Big stress sometimes overshadows the Big Day, poll finds

Survey of Americans finds weddings cost cash but most say they’re fun

#Weddingstressmuch?

Social media is creeping into U.S. nuptials, but Americans don’t necessarily see that as a good thing.

A new poll — a collaboration from The Associated Press and U.S. cable network WE tv — says 57 per cent of them see social media as having increased the stress involved in planning a wedding, while just 12 per cent think the opposite. The poll was conducted by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

There is no doubt that American weddings and social media are a solid union. Getting perfect pictures already had been a stress point for wedding couples, with 55 per cent of those who have been married saying they were at least moderately concerned about those fantastic portraits.

But social media is creeping into the process in other ways, too. Twenty-two per cent of Americans have been to a wedding with its own hashtag. And 27 per cent who have attended a wedding have been invited at least once with an online invitation rather than a more traditional package of information.

There’s an age split, too: Four out of 10 Americans under age 39 have been invited to a wedding with an online invitation. Only 17 per cent of those age 60 and over have been invited that way. And where weddings with their own hashtag are concerned, a third of the youngest adults have been to one. But just 10 per cent of their older counterparts have.

As the average expense of weddings continues to rise in the U.S., it’s no surprise, perhaps, that the betrothed are opting for budget-trimming, real-time options in planning and celebration. Printed invitations, for example, can cost hundreds of dollars when stamps and calligraphy are factored in, not to mention paper.

“You help the Earth when you choose digital invitations and cards,” says one vendor of online correspondence, Punchbowl.com.

There are weddings with drones taking footage. And weddings in which hosts find it necessary to formally ask guests to refrain from posting the festivities to social media to keep the party “just between us.”

But for all of the innovation, 38 per cent still call weddings “stressful.” And three-quarters think Americans in general spend too much money on weddings.

“They’re very expensive and then six months later, they get divorced,” said Soraida Cisneros, 80, of Fresno, Calif.

“When I hear how much it costs to get married, when I look back, I think the wedding ’s so not important compared to the rest of your life,” added Pam Rieth of Mansfield, Mass.