Flutterby™! : Wedding costs correlated to divorce

‘A Diamond is Forever’ and Other Fairy Tales: The Relationship between Wedding Expenses and Marriage Duration, Andrew M. Francis and Hugo M. Mialon, both of the Emory University - Department of Economics:

Abstract: In this paper, we evaluate the association between wedding spending and marriage duration using data from a survey of over 3,000 ever-married persons in the United States. Controlling for a number of demographic and relationship characteristics, we find evidence that marriage duration is inversely associated with spending on the engagement ring and wedding ceremony.

Via HuffPo, which notes:

Interestingly, spending $1,000 or less on the wedding decreased the chances of divorce, but spending too little on an engagement ring backfired; those who spent less than $500 experienced higher rates of divorce.