These numbers are adapted from the June issue of Fast Company.
More than 2,190,000 couples got married in the US last year. The average cost of these weddings was $28,704, making the wedding business a $62,861,760,000 industry.
Is that money better spent elsewhere? What else does $62 Billion buy?
- Bednets for literally everyone living in a malaria-risk area, potentially saving 1 million lives a year.
- Zero gravity flights for 12.5 million people.
- Three more years of life for GM and Chrysler.
- A life above the poverty line for more than half a million American families.
- 30,000 private islands.
- Another seven months in Iraq.
- 2 million new loaded Ford Fusion Hybrids.
- 62 billion junior bacon cheeseburgers.
- 4 pairs of shoes for everyone in the country.
More Wedding Trivia
Of that $62 Billion, $700 million was spent on cake. Mmm frosting.
In 1960, the typical bride was 20 years old and the groom was 23. Today, they’re 27 and 29 respectively. In 2060, if the pattern continues, will people wait until their mid-thirties?
Citizens of six countries have more freedom than we do in the “land of the free.” Belgium, Canada, The Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, and Spain all allow same-sex marriages.
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I think we spent about $500 on our wedding. It did help that I wore your aunt’s dress(free) and that one of my good friends did wedding cakes for a living(her gift to us). I guess we’re not splashy people; we still aren’t!
[...] I imagine very few young professionals take that into consideration when calculating their wedding costs. Dual income couples are unlikely to see any tax benefit from getting married, instead it will [...]