Massively expensive weddings encouraged by a Hello! magazine celebrity culture are putting pressure on marriage, as couples start life together with a large overhang of debt, the work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has warned.
He said debt was now one of the most prominent causes of family breakdown, yet couples were spending the huge sum of £20,000 on average on their marriage.
"It has become apparent that couples will not marry until they can have such a wedding, and some couples will get into debt just to meet the costs," Duncan Smith said at Westminster .
The values of modern society, he said, were being shaped by the behaviour of "film stars, soap stars, pop stars and football stars. What has changed has been the Hello!-style idea that if you get married and can't show yourself in a Hello! light, then somehow you are a bit of a failure."
Hello! magazine is dominated by photo shoots of celebrity weddings.
"Marriage is perhaps the best antidote to the celebrity self-obsessed culture we live in, for it is about understanding that our true value is lastingly expressed through the lives of others we commit to."
"What seems to have been forgotten is that the point of marriage is love, commitment, and creating a safe environment in which to bring up a family."
A wedding need not cost more than the price of a marriage licence, he said.
Duncan Smith also said he was going to ensure marital status was reinstated on more government forms.
Looking to see why marriage has been declining as an institution, he said: "Guidance councillors say that too many young people have an almost fairytale expectation of life after the marriage ceremony.
"This puts huge pressure on newly married couples as too few have time to develop an understanding of the sacrifices needed to make their relationship work before they break up."
David Cameron was still committed to "recognising" marriage in the tax system, he added.
But he acknowledged this will face opposition from the Liberal Democrats who do not wish to be judgmental on how people live their lives. The Conservatives dropped a pre-election policy for a marriage tax break in the face of Lib Dem opposition.
He said the tide was turning against those who opposed any mention of the benefits of marriage, and insisted he was not involved in any finger wagging.
"We do a disservice to society if we ignore the evidence which shows that stable families tend to be associated with better outcomes for children.
"And there are few more powerful tools for promoting stability than the institution of marriage. Indeed, evidence suggests that even the poorest 20% of married couples are more stable than all but the richest 20% of cohabiting couples."
Fiona Weir, chief executive of single parent group Gingerbread, said: "At a time of significant financial hardship, when many families are experiencing poverty, introducing a tax break for marriage would be a shockingly unfair use of government funds.
"Modelling by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that this would cost the state at least £1.6bn a year.
"The majority of Britain's 1.9 million single parents were previously married and expected their families to stay intact, and single parents consistently tell us that marriage tax proposals make them feel like second-class citizens."
"These are ordinary mums or dads who provide stable home environments for their families, and they deserve equal treatment, not stigmatisation by government."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... ncan-smith
My mate re-mortgaged the house for his NY wedding
There's no doubt in my mind that we're dumbing down in almost every way, but IDS seems a bit obsessed with the past, and doesn't seem to want to deal with the underlying issues...
Thoughts?
Did they get insurance on such an event? Some girls can become complete Bridezilla's.
