Size matters. At least that's what we're led to believe. But the truth is, the only real size that matters is that of your wedding rings – ensuring they fit perfectly. The size of your dress, guest list, cake and elaborateness of your wedding day doesn't necessarily equate to a long, happy marriage. In fact, there's some evidence to suggest a big wedding day can lead to a very short marriage.
Get the Platinum Wedding Rings Right
Getting the wedding rings right is perhaps the most intimate thing a couple can do for their wedding – the wedding rings, after all, will be worn long after the big day is over and just a distant memory. But the wedding rings are often sidelined in favour of a lavish party and ostentatious dress. Exchanging wedding rings is symbolic of the vows you make when you marry – to love and to cherish in sickness and in health, the good times and the bad; nowhere does it mention that you must show-off your love by investing in a chocolate love fountain or hosting a no-expense-spared extravaganza.
Big Day – Short Marriage?
One couple was profiled in a Daily Mail feature investigating the idea that a big wedding could, in fact, equate to a short marriage. Geraldine Grey spent a small fortune for her very big day, with masseuses and even a celebrity photographer on hand. Even the run up to the exchange of wedding rings was costly as she indulged in four hen nights. But six months after the moment she exchanged wedding rings with her husband, she had left the short-lived union in a flood of tears.
The Cost of Love...
Some couples and their parents go to extremes to pay the costs of big weddings – as well as the dress, wedding rings and cake, some couples want a dream party with a nightmare bill. Some parents are even pushed into remortgaging their homes to pay for the wedding costs. Weddings it seems are getting to be more and more expensive. As one parent told the press: “Our daughter is with someone else now - happy but unmarried - and all we have is the black hole in our bank balance.”
Platinum Wedding Rings: For the Rest of your Life
The bitterness of a failed marriage combined with the misery of debt can be unbearable. For some couples who don't feel they need a big marriage, the best investment they make is in their wedding rings – they know they'll be wearing them for the rest of their lives. Today's average wedding costs over £20,000, but the evidence that big, dazzling weddings won't guarantee a long, happy marriage shows that money really can't buy you love. Psychologists have suggested that people who spend more time planning their wedding, choosing wedding rings and ensuring the big day is spectacular, are at risk of being blinded by the glamour of the day: the dream becomes disconnected from the reality.
Dr Terri Apter at Cambridge University told the Mail: “The anticipation of the event and the details of the day can take over and obscure any fundamental problems between the couple. If the wedding becomes a displacement activity, the couple might fail to realise that they are not right for each other in the first place.” If you're planning on investing in wedding rings, it might be wise to resist the temptation to go overboard on the size of your wedding day.