While magazines fold, brides still big business
By David Zizzo
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Published: October 15, 2009
Modified: October 16, 2009 at 4:49 pm
With all the chatter over global warming, Iranian nukes and the dollar becoming the worldwide standard for bird cage liners, it’s easy to get distracted from important signs of impending doom.
One canary in the mine shaft of Western civilization recently fell into the dust bin of history, right there next to the crumpled
Styrofoam container of journalism and the discarded 32-ounce Big Gulp of overdone metaphors. Publishers announced that "
Modern Bride” and "
Elegant Bride” magazines will be no more. Judging by the conspicuous absence of "Ancient Bride” scrolls, the fall of the Roman Empire was caused by the decline of the Roman wedding industry.
Weddings are huge. Americans spend more than $80 billion a year on them. That’s enough to bail out three companies that make cars we don’t like, build 16 aircraft carriers we don’t need or hold 26 new elections for every seat in Congress, which is a good idea.
But Americans aren’t the only ones who value the institution of marriage, or at least that taffeta-and-tux bash at the beginning.
According to the
Association for Wedding Professionals International, Japanese brides spend an average of $70,000 per wedding, at least three times what Americans do. So, c’mon girls, step it up. Even if we can’t all drop $2 mil like
Tom Cruise and
Katie Holmes, together we can get our American bridal-industrial complex rolling again.
With people such as
Kirsten Stiff, our nuptial recovery could be well under way. The
Florida doggie tutu designer’s wedding was a "multimedia extravaganza,” complete with singing, dancing, five-course meal, videos, choreographed dogs and a trapeze artist.
That’s according to a Web site for "
Bridezillas,” the reality show that focuses everyone’s attention on brides such as
Nicole Deleo. "I would like everyone’s attention to be on me,” Deleo said.
TV soaps always do their part, regularly rotating weddings for every character. You know, when they’re not experiencing amnesia, suffering comas or getting trapped in a mine shaft with a dead canary.
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