Imaginary Romance: Bridesmaids and The White Wedding

     The media have historically supported the views of the dominant group within American society, those holding social, political, and economic power. According to Hegemony in Reality-Based TV Programming: The World According to A Wedding Story , "Mass media disseminate hegemonic values within a society through its tendency to "reproduce the ideological field of a society in such a way as to reproduces, also, its structure of domination""(Engstrom, 2003). The dominant social construct within American culture is heterosexuality, "heterosexuality is, in reality, a highly regulated, ritualized, and organized practice. Sociologically, then, heterosexuality is an "established order made up of rule-bound and standardized behavior patterns" qualifies as an institution. Moreover, heterosexuality as an "arrangement involving large numbers of people whos behavior is guided by norms and rules" is also a social institution" (Ingraham, 1999, pg...

Genevra, Pagan Wedding  I just think that part of why I can't figure out how to answer you is because, when I really think about it I see that I haven't really had non traditional weddings. I mean they look that way from the outside because of themes or whatever but the idea is really still the same. Maybe I'm over simplifying. Carmen, Wedding #2 Being 49 years old and after a 22 years break between marriage s(one that was the traditional, long white gown church wedding), I wanted an outdoors, non religious wedding. Since all my family was in Miami I choose that as the City. The problem was it was 1993 and Miami had not recuperated from 1992 hurricane Andrew. The only place I could find pretty enough was The Falls shopping mall which had newly planted palm trees and a beautiful pond with a perfect deck over it for the ceremony. So, with my to be husband and my family standing there,and my cousin being the Justice of the Peace, I walked down some steps, following my nie...

     In order to gain support from women the wedding industry, "Recognizing that many independent women might bristle at the extravagant, irrational edicts, the wedding complex has recast the bride as fullfilling her unconscious dream as a child, one who believes in fairy tales and who needs to be told what to do" (Arend, 2016). Women are taught to aspire to their wedding day, because that will be the most important day of their lives. Yet, Research done comparing the incomes of women who marry before the age of 20, and women who marry after age 30 show that there is a mean difference of $20,000 dollars a year between the two groups.      The article Want to Earn More Money?Get Married Later.  states, “Women with college degrees who waited until after age 30 to get married earn significantly more than college-educated women who married at younger ages. Whereas those who married before age 20 report an average annual income of just over $30...

     The cost of weddings have drastically inflated over the course of history, according to Unraveling The Knot: Political Economy and Cultural Hegemony in Wedding Media, "The U.S. bridal industry is estimated at between $50 and $70 billion annually; the potential for this market is huge: Nearly 2.4 million marriages are performed each year. The investment of money and time that goes into the traditional wedding, with the average "big" wedding costing some $20,000, makes it not only a major event, but also a major expense for those starting married life; more than half of couples who choose to hold a wedding pay for it all themselves, which can lead to starting their married life in debt" (Engstrom, 2008). With more couples paying for their own weddings, the financial strain that paying for a large scale event is tangible.      In a recent study, it has been shown that there is a correlation between high nuptial costs and marriage longevity. Accordin...