Expensive engagement rings/Wedding linked to divorce

New research study by Economics professors from Emory University surveyed 3,000 U.S. adults who had been married at some point in their lives and found that people who spent large sums of money on engagement rings and/or their weddings were more likely to end up divorced.

Men who spent $2,000 to $4,000 on engagement rings were 1.3 times more likely to end up divorced than men who spent $500 to $2,000. Women who received expensive engagement rings also experienced higher rates of divorce.

Women whose weddings cost $20,000 or more were 3.5 times more likely to end up divorced than women who spent $5,000 to $10,000.

Interestingly, spending $1,000 or less on the wedding decreased the chances of divorce, but spending too little on an engagement ring backfired; those who spent less than $500 experienced higher rates of divorce.

The authors of the paper hypothesize that the correlation between high wedding and engagement ring costs and divorce may have to do with financial stress placed on brides and grooms who are determined to have the perfect day, whether or not they can actually afford it.

For example, women whose rings cost over $2,000 were three times more likely to complain about stress related to wedding debt. On the other hand, those who spent less than $1,000 on their weddings were 82 to 93 percent less likely to be stressed out by wedding finances.