A new Netflix show is asking couples to choose between a deposit and a big bash
“I want our wedding to be the best one of all the ones we’ve been to,” says groom-to-be Evan. His fiancee, Liz, raises her fist in agreement. It’s taken a decade or two, but the competitive culture around getting married has finally reached its apex: a sort of Hunger Games, with contestants in training for years; armed with a mood board of Pinterest’s best charcuterie platters, fairy lights in mason jars, and the wedding planners of the country’s fanciest stately homes on speed dial.
This has never been so depressingly highlighted as in Netflix’s newest reality series, Marriage or Mortgage, the premise of which is: sweet-but-confused American couples deciding whether to use their life savings on a huge party or a downpayment on a house. “How do we pick between the day that we deserve and we want, and the future,” asks another would-be groom. Yeah, it’s a real head-scratcher, isn’t it? Good thing there are two opposing experts with skin in the game – a wedding planner and a twice-divorced estate agent – to help them make their choice.
