Want to stay married for longer? Research shows you should spend less on the wedding

USA: A study has shown that the more is spent on the wedding, the more likely the couples were to get divorced.

Men who spent between Sh50,000  and Sh200,000 on a wedding ring were 1.3 times less likely to get divorced than those who spent Sh 2,00000 to Sh4,00000, according to a study by economists at Emory University in the US.

It gets worse. Shockingly, women whose wedding costs exceeded Sh2,000,000 were 3.5 times more likely to end up divorced than those who spent Sh500,000 to Sh1,000,000.

In particular, as compared with spending between Sh500,000 and Sh1,000,000 on the wedding, spending less than Sh100,000 (£620) is associated with half the hazard of divorce in the sample of men.

Combining the chances for men and women, the researchers found this correlation you can see in the graph above between the cost of the wedding and the chance of divorce. The results above are presented as hazard ratios where 1 = the average chance of a divorce happening.

According to a national survey conducted annually by the top wedding website TheKnot.com, the average wedding cost in the US was Sh2,985,800 in 2013.

Having extra wedding guests can drive up wedding costs, but the study showed that having more wedding guests can lead to longer marriages. Maybe the key is to have a lot of friends and family at your wedding, but to scrimp on the free bar and extravagant table decorations?

And going on a honeymoon is also a good sign.