March 12, 2007

Marriage by the Real Numbers

If you are or have ever been married, you are bound to agree – marriage is hard. Despite the incredible divorce rates, documented and analyzed by everyone from Dr. Phil to Fox News and the celebrity nuptial drama gracing the covers of tabloids, young people are still getting married.

The case is especially acute this year. The magical number driving the craze is not related to carats or tax deductions. It is a date.

It’s 7/7/07. The luckiest day of the century, some say. Many obviously believe, because the number of couples tying the knot the first weekend of July is going to be 250 percent higher than last year.

One of the lucky brides who will cherish those numbers forever will be actress Eva Longoria. Not to rain on her sure-to-be-over-the-top parade, but when at the age of 31 you are to marry a 24-year-old basketball player, math is probably not your strong suit.

She is not alone. Thousands of Americans are trying to beat the odds and creating some strange sums. A British media source reported that the Elvis impersonator at The Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas will perform 120 marriages on July 7.

It may be worth noting that the last time the Chapel was in the news, the attention grabbing number was 48. That is how many hours Britney Spears’ first marriage, which took place at the Chapel, lasted.

Perhaps if more couples would spend time looking at the important numbers in their lives, like how long after the wedding they want to have children or how they will manage their income, there would be no need to be so cynical about marriage.

The truth is that too many people enter marriage focusing on the fairy tale aspect, hoping that everything else will work itself out. It is only after the honeymoon period ends that the newlyweds realize that marriage is not just about picking out new furniture or regular meals and sex. It is about taking out the trash for the next 40 years, mortgage and health insurance fees.

The idea of getting married on this special date is romantic. Many people have gone to extremes to ensure that their special day takes place on July 7. A couple sleeping outside of a California inn to be the first to book a room for this particular date is just one instance.

It is hard to tell who is leading whom, but the media also plays an important role in this saddening trend. Entire editions of magazines and news programs are devoted to speculating what kind of dress the bride will wear, in what ‘secret’ location the nuptials will happen, who is on the guest list . . . the list goes on.

Maybe those publications could do the to-be brides and grooms, as well as the industry, a favor by reporting the whole story. There should be a section, somewhere at the end, right after the list of best Caribbean spa resorts, which highlights the wide variety of problems that the starry-eyed couple will have to face on July 8.

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