Today is National Wedding Planning Day, and Cheddar News' Shannon LaNier visited a bridal shop on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to get an inside look at the ongoing "wedding boom."
What is the wedding boom? Well, there were a record 2.6 million weddings in 2022, which is up from 1.9 million in 2021 and 1.3 million in 2020, according to a report from The Knot, a wedding planning agency.
That amounts to about 7,123 weddings per day in the United States. During these special events, guests spent an average of $460 to attend and more than $1,000 if the wedding required them to take a flight.
The current upswing in weddings follows a sharp dip in 2020 due to the pandemic. Now the competition for vendors and venues is getting stiff, requiring even more planning.
Lauren Kay, executive director at The Knot, said the pandemic forced a number of changes to accommodate social distancing and other restrictions. This led couples to get more creative and add more personalized details to their weddings.
Now, in 2023, couples are carrying this trend forward. For example, many are holding "unplugged ceremonies" in which no photos or videos are allowed from guests. Another trend is more themed weddings, such as "Roaring '20s" and Star Wars.
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is set to star in a movie playing MMA and UFC legend, Mark Care, while Kevin Hart will headline a boxing project over on Peacock.
Perhaps the ultimate coming-home movie, “Apollo 13,” and the ultimate staying-home one, “Home Alone,” are both being honored this year, selected for preservation in the National Film Registry
The Food and Drug Administration is asking Congress for new powers, including the ability to mandate drug recalls and require eyedrop makers to undergo inspections before shipping products to the U.S.
Kendall Tichner, founder and CEO of Wild Captives Archery Range in Brooklyn, NY, joined Cheddar News to discuss how she got started after going viral with her skills during the pandemic and how it led her to open her archery range where she wants to cater to more women and LGBTQ+ communities.
Emmy-winning actor Andre Braugher, best known in TV shows like 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' and 'Homicide: Life on the Street,' died on Monday at the age of 61.
