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Why have Americans clung so hard to the dream of a fancy wedding? Hanna Rosin asked Xochitl Gonzalez, our staff writer who used to be a luxury-wedding planner, this question on the Radio Atlantic podcast in 2023. “We’ve let go of so many ‘middle-class American aspirations,’ but we haven’t been able to let go of the wedding,” Xochitl noted. “People have given up on college, and I don’t think that they want to give up on weddings.” Social media has expanded the expectations of weddings and the thrill of being the center of attention for a day. And as couples strive to keep up with cultural perceptions and their friends’ lives, they can end up putting financial and logistical strain on their guests and their bridal parties (in what my colleague Annie Joy Williams recently called bridesmaid inflation). Today’s newsletter explores wedding sprawl and all the people it can affect. On Wedding Sprawl Bridesmaid Inflation By Annie Joy Williams Why are we making those we love most suffer for our weddings? The Fake Poor Bride By Xochitl Gonzalez Confessions of a wedding planner (From 2023) Why Can’t We Quit Weddings? By Hanna Rosin Marriages aren’t what they used to be. So why are weddings ever more wedding-like and deluxe? Still Curious? Other Diversions
