After a sustained outpouring of emotion like that, it’s natural to walk away from that experience thinking the whole thing was fucking amazing. All the good music, the dancing, the congratulatory messages, the repeated exclamations of “I love you”s that are usually pushed down to the depths of the soul… this all leads to a dopamine rush that can co... See more

Each of these investments collectively fall into what I call the Happiness Portfolio.

The average wedding in the United States costs over $30,000. I don’t know about you, but given that median salaries in the U.S. is a little under $45,000, that sounds completely fucking nuts.

The more logical solution would be to take a small number of guests out to nice dinners to celebrate your marriage, so you could actually enjoy the extended company of those loved ones. Not only would you be able to celebrate your marriage in a way that only this particular set of loved ones can offer, but you’d also probably save a lot of money as... See more

Reason #3: Planning the wedding reveals a lot about each other’s priorities and values.

Why I Thought Having a Wedding Was Very Stupid

A wedding is probably the only event where all three of those big questions can be simultaneously answered in a way that you truly feel it. The answers won’t hit you like a tidal wave, but instead you’ll receive them piece-by-piece as the day progresses. And the more concrete the “Yes”es are, the more empowering the wedding becomes as a long-standi... See more

When it comes to dramatic shifts of this nature, I like to reflect on why it happened so I can have a better understanding of the architecture of my cognitive blind spots. In this case, there was something that I was clearly missing from my worldview that was made apparent only after I personally experienced it. Where else do these blind spots exis... See more

However, when people remark on how ridiculously expensive their weddings were, we feign surprise but ultimately accept that it’s “just the way these things work.”