Emory University has found that the money spent on a wedding and engagement combined can predict the likelihood of divorce. The study was cheekily called ‘A Dimaond is Forever and Other Fairy Tales’ and found that the bigger the budget the more probable the marriage will be to fail.
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Couples who fork out £2,000-£4,000 on an engagement ring are 1.3 times more likely to get divorced than couples who only spend £500-£2,000.
On the other end of the spectrum, those who on spend £500 on a ring are just as likely to break up as those who flash the cash.
Couples who peak over the £20,000 mark are 1.6 times more likely to separate then those who spend 5,000-10,000 on their wedding day. However unlike the ring, if couples spend below £1,000 on their big day they have a much lower divorce rate. Another way to predict divorce is the amount of guests that attend a wedding- the greater the number of guests the more likely a couple is to stick together through the bad and the good.
Scientists are unable to justify why these findings exist- however they have suggested a few reasons. A cheaper wedding puts less pressure on the couple to get themselves out of debt after their big day putting less strain on their marriage in its early days. Two people who both believe in a cheap wedding could simply be well matched in their perspective on how to spend their money.
Perhaps an expensive ring could put unwanted pressure on a marriage way before it’s even begun. A large expensive wedding could make the couple try to continue in this way of living afterwards, making them fall into hard times.
Couples who spend less might have more concern for their long term financial independency. Some couples might try to mask their lack of love or compatibility for one another with a fancy party, whereas those who have a greater bond might not need such extravagance because their relationship is all that matters to them.
It is an over exaggeration to automatically believe that if you had a big wedding your marriage is inevitably going to fail. If having a big wedding has always been a dream of yours- then there is nothing wrong with fulfilling that. It could be that divorce is the product of bigger issues in the relationship that have been gelled over or diverted away from with big spending. However if you want a good financial start, a more modest wedding may be the way to go to stop your first married months being plagued with memories of debt. Start off on a good footing!
Source: Feedly
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