Psychologists say that the more guests you have at your wedding, the happier you'll be in your marriage
Sean Gallup / GettyPrince William and Princess Catherine.If you're getting hitched anytime soon, you're probably going to want to expand that guest list.
According to the University of Virginia's National Marriage Project, the more people that come to a wedding, the happier the couple will be in their marriage - thanks to how the ceremony cements the connection between a couple and their community.
"Weddings, after all, are public celebrations involving family, close friends, and often a wider network of people around a couple," write Galena K. Rhoades and Scott M. Stanley, co-authors of the "Before 'I Do'" report.Drawing from a sample of 418 people married between 2007 and 2013, the study found that couples who had 150 or more guests at their weddings had a 47% likelihood of having a higher-quality marriage, while having 51 to 149 guests predicted a 37% likelihood, and having 50 or less predicted a 31% likelihood.
The National Marriage Project at the University of VirginiaThe correlation held up after controlling for income and education.
"There is some reason to believe that having more witnesses at a wedding may actually strengthen marital quality," Rhoades and Stanley add.
They gave the following explanations for the link:
"Weddings may foster support for the new marriage from within a couple's network of friends and family."
"[T]hose who hold a formal wedding are likely to have stronger social networks in the first place."
Citing sociologist Emile Durkheim, "Rituals associated with collective life [like weddings] give meaning, purpose, and stability to social life."
Citing psychologist Charles Kiesler, "Commitment is strengthened when it is publicly declared because individuals strive to maintain consistency between what they say and what they do."
Citing social scientist Paul Rosenblatt, "Holding a big wedding with many witnesses would lead to a stronger desire - or even need - to follow through on the commitment."
There's a deeper lesson here for anyone tying the knot: While only two people say vows at a wedding, their whole community is involved in their marriage.