Why do most people spend so much money on weddings only to get divorced later?

Back in the day weddings consisted of mainly of a celebration of friends and family; who helped the bride and groom. Family and friends helped the brides and grooms by sewing outfits, preparing the food for the reception, and helping by setting up the location of the event. Typically, a lot of brides chose to wear something that they had in their closet; mainly it was not white and worn again after they took their vows.  The purpose of a wedding has changed drastically; now it is all about a showcase for their guests. The concepts of a marriage use to be about a communal celebration that was for the creation of a new household; now it seems like everyone is trying to have an elaborate event that people can talk about for generations to come. The wedding industry has seemed to take over as a consumer rites business. It no longer celebrates a family coming together as one; it is now a business that proves to create a large amount of revenue off of its consumers. Spending $16,000 on a 2010 wedding reception is likely to be around average, Wedding Expo producer Brad Buckles said. And that is just the reception. (Kris Sherman The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash. “Brides-to-be in search of economical elegance. “McClatchy-Tribune Buinsess News. 03 Jan.2010) People need to get back into old school celebrations and be more wise about their spending when it comes to having a wedding. It does not have to be so costly when it comes to having a wedding especially when there are alternatives to getting what they need at a fraction of the cost.

        Spending $16,000 on just a reception is not a good way to start out a marriage during tough economic times like today.  The wedding industry has vastly shaped our way of thinking about a typical wedding. It promoted the commercialization of new traditions such as wedding rings, bridal salons, and gift registries. The industry have even introduced bridal shows in which it costs money to attend for chances of winning prizes that they could use towards the weddings of brides and grooms.  

       The media and the public can be obsessed with celebrity lifestyles, marriages, and divorces. Many big extravegant marriages are likely to lead to divorce. Take Kim Kardashians 72 day marriage, the estimated cost of her wedding was to exceed 10 million dollars. 138,888 dollars per day was the estimated cost of this marriage. This is the very reason why I want to help people money. With the divorce rate being so high its a shame some of these so called celebritity/artists spend all these millions of dollars on a wedding only to end up divorcing months or years later. To me that was a waste of money especially when there are starving and homeless people in the world who could've benefited with some sort of donation.

The Miami Dolphins wide receiver married Basketball Wives star Evelyn Lozada in an evening ceremony on the Caribbean island of St. Martin on Wednesday July 4,2012, and no detail went undocumented and I am sure no costs were spared.

It's been one heck of a week for Chad 'Ochocinco' Johnson -- and it's not going to get better any time soon, -- as RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned that despite the NFL star's desperation to win back his estranged wife, she will not be returning for a second round.

Radar online previously reported that Chad Johnson's personal issues started last weekend after he was arrested and booked on charges of domestic violence.Within 24-hours the Dancing with the Stars alum was dropped by his football team, The Miami Dolphins, then had his reality show, Ev & Ocho canceled by VH1, then had his alleged mistress spill details of an illicit affair that she claims went on up until weeks before his marriage and finally, had his wife of 41 days, Evelyn Lozada files for divorce. Wow what a heak of a week for Chad Johnson. 41 DAYS OF MARRIAGE GUYS WAKE UP!!!

This is the point I am making. Why spend all this money for just a show for the world to see if you are not truly in love with someone and desperately want to spend the rest of your life with that person. It just doesn't make sense.

The lavish formal wedding emerged as a cultural ideal by the 1950s in part because it embodied Cold

 War liberal values-the post war belief that democracy and capitalism were intertwined and that

communism, which threatened both, needed to be countered with government spending and force, if

necessary.

       The cost of a wedding often times stem from the traditional ways of the wedding; wedding

ceremonies, the dress, the ring, the wedding cake, and the wedding veil all have significant parts of

traditions from around the world. The wedding is one of life's primeval and surprisingly unchanged

rites of passage. Nearly all of the customs we observe today are merely echoes of the past. Everything

from the veil, rice, flowers, and old shoes, to the bridesmaids and processionals, at one time, bore a

very specific and vitally significant meaning. Today, although the original substance is often lost, we

incorporate old world customs into our weddings because they are traditional and ritualistic.