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The wedding industry: Conde Nast Bridal Infobank American Wedding Study, 2002; Roper, 2000; “Wedding & Honeymoon Statistics,”
Top
Wedding Links

Cost of average wedding gift: American Wedding Study, 2002; Gerard J.
Monaghan, President, Association of Bridal Consultants

Expenditure of average wedding guest: Bigda, Carolyn, “Wedding Guests
Can Avoid Shedding Tears over Costs,” October 31, 2004 Chicago
Tribune

GAO marriage benefits: U.S.
Newswire
, “Institute for Marriage and Public Policy: Are
There Over 1000 Federal Marriage Benefits?” May 26, 2004; Gerard J.
Monaghan, President, Association of Bridal Consultants

Bush’s Healthy Marriage Initiative: Kirkpatrick, David; Pear, Robert,
“Bush Plans $1.5 Billion Drive for Promotion of Marriage,”NY
Times
, January 14, 2004; Brezosky, Lynn, “Attorney General Hosts Summits On Helping
Low-Income Families,” Associated Press, October 21, 2004.

Increase in wages and odds of marriage: Carlson, Marcia; England,
Paula; McLanahan, Sara, “Union Formation and Dissolution in Fragile
Families,” November 2002.

Percentage of couples spending more than planned on wedding: Block,
Sandra, “‘Til Debt Do Us Part,”USA
Today
, November 9, 2004.

Cost of average wedding since 1980: Kerr, Robert, “Older Brides,
Bridegrooms See The New Trends Trailing Along,” The Commercial
Appeal
(Memphis), February 9, 1992; “Calendar,” U.S. News &
World Report
, June 6, 1994; BRIDE’s Reader Profile Study, October
1980; Conde Nast Bridal Infobank, 2002; BRIDE’s
Millenium Report: Wedding Love & Money
, 2000.

Percentage of marriages ending within 15 years: “43 Percent of First
Marriages Break Up Within 15 Years,”National
Center for Health Statistics
, May 24, 2001.
; Conde Nast Bridal Infobank American Wedding Study, 2002; Roper, 2000

Divorce in red states vs. blue states: National
Vital Statistics Report
, 2003.
; Census 2000,
U.S. Census Bureau

Most and least wanted gifts in U.K.: Ward, Simon P., “Unwanted
Wedding Gifts,” MSN,
July 19, 2003.

Percentage of couple omitting “obey” from vows and percentage of
brides taking husband’s name: “Weddings Across America: New Regional
Research From BRIDE’s Magazine,” Business Wire, February 27,
2002.

Number of states with laws against adultery: Turley, Jonathan, “Of
Lust and the Law,” The
Washington Post
, September 5, 2004.

Supreme Court invalidation of laws against interracial marriage: “Can
Marriage Be Saved?”The Nation, July 5, 2004; “Go Deeper: Race
Timeline,” PBS,
November 5, 2004.

Gay wedding market: “The Gay-Marriage Windfall: 16.8 Billion,”
Forbes.com, April 5, 2004.

Marriage in Disneyworld: Kingston, Anne, The Meaning of Wife, New
York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004.

Pre-nups and Catherine Zeta-Jones wedding: Grossberg, Josh,
“Catherine & Michael’s Mini-Judgement,” E!
Online
,November 7, 2003.
; “Prenups for Ordinary People,” The Week, July 16, 2004, p. 36; “Zeta-Jones Wins Hello! Damages,” November 7, 2003,
CNN.com; “Love and Marriage, Celebrity-Style,” USA
Today
, December 29, 2000
; McVeigh, Karen, “Couple ‘Touted’ Rights to Wedding,” The
Scotsman
, February 15, 2003; Valhouli, Christina, “Big Stars,
Big Weddings Bring Bigger Bucks,” Forbes.com,
October 19, 2004
; Reiter, Amy, “Zeta-Jones Rolls the Dice,” Salon, December 6, 2000.

Pre-nups, 2nd weddings, and Liza Minelli: Burwell, Marite, “Celebrity
Wedding Trends,” Weddings,
November 5, 2004; “Liza Minnelli, Husband Separate After 16 Months,”
AFP,
July 29, 2003.

Cost of wedding and investment in college education:
Allstate
Investment Basics

Reality wedding TV shows:
;
www.realitytvlinks.com

Percentage of Americans “happily married”: Vogt, Ryan, “Laura Kipnis:
The Chronicle Interview,” Northwestern
Chronicle
, October 24, 2003.

De Beers: Werthheimer, Linda and Siegal, Robert, “Critics Believe De Beers
Manipulates The Market to Keep Diamond Prices High,” NPR, All Things
Considered, November 27, 2001; Epstein, Edward Jay, “Have You Ever
Tried to Sell a Diamond?” Atlantic
Online
, February 1982; Dwyer, Dustin, “Diamond in the Rough:
Why the U.S. Should Let in De Beers,” Orlando Sentinel, March
15, 2004; Kaplan, Barry, “Forever
Diamonds”
; Payne, Melanie, ” ‘Right-hand’ Diamonds Marketed as
Power Sign,” Sacramento
Bee
, December 2, 2003; Pressler, Margaret Webb, “DeBeers
Pleads to Price-Fixing; Firm Pays $10 Million, Can Fully Reenter
U.S.,” The Washington Post, July 14, 2004.

Percentage of divorced people re-marrying: Hodder, Harbour Fraser,
“The Future of Marriage,” Harvard Magazine, November/December
2004, p.42

J-Lo:
Chalmers, Katie, “On Top of Her Game; Jenny’s Come a Long Way, Baby,”
Winnipeg Sun, June 29, 2003; “Selena Proposal,” Independent,
October 7, 2001; phone call to Ojani Noa; “Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs
Acquitted of Gun Possession and Bribery Charges,” Jet, April
2, 2001, p. 57; Patel, Shyama, “Rock Stars: Celebrity Rings,” New
York Metro
; “Lopez Announces Split from Affleck,” January 23,
2004, Associated
Press

; J.Lo
knockoff rings
; “Jennifer’s Big Surprise,” June 21, 2004,
People, p.68; “Around the Watercooler J-Lo Ties the Knot,”
June 7, 2004, Good Morning America (ABC news)transcript;
Miller, Marshall and Solot, Dorian, “Let Them Eat Wedding Rings: The
Role of Marriage Promotion in Welfare Reform,” 2002, Alternatives to
Marriage Project.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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