In this essay I Thee Dread from her 2019 collection Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino explores the cult of the wedding industry: she's been to forty six weddings which may explain, she thinks, why she has chosen not to get married herself. She adds up the costs of modern weddings - from the first engagement photos to the honeymoon - and asks when weddings changed from a private ceremony for the bridal couple and their families, to the extravaganzas we see today. Show less