Baggage Check: Holy Matrimony!

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Dr. Andrea Bonior dives into the world of psychology.

SOMETIMES, especially when events around the world are bleak, it can be comforting to take time to sit back, distract oneself, and do an in-depth analysis of the ironies within certain sociocultural constructs -- in other words, to indulge in some silliness. With a first daughter's wedding having put white satin gowns on the minds of many, I think it's a great week to round up some celebrity quotes about marriage. Never one to undermine the sanctity of matrimony, I'll let these new inductees do the honor themselves:

"Mainly people there [were] to help me with my hair and do my dress." -- Mariah Carey, describing the guests and witnesses at her wedding to Nick Cannon.

"Rings and all that is [sic] special and exciting. But to us, tattoos mean everything." -- Nick Cannon, on said wedding.

"The key is giving it the right time and not rushing anything." -- Matt Grant, ABC's "The Bachelor," after proposing marriage to Shayne Dahl Lamas on national television.

"We're just starting the relationship." -- Shayne Dahl Lamas, after saying "Yes" to said proposal.

These nuggets weren't hard to find -- all of them, in fact, appeared recently, and within People magazine (might it be better named "People... With a Strange Concept of Marriage?")

So what does it all mean? Simply a coincidental collection of his-and-hers snippets that make certain celebrities appear a bit confused? Is it a more troubling message of decreasingly serious attitudes about tying the knot? Or perhaps the decline and fall of Western Civilization?

Young children, for better of for worse, get their ideas about marriage not just from those unions they observe in their neighbors and family, but also from those they see on TV and the pages of magazines -- pages increasingly full of everything from corporate-sponsored nuptials (think Al Reynolds-Star Jones, also in the news recently, but for their divorce) to ceremonies that scream "publicity stunt" (think Nick Cannon-Mariah Carey) to unions agreed upon with an eye for ad ratings (thank you, Matt Grant and Shayne Dahl Lamas.)

I get a kick out of these quotes, admittedly. But the more I think about it, the more they're not a silly distractor but yet another thing to be sad about.

Talk back to Dr. Andrea by leaving a comment below. To ask a question for Baggage Check in the Express print edition, e-mail baggage@readexpress.com or submit an anonymous question here.