Wedding Biz a Pricey Sham

The wedding industry is a bloated, $10 billion sham that presses each bride to "express her essential self," Janice Turner writes in the London Times. Butterflies in boxes? Check. A “lifesized butterscotch-flavored effigy” of the bride? Check. But as odd offerings increase and wedding bills average $40,000, marriages have hit a 144-year low.

"The wedding industry is the control-freak bitch sister of fashion," Turner writes. "The wedding industry plays to women's picky, list-making, over-thinking, matchy-matchy side, creating imaginary worries that require expensive solutions. Decorate the soles of your shoes, trills Brides magazine, so they won't look too plain when you kneel at the altar." (More marriage stories.)