Statistics about weddings, brides and grooms:

720,000,000: Number of women worldwide who were married before age 18, according to UNICEF. Some 250 million of them were married before their 15th birthday.

66%: Percentage of divorces linked to Facebook.

Here are five safeguards couples can apply to Facebook and other social networks:

• Assess who you talk to the most. Is it a good mixture of men and women? Do you favor one friend over the others?

• Make your expectations very clear to your online friends.

• Do not engage in an intimate online conversation with someone who is not your spouse.

• Couples should set parameters about how much time and when they are online each day. If you're using Facebook at 2 a.m. when everyone else in the household is asleep, this could be the sign of a problem.

• Share your Facebook password with your spouse and vice-versa. That way you both know your Facebook private messages are not secret.

SOURCE:  American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML)

53%: Percentage of women over the age of 15 who are married today (compare to 62% in 1972).

SOURCE:  U.S. Census Bureau

$125 billion: Amount spent on 2.1 million U.S. weddings in 2005 (about the size of Ireland's GDP).

SOURCE:  Reported by CNN Money from the "American Weddings" study conducted by The Fairchild Bridal Group. Fairchild surveyed more than 1,000 brides. Data released May 20, 2005.

$23,867:  Nationwide average cost of a wedding during the first half of 2010 (not including the honeymoon).  This was an increase from the 2008 report.

SOURCE:  The Wedding Report

$4,146:  Average cost of an engagement ring.

SOURCE:  CNN Money reporting on "American Weddings" study

27 and 29: Average age of today’s brides and grooms. They are much older than their counterparts were 15 years ago and more experienced, sophisticated consumers - they know what they want and are willing to stretch their budgets to get it. 

Median age in which a woman got married for the first time in 1972 was 21 years old.

SOURCE:  CNN Money reporting on "American Weddings" study

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