Weddings Are a Billion Dollar Business in America

June 24, 2013

The average American wedding costs about as much as a new car.

From VOA Learning English, welcome to This Is America. I’m Avi Arditti.

And I’m Kelly Jean Kelly. This week, we look at weddings in America—how much they cost and how different they can be.

MUSIC: Bruno Mars “Marry You”

More than 2.3 million couples get married in the United States every year. Sometimes a couple may simply go to a courthouse or city hall and be married by a judge or other official. But more elaborate wedding ceremonies are big business, adding $70 billion to the American economy every year.

Weddings also often require couples to plan ahead. Bic Decaro was married in 2003, 13 months after her future husband asked her to marry him.

“You know, we thought we wanted at least a year to just plan and not feel rushed. And we thought that was just a choice we were going to make because that is what we wanted. But it turns out when we started calling around, a lot of venues were already booked.”

The difficulty of finding a place, or venue, is not a surprise to Susan Smith, who is a professional wedding planner.

“In general most brides want to get married on a Saturday night. So that is a limited date. And again it goes back to if they want the venue then they will have to wait until it’s available or change their date. Also just the process takes much longer than what people think.”