International Youth Day

The Theme

The 12th of August is dubbed the international day of the youth, marked to acknowledge young people around the world. The African Youth Charter, adopted by Ghana in its National youth policy defines youth as those between the ages of 15 and 35. And in Ghana, there are some 11,782,614 (38.2%) of these nation-building young folks.

This year's commemoration is themed Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a World for All Age. A cursory meaning of the word ‘Intergenerational’ is relating to, involving, or affecting several generations while the word ‘Solidarity’ means unity or agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest and mutual support.

At a glance, one of the common ways in which this theme finds expression is the institution of marriage. It is the first agent of socialization that encompasses several generations and brings solidarity; unity and agreement among individuals, families, and tribes. However, if the sanity of this enviable institution is not guarded, it may lose its intended purpose.

This is because the current younger generation has enshrouded this institution with extravagance while the adult generations seem to look on.

Marriages are now more about showing off, putting modest couples under tremendous social pressure to spend more. The results of spending more than they can actually afford have been the increasing rate of indebtedness with its accompanied repercussions and disinterest in the institution due to financial constraints.

The emerging issues

This write-up seeks to highlight some of the emerging issues contributing to the huge expenses of marriage ceremonies by the youth and suggested measures when put in place would mitigate the extravagance with which young people carry out marriages.

The emerging issues are the “alien” practices that have silently crept into our society causing financial burdens to would-be couples.

Bridal Shower: A pre-wedding celebration held in honour of the bride-to-be by her friends. It is a fun-filled experience characterized by gifts, food, drinks, games, and pampering of the bride-to-be usually held before the wedding day in a hotel, garden, restaurant, or any nice place. The event comes with special bridal shower dresses and other decorations.

Bachelor's Party/Night/ Bash: closely linked to the bridal shower is what is termed bachelor’s Night. It is an opportunity for a groom-to-be to spend quality time with his closest friends and to say goodbye to his single life as he joins “the table of men”. The event is usually filled with drinks and food.

Rehearsal Dinner: This is the newest addition to the “throwing away of money”. Dinner with the bridesmaids and groomsmen in a hotel or restaurant to celebrate the completion of rehearsals with the minister and counselors.

Pre-wedding Photoshoot: This is often referred to as an engagement shoot. It usually takes place between three to six months before the wedding day. Pre-wedding photos are used on wedding invitation cards, circulated on social media, or used for slideshows at weddings and receptions. The would-be-couple usually spends on different clothes for this shoot.

Exclusive Photoshoot: These are pictures taken after the wedding ceremony in a special location other than the pictures officially stated in the wedding program outline. It usually happens before the couples go for the wedding reception if any. These special locations are mostly paid for and sometimes the couple travels long distances to get there for the shoot.

Traditional Marriage (Engagement): There has been a new twist to traditional marriages lately, where the would-be-couple pay for cultural dancers and live bands, coupled with long trains of bridesmaids and groomsmen. A special stage is also set for another photo shoot after the event.

Sometimes, the would-be-couple goes to the extent of inviting almost all the people coming for the church wedding to the traditional marriage which is ideally meant for only members of the two families. Couples also share presents with all attendees of their traditional marriages.

Multiple Dresses: besides the pre-wedding photo-shoot dresses, the traditional marriage dresses, the bridal shower dresses, and dinner rehearsal dresses, some would-be-couples wear more than one dress on the wedding day. A different dress is usually worn for the reception besides the actual wedding gowns and suits. Some claim that they change their clothes to feel more relaxed to dance after putting on a somewhat restricted wedding gown.

Garden/ Location Weddings: this is the practice where the to-be-couple rent beaches, gardens, or other special event centers to host their weddings rather than having them in their chapels. For locations that are unregistered for marriages, couples pay for special certificates of the permit so that they can hold their weddings there.

Decoration: this has also been one of the major costs incurred during weddings these days. Huge sums of monies are paid to decorate the venues and chapels for all events relating to the marriage ceremony.

Thank you, gifts/Billboards: The latest of all these is when couples after their wedding ceremony design special cards, flyers, and billboards with thank you messages with their pictures. Bloggers then are paid huge sums of money to put their pictures on Facebook and other social media handlers.

The way Forward

Solemnizing one’s union does not have to come at the peril of one's finances. Years of saving should not be blown in a day just to satisfy friends. There is more after the ceremony and attempts to outdo and outshine other ceremonies are recipes for financial disaster.

Young couples could harness the cost-cutting advantage of mass weddings, where multiple couples get married in a single ceremony. Again, couples could adopt a “Covid- era-inspired” kind of wedding where fewer people are in attendance to cut down costs of refreshments.

Moreover, families of would-be-couples should be understanding and supportive of such moves.

Ministers of the gospel, Counsellors, and traditional leaders are equally called upon to do the best within their power to curtail such grandioseness by educating the youth on this matter of concern.