The Perfect Wedding

By definition a wedding is a ceremony that celebrates the marriage or civil union between two people or a social event at which a ceremony of marriage is performed. In today’s culture people are spending more and more money on their weddings. They are trying at achieve the perfect day, which is emphasized as the most important day in a person’s life. Over time, the idea of marriage and weddings has become a fairy tale illusion for women. More commonly women are planning the weddings by picking everything out, coordinating, trying to make everything perfect for their perfect day. Men have taken the seat on the sideline. They are there for support but not picking out table cloths and flowers.

In 2007, the average cost of a wedding in America was $28,850. On average a couple is engaged for 17 months before they are married. Out of the 2,290,578 weddings that were performed last year 77% of those weddings were paid for by the bride and groom. Only 58% were paid for by the parents. This goes to show that the even though people are spending more and more money on their weddings, it is coming out of their pockets. In the “Here comes the Bride, All Dresses in White” section of Aims, the author makes the reference to the film, Father of the Bride. He makes suggests, “The ideological work of this film is to delineate the heterogendered division of labor portraying Dad as successful factory owner and Mom and daughter as women who spend his money frivolously.”

The more extravagant a wedding is contributes to the extravagance of the American culture. People are obsessed with living a glamorous, over the top lifestyle starting with the wedding. Some use the ceremony as an excuse to show off how successful they have become. If Mom and Dad can’t foot the bill, they the bride and groom will pay for it, anything to get that perfect day, even if that means going into debt at such a young age.