What Can Polling Tell You About Your Pending Wedding?
Washingtonian Magazine blogger Carl Monaco has been writing an excellent series on his upcoming nuptials. Carl, who weekly explores his anxieties and musings about marriage and wedding planning, asked us for some research-based insights on how he can avoid wedding catastrophes.
We’re a sentimental bunch here, so in the interest of love, the public good, and Carl’s peace of mind, we agreed to harness the power of research and assuage Carl’s fears.
Boy, was that a mistake. As Carl explains, here’s what data told Carl about the big day…
“…tales of wedding woes got me wondering how often these things actually happen and what, if anything, I can do to prevent our wedding from turning into a three-ring circus.
…I decided I needed some hard data. I sought out Nathan Richter, director of polling for a respected national research firm, Wakefield Research to see if he might be able to help me gauge the odds.”
As Carl goes on to explain, “You might as well flip a coin to determine if something will go down on your big day. His results found that 49 percent of Americans have been witness to a wedding gone off the rails.”
Some of the questions answered in this poll are:
– How many have witnessed an inappropriate toast?
– How common is it to have rain on your wedding day?
– How many have witnessed a fight between the bride and groom?
– How often is someone stood up at the altar?
Read Carl’s column, “When Weddings Attack!” for the answers and a few laughs.