Bigger weddings may make for happier marriages

A new study has revealed that couples who opt for big formal weddings -- 150 guests or more-have a better shot at a happy marriage than those who have small, intimate weddings.

According to the report 'Before 'I Do': What Do Premarital Experiences Have To Do With Marital Quality Among Today's Young Adults?', couples with 150 or more guests at their wedding, 47 percent reported having a high quality marriage in the years that followed. But only 31 percent of couples with weddings attended by 50 or fewer people said they were happily married later on, while couples that held medium-sized weddings -- 51 to 149 guests-were not much more fulfilled: only 37 percent reported having a marriage they felt would endure, CBS News reported.

The researchers said that couples tend to be happier when they made deliberate choices about how the relationships should progress, such as deciding to live together on the track to marriage rather than keeping separate homes until the big day.

The report has been published by the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia.