This all makes sense but seems like its attacking a straw man. How many people in our community (or people in general for that matter) actually think that spending more on the wedding will make the marriage last longer? I don't know a single person who would say that.
People do materialism for the sake of materialism, not for practical reasons.
You're probably correct that few people really think spending thousands on a ring will increase the changes of a successful marriage. However, I believe that the value of this article was in arguing that - whatever your motivation - such expenses *increase* the chances of failure. Perhaps that's because of the stress that large, debt-driven expenses can cause, or because they're opening a door wider to materialism and all the consequences of that. Or perhaps for some other reason.
This all makes sense but seems like its attacking a straw man. How many people in our community (or people in general for that matter) actually think that spending more on the wedding will make the marriage last longer? I don't know a single person who would say that.
People do materialism for the sake of materialism, not for practical reasons.
You're probably correct that few people really think spending thousands on a ring will increase the changes of a successful marriage. However, I believe that the value of this article was in arguing that - whatever your motivation - such expenses *increase* the chances of failure. Perhaps that's because of the stress that large, debt-driven expenses can cause, or because they're opening a door wider to materialism and all the consequences of that. Or perhaps for some other reason.