For Whom the Bell Tolls - Bride's magazine surveys brides-to-be - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Brandweek, May 7, 2001 by Becky Ebenkamp

Last year, a rather dubious Super Bowl ad for OurBeginning.com showed seemingly-high-from-licking-too-much-envelope-glue brides bashing each other in pursuit of invitations and other wedding paraphernalia. A new study by Bride's magazine doesn't make the nearly married out to be such Rules'-reading, predatory man-hunters with only matrimony on their minds--just a tad obsessed.

"People get really involved in their wedding plans and we wanted to know how it affected their lives," said Millie Bratten, Bride's editor in chief.

Research among readers in the throes of prewedded blitz revealed a bit of a dichotomy. While 55% said they entertained serious thoughts of eloping to free themselves from unwieldy planning, 43% said it made the couple closer and increased their ability to communicate. "Half thought of escaping at some point to get out of making plans, the other half said it was the happiest time of their life," Bratten said.

The average bride is age 26 and plans to spend $18,874 on a formal wedding.

The tendency to fixate on perfectly planned nuptials seems to be surfacing in the women's dreams, too. One bride envisioned her wedding turning into a Miss America pageant won by a bridesmaid, not her; another's dress arrived and it turned out to be a garish taffeta/pumpkin-print number. Perhaps crash dieting factored in for the gal who dreamed she lost her fiance at the reception, then found him alone in a booth eating chicken wings. Or the bride whose imaginary guests pelted her with candy bars as she walked down the aisle.

Also on the perfection front, it's fairly alarming to learn that more than a third of the ladies (37%) copped to getting some cosmetic tweaking done before their big day, work that ranged from teeth whitening to boob jobs. "The breast implants are surprising to us," Bratten quipped. "Especially since he's already asked you to marry him."