Study Reveals A Major Marriage Mistake That Leads To Divorce

If you grew up dreaming of a lavish wedding with hundreds of guests there to witness you say “I do” to your personal Prince Charming, you’re not alone. With the average wedding costing upwards of $30,000 in the US, getting hitched can be an expensive affair. However, the negative effects of going all-out for your big day aren’t just financial—a new study has revealed that the more you spend on your wedding day, the more likely you are to get divorced.

In research co-authored by National University of Singapore’s Andrew Francis-Tan and Emory University’s Hugo M. Mialon, it was revealed that the less you shell out on your nuptials, the better chance you have of going the distance as a married couple. To come to this conclusion, they called on 3,000 hitched participants for feedback on their relationships—and the responses were enlightening.

In the end, it was revealed that couples that spent more than $2,000 on an engagement ring were 1.3x more likely to divorce than those who opted for a less expensive piece of jewelry. Same goes for the big day itself. Couples who spent less than $1,000 to say “I do” were way less likely to split, while those who spent more than $20,000 had 1.6x more chance of falling apart.

This isn’t necessarily surprising. After all, deciding to marry someone should be about wanting to spend the rest of your life with the person you believe is your ideal partner. It’s about building a future together, and couples who are worried more about how fancy and Instagram-worthy their ceremony is are kind of missing the point. There’s nothing to say that you can’t want a big wedding and true love, and certainly there are plenty of couples who experience both and don’t divorce, but it’s still worth it to maybe save your money for something better and more valuable than a one-day affair.

Jennifer Still is a writer and editor with more than 10 years of experience. The managing editor of Bolde, she has bylines in Vanity Fair, Business Insider, The New York Times, Glamour, Bon Appetit, and many more. You can follow her on Twitter @jenniferlstill
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