NO, SAYS JESSICA RACH
Closer Online’s editor Jessica Rach says it's become more about the wedding than the marriage
Shakira recently hit back at pressure surrounding her marital status- or lack of- to partner and baby daddy Gerard Pique.
The singer argues that marriage will not establish their union, and I agree.
I believe you shouldn't need a piece of paper to prove your love. The notion that a married couple's love is more 'cemented' than a non-married couple's is outdated.
This implies that for example gay couples who are not entitled to marry, are not as 'respectable and stable' as straight couples who have that privilege.
Marriage stems from a tradition, that seems obsolete in today's society. Unmarried couples move in together before marriage, often have children before marriage, and are even starting to have similar rights to married couples as recognised by the notion of common-law marriage/ domestic partnerships.
The average cost of a UK 2014 wedding stands at around 18k, which seems completely ludicrous to me. I would much rather put that money towards a house and stable environment.
And with around 40% of 2013 marriages predicted to end in divorce based on current rates, it seems the original concept of 'forever' is not any more applicable to married couples than it is to unmarried couples today.
Weddings seem to have become a commercial enterprise, an excuse to show off who can do it 'bigger and better', missing the point of the 'forever union'. It's become more about the wedding than the marriage, but which lasts longer?
YES, SAYS KAYLEIGH DRAY
*Closer Online’s deputy editor Kayleigh Dray says that love is reason enough to get married
I completely agree; you 100% do not NEED to get married to prove you're in love. That's ridiculous - nobody needs to prove that they're in love to anyone.
But what some people don't seem to realise is that some people actually WANT to get married.
Therein lies the difference.
A wedding is a way of celebrating what you have together, of recognising the fact that your two families are coming together. It's a special day for both of you, which allows you to forge new memories, to have all your friends and family together in one place, to stand up and tell the world that you love each other.
In the past, we married for very different reasons. We married because we were supposed to, or for financial security. Some married so that they could have children "in wedlock", some because it as tradition and others because of social pressures.
Nowadays, in our happier and more free society, the only real reason to get married is love. Which is pretty beautiful, isn't it? And, with so many people fighting for the right to get married, it seems churlish to dismiss it as a "fluffy" notion.
Marriage is, for many of us, a wonderful thing. We don't need to do it. Nobody needs to do it. Love can flourish and be just as amazing outside of a marital relationship, after all.
But if we want to stand up in front of everyone and declare our love for each other, what's really so bad about that?