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Massive increase in the 'cost of loving'
(China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2005-08-24 05:50
There used to be a decent, British way of marriage: quiet, demure and necessary. Until the 1950s it was ubiquitous and basic. In the words of Andrew McCarthy in the 1980s film St Elmo's Fire, marriage began as "a concept invented by people who were lucky to make it to 20 without being eaten by dinosaurs."
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| Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, attends her first garden party since her marriage to the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace in central London on July 19, 2005. The wedding costs in Britain have soared in the past 50 years. [Reuters] |
The global nuptial cauldron steamed and belched and, eventually, produced the humble English wedding. It took place in church, starred a vicar and some hats, the congregation retired to the village hall to drink tea and eat sandwiches.
In 1950, the average cost of such a happenstance was, in today's terms, about 600 pounds (US$780). Objectively, it was only faintly offensive. No more.
Although our desire to marry started to plummet in 1972, this blessed trend is over. We are beginning to get married again and the privilege is swallowing more of our cash than ever before.
When you have finished admiring Monday's pictures of BBC newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky's happy day (lucky fellow: Justin Bower, a banker; fabulous gown: crystal embroidered cream satin by Dana and Liliana Kruszynska), pause to consider that it costs on average 17,000 pounds (US$30,600) to wed today.
What about those of us who happen to have gone to college with them, or to work with them, or be related to them, who are obliged to take out a small mortgage on account of their "happy day?"
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