Daydreams and fairy tales filled my days when I was younger. I never had many friends as a child, so I immersed myself into the world of imagination.

One of my common daydreams was being a princess, waiting in a tall tower for my prince to come sweep me off my feet. Then we would have an elaborate wedding, three children and live happily ever after.

Of course, real life isn’t so idealistic. As I got older, my fairy tale world vanished, but I never let go of the dream of my elaborate wedding and my perfect husband. It saddens me to see that others have.

Since the ‘60s, the marriage rate has been steadily decreasing, according to a 2010 study by Pew Research Center. As people become more career focused and less family oriented, this outcome is normal. However, in the span of one year, the marriage rate fell 5 percent. Now, barely half of all adults are married, not including those who have been widowed or divorced.

I wondered what was wrong. Why weren’t people getting married? Everyone dreamt of getting married, right? Apparently I was wrong. The decreasing marriage rate plus the increasing divorce rate paints a very sad picture in the world of nuptials.

Of course, we can all blame the economy. Let’s face it, weddings, like most other things in life, are expensive. According to The Wedding Report, a company that gathers wedding data and statistics from all over the country, the average price of a wedding is $26,542. That figure doesn’t include the price of the honeymoon or the engagement ring, meaning the true figure is likely much higher. That’s a lot of money to put into one event. Marriage is sacred but so are my life savings.

At the heart of the issue is the cost. When couples realize how expensive the caterers, venue and entertainment costs, they forgo the wedding and getting married. In a time of economic turmoil, no one can afford to throw bags of money into a mere ceremony.

We can’t put all the blame on the economy however. There are many ways to get around the cost. If a couple really wanted to get married, there are plenty of chapels in Las Vegas to get hitched. An even better idea is holding the wedding in the backyard and only invite friends and family. Or better yet, split the cost between both marriage parties. Any of those options can lower the cost of the wedding by thousands of dollars.

Since we’re playing the blame game, let’s focus on the next culprit, the media. The romance genre is one of the best cash cows in the industry. Many people, myself included, flock to the next romantic movie release, whether it be a modern tale about vampires and werewolves or the classic star crossed lovers. We eat that up and take it to heart, leaving us an idea of what true love is supposed to be. Then we look to our own love life and feel horribly disappointed.

The media causes many of us to have sky high expectations of what our significant other should actually be like. None of these expectations are realistic and not every relationship on T.V. we see is healthy, no matter how ‘romantic’ and ‘sweet’ it really is.

Maybe we’re living in a cynical world where we want fantasy to be reflected in reality, or maybe marriage isn’t as sacred as it used to be. Whatever the case, I’m still holding out hope for my prince to sweep me off my feet.