Marriage #1: The cost?

Here's a stat: 89% of 13-15s in a recent survey said they would like to get married one day. With the average cost of a wedding now over £20,000 the question is why would anyone want to get married? Has it become more about the ceremony and image than the actual substance?

Working for Relate, I find often people are reluctant to pay towards either counselling when their relationship has hit the rocks, or up front for courses about 'how to have a good relationship'... How are people reluctant to pay less than £500 for these, and yet several thousand on one day?


With celebrity marriages covered extensively in the media, have we become a society focussed on the glitz and glamour, at the expense (literally) of the substance of marriage?

Marriage - what is it?

Tonight at God@theDOG we'll be discussing marriage... Is it still relevant today? Is it always one man, one woman for life? What did Jesus say about it? And what does history have to say about the purpose and ceremony of marriage? And what's all the fuss about same-sex marriage?
If you're unable to join us in person, join in the debate here... We'll be posting some highlights from our discussion online in the next day or so
Geoff