Major media channels glamorize wedding ceremonies and marriage with little regard for the sacredness of what marriage really means. When people today think of marriage, they think of extravagant weddings with all the added frills, large and socially successful receptions, showy diamond in engagement rings and exotic honeymoons for the couple. This is what the media portrays.

All the glamorization of marriage in this light masks the true meaning of marriage, which is supposed to be based on love, trust, and submission on the couple's part. The whole show in this light soon grows dim giving way to reality. People afterward discover that all the glamorization and attention added nothing to the substance of the actual marriage and years later they become statistics and a sad story covered by the same media channel that covered the wedding.

The wedding ceremony, the marriage license, and the wedding ring are actually all fabricated therefore can be broken by man. The true meaning of marriage, as stated earlier, stems from love and trust. However, love and trust are taken for granted increasingly and people now believe that the ceremony, the license, and the ring are stronger symbols of love and trust.

The diamond ring supposedly symbolizes true love for eternity, the marriage license symbolizes legality and security, and the ceremony symbolizes success. The tradition of diamonds as the engagement ring, started slightly over 60 years ago and was ironically the main result of a media advertising campaign. The first recorded diamond engagement ring was given in 1477 when Archduke Maximillian of Hamburg gave the ring to Mary of Burgundy.

The popularity of engagement rings in general, may be a result of Pope Innocent III's order (in the 12th century) that a wedding ring be included in the wedding ceremony. This same Pope also decreed that weddings had to be held in a church. The ancient Greeks started the tradition, as we know it today. The engagement ring was called a betrothal ring. In many cases, it was given before the marriage itself and was considered a token of affection. The word betrothed is derived from the word (Anglo-Saxon) "troweth", which means truth.

The role of government in marriage is a relatively recent development in American culture. In fact, there is no legitimate reason the government has to involve legalities in private marriages. In Western Europe before the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, the Catholic Church presided over marriage. Under traditional pre-Christian practices, in some parts of northern Europe weddings took place in private homes, with elder family members or local officials presiding.

Honeymoons date back centuries to many different cultures. Though the honeymoon in other cultures were not called honeymoons, there were traditions that allowed couples to get to know each other and have a romantic interlude before settling down to daily life. Honeymoons in American society have taken on a more extravagant nature where couples and family members spend extreme amounts of money for the "right" setting.

All the extra frills and hype of the perfect wedding has led many people into marriages based on nothing more than the frills. People want to be married so they stage weddings that draw the attention and envy of friends and family. Government has become more intrusive into couple's lives, regulated tax laws, alimony laws, and now private intercourse laws that extend far beyond their moral jurisdiction.

As citizens in a virtual society, we must stay focused on reality and see things as they really are and not as the media portrays them to be. We must know our moral and human rights and resist all intrusion and trends enforced upon our lives by government policies, church traditions, and advertising campaigns. These things can easily draw us into a world where nothing is authentic but everything is disingenuous.

© 2003 by C.R. Hamilton