Make no mistake, a wedding of any size should be a happy event. Such joyous occasions are even more delightful during in what has been a difficult time.
But who says the great match - at an average cost in New Zealand of $30,000 and skywards - has to rival My Big Fat Greek Wedding? How many of us can really claim to have more than 100 close family and intimate friends? Weddings of past generations didn't need to strain the national grid to power sparkling lights; strip a fruit orchard and sugar cane plantation for the cake; and empty a winery cellar for the speeches.
Downsizing may even result in an upward swing in the number of nuptials.
New Zealanders registered 19,071 marriages and civil unions in the December 2019 year, down from 20,949 in 2018, continuing the general downwards trend in the number of marriages each year.
As well as stability for the nuclear family, formalising the relationship provides other "fringe" benefits such as married men tending to earn more and banks looking more kindly at wedded couples for financial arrangements.
Perhaps scaling back on the frills and the fizz might mean more are tempted to take the plunge. We'll raise a glass to that.
