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.
The Emmy-winning actor died at age 61 after a brief illness. Braugher was best known for starring as Det. Frank Pembleton in the critically acclaimed 1990s series "Homicide: Life on the Street" and as the deceptively stone-faced Capt. Ray Holt on the comedy "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" in 2013-2021.
A study out of South Korea looked at over 23,000 people and found those who spend more than an hour commuting to work are 16% more likely to experience depression.
The fatal stabbing of a Catholic priest inside the church rectory where he lived has rocked the eastern Nebraska community of Fort Calhoun, a one-stoplight town where people tend not to worry if they forget to lock their doors at night.
Tuesday night is the sixth night of Hanukkah and to celebrate the occasion. Chef and TV personality Melanie Shurka joined Cheddar News to prepare latkes, a Hanukkah staple, along with other favorites.
