The price of weddings has jumped to a new all-time high, reaching an average $31,213 in 2014, new research says.
Surveying around 16,000 American couples, the Knot 2014 Real Weddings Study also found that 45% of weddings exceed a couple’s budgets and, more worryingly, 23% lack a budget altogether. Most brides spent an average of $1,357 alone on their wedding dress.
At the same time, guest lists are shrinking even as costs rise. “The average wedding now has 136 guests, down from 149 in 2009,” says the Knot’s Rebecca Dolgin.
The cheapest place to tie the knot was Utah, where couples spent only $15,000 on the big day in 2014. The most expensive place for nuptials was Manhattan at $76,328.
Read next: Watch This Guy Propose to His Girlfriend 365 Times Without Her Knowing
Photographing a Kiss: Long Time Love Affairs
Joseph and Dorothy Bolotin
Sharon, Pennsylvania
Married on June 16, 1938.
Dorothy, "I never think of it in terms of years. I think of it in terms of good years. In love, hot
romance doesn’t last forever. So I would say that yes, I think love changes. I would say we’re still
in love. It’s focusing, doing little things. He’s an amazing man."
Lauren Fleishman
John and Sherma Campbell
Star Valley, Wyoming
Married on May 13, 1955.
Sherma, "When you start out, you think you love each other as much as you possibly can,but love
grows—just like your inner self grows as time goes by and you have experiences.And now at this
stage of the game, I love him even more. I can’t even imagine life without him."
Lauren Fleishman
Jin Lin and Lai Mei Chen
Brooklyn, New York Married on February 4, 1961.
Jin Lin, "We had so many things in common it was like our hearts were the same."
Lauren Fleishman
de'Spagnolis
Aldo de’Spagnolis and Maria Filiozzi
Itri, Italy
Married on October 23, 1949.
Aldo, "When I first saw her, she was 14 and I was 22.Was there a concern that she was too young
for me? No! Even now I look like a young child! Yes, even now I’m still young."
Lauren Fleishman
Jake and Mary Jacobs
Solihull, England
Married on April 27, 1948.
Mary,"Jake said to me,'Would it ever be possible for me to marry you?' And I said,'Possible but
not probable!' And that’s how it was. It wasn’t likely that I would ever marry him, and he knew
that. So when he went home to Trinidad, my mother and father breathed a sigh of relief. But he
used to write, and he said, 'I’m thinking I might come back to England.'"
Lauren Fleishman
Kissin
Yevgeniy and Lyubov Kissin
Brooklyn, New York
Married on June 29, 1941.
Yevgeniy, "We met at a dancing party. It was in January 1938. My friend invited me to the party, he said there would be a lot of beautiful young girls. Another cadet with high boots had approached
her, but she didn’t like high boots and so she said no to him. I was the second one to approach
her. I had a different uniform, but I’m still not sure if it was my uniform or my face that attracted
her to me."
Lauren Fleishman
Itig and Golda Pollac
Brooklyn, New York
Married on August 13, 1946.
Golda, "I would say love came little by little. Not right away.We were young.And he was older, but I
liked him. He spoke to me in a very nice way."
Lauren Fleishman
Yaakov and Mariya Shapirshetyn
Brooklyn, New York
Married on July 6, 1949.
Yaakov, "What is the secret to love? A secret is a secret, and I don’t reveal my secrets."
Lauren Fleishman
Gino and Angie Terranova
Staten Island. New York
Married on September 27, 1947.
Angie, "You really don’t think about getting older. First of all, you’re aging together, and when you
see a person constantly,you don’t notice big changes. Like you don’t notice, oh you’re getting a
little wrinkle here and tomorrow you say it’s a little deeper. No, those are things that just happen."
Lauren Fleishman
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