Single girls saving money for weddings, not my sanity....

An article in Today’s Metro wound me up. Not sure why exactly, but I figured that a few minutes of ranting onto my keyboard might help me figure that out.

It was about a poll conducted by Norwich Union (polls alone wind me up, but that’s for another blog) about single girls that are saving for their Big Day. According to this poll, one in five unattached girls is saving for their wedding, one in four would take a second job to save for it and two in five would blow their life savings on a wedding. It also says rather casually “[a wedding that] will typically cost £17,000, a study shows”.

Wow, I’m so annoyed I don’t know which one to rant about first.

I would love to see the real results from this poll. How may single women were asked? 100? 200? Saying “one in five” is a sneaky way to report it, as it hints that one fifth of the single female population are doing this, when it fact it is one of five of the poor women who were suckered into answering some stupid questions or paid to respond in some way. Either way, it’s hardly representative.

Then I get upset thinking about these women (if they do actually exist). My God girls, don’t you have house deposits to save for? Or a life to live now? When I was single the last thing I was saving for was my wedding. Saying that, I wasn’t saving much at all so maybe they’re much more sensible than I am. I was too busy having fun and steadfastly saying I’d never get married. But I did. And I sure as hell didn’t spend all my life savings (small as they were) on it!

And £17,000?! I’d like to see that study too. Honestly, where do they get these numbers from? Yes, you can spend £17,000 on a wedding. You could also spend £5,000. Is £17,000 really the ‘typical’ amount, let alone the average. Don’t get me started on averages.

I think what my anger really stems from is the reason behind this poll. And the report that talks about it too. Will it make singletons out there think “Blimey, I’d better start saving too?”. I’m not saying that everyone is a sheep, but as human beings we pay attention to what others are doing and behave accordingly, we can’t help it. What real, possible reason could there be behind it than Norwich union looking for a way to make more money?

Ah, wait a minute, what was I thinking? Why get angry about yet another industry making money out of marriage? If I do that I’ll be dead before I’m forty. The sun goes up, the sun goes down, and there are people cashing in on weddings.

And Godammit, I’ve talked about that poll – I’m just as bad as the Metro! I have to go and shower… I feel soiled now.