themselves in the foot IMO on that front.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 01 2017, @01:51PM
Yea, I was hearing that Deep Blue has been getting around lately now that chess is out and Go is in and he has more time to socialize. Good for him.
(Score: -1, Troll) by fakefuck39 on Monday July 31 2017, @04:25AM
you're really showing your white trash blue collar. you haven't had the good things in life, so you make up facts about them to convince yourself they're bad. let me guess - you think expensive wine tastes the same as woodbridge too, but in your life you've had one glass of the good stuff after you were already drunk.
why a band instead of a dj? because a band is a show, a dj is a douche. no moron, angelfood cake is what is tasteless - the big hand-crafted cake is not only delicious, but pleasant to look at - a show. The wedding dress that drags on the ground is a show. The wedding ceremony is a show. You go to a show because it's pretty and memorable, and different and glamorous. your wedding was an average wednesday that no one will remember. if you don't want a show, have a gathering of friends at your house and chat over a pizza while vlc is on shuffle. just don't call it a wedding.
as far as you being embarrassed by living together unmarried - that should have been last. it sums up perfectly your loser bland uncolorful cardboard existence. but nigga please, don't try to validate yourself by passing off your mistake of a life to the rest of us as the proper example. if you want a wedding, have what us normal people actually call a wedding and a memorable beautiful event, or just don't have a wedding and go get your papers signed at city hall, then have some friends over to hang and congratulate you. When I want steak, I'm going to get a nice rare steak. If I can't afford that, I'm not going to go for shitty veiny tendon and fat Denny's hockey puck. I'll just have a delicious hot dog. Both options are fine. A compromise between a hot dog and a steak is not - we'd end up with your life, and no one in their right mind would want that.