As a nation, we are, however, waiting longer to say it than we used to. In 20 years, the median age for people marrying for the first time increased by three years, to 24.1 for the bride and an almost doddering 26.3 for the groom. And though the marriage rate is declining (between August 1991 and August 1992, it dipped 3 percent), that may be a statistical anomaly, says Barbara Wilson, a demographer at the National Center for Health Statistics. Most baby boomers are in their 30s or 40s, and the “marriageable age” generation right behind them is much smaller. Wilson also cites “transitory things,” including a faltering economy, for the decline. More people are living together and postponing marriage until they can afford it.
Being married can, of course, be cheaper than actually getting married. Who doesn’t love a wedding? Especially florists, hairdressers, limousine companies, champagne sellers, garter makers, jewelers, bakers and photographers, not to mention Walt Disney World, which now operates a Fairy Tale Weddings Department. If your wedding fantasia is goofy, all the better: you can hire him, or a slew of other Disney characters, as “guests.” If you see yourselves as Cinderella and her prince, hitch a ride in a pony-drawn coach ($1,000).
But for the same thousand bucks, 40 couples who bridle at high prices can get hitched at A Little White Chapel in Las Vegas, which may qualify as the country’s wedding capital. (The city has a population of less than 260,000, yet last year it issued 79,235 marriage licenses.) The chapel, says owner Charlotte Richards, offers a $25 drive-up-window wedding: “Sometimes we have a line with three or four cars in it at a time.” Couples can also do the deed inside, as Bruce Willis and Demi Moore did; more than 100 have booked the chapel for Valentine’s Day. The high-end ceremony ($499) is the Joan Collins Package, which includes live organ music and a videotape-but not a bottle of JC’s perfume, Spectacular.
Drive-up windows and a declining marriage rate notwithstanding, weddings remain very big business-sales of rings alone amount to $3.3 billion a year. According to a recent readers’ survey in Bride’s magazine, the average blowout will set you back about $16,000, including the bride’s dress ($725), reception (about $6,000 for 171 people) and honeymoon (nine days, $3,000). Barbara Tober, Bride’s editor in chief, has money-saving advice for soon-to-be-weds: “If there’s someone in their family they find repugnant, they don’t invite them.” Still, if that means kissing away Uncle Milo’s check, it may be a foolish economy.
Even couples who have a storybook wedding may wind up like Charles and Diana, though knowledge of the fact is no deterrent. “Hail, wedded love, mysterious law,” wrote Milton in “Paradise Lost.” For many who have survived the pain of divorce, remarriage can be paradise regained. So to everyone entering, or re-entering, the state of marital bliss, Happy Valentine’s Day.
