ecns [expanded by feedex.net]: The red hot business of divorce celebration

ecns [expanded by feedex.net]

ecns

The red hot business of divorce celebration
http://www.ecns.cn/learning-Chinese/2014/11-14/142689.shtml
Nov 14th 2014, 08:56





2014-11-14 16:56



The red hot business of divorce celebration


After finalising a painful divorce Wendy Lewis decided there was only one way to celebrate - by blasting her wedding dress with a machine gun.


To get the job done the newly divorced American gathered her female friends - and the dress - and flew to Las Vegas, Nevada for a long weekend.


Upon arrival in Vegas the trip to a shooting range was arranged by a small firm at the forefront of one of the city's fastest-growing business sectors - divorce party planning.


And while what happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas, the planner in question, Glynda Rhodes, 51, is happy to take up the story.


"Ms Lewis had never picked up a gun before, but she brought her wedding dress into the shooting range and hung it up," she says.


"Oh if you could have seen the look on her face when she was shooting at her dress. You could just feel that she was letting all that anger out."


A long-established Vegas-based events planner, Ms Rhodes was historically more used to organising bachelor and bachelorette parties (stag and hen dos) for the hordes of young Americans who fly into the city for one last celebration of single life.


Yet with more than half of marriages in the US now ending in divorce, including her own, Ms Rhodes started to receive a growing number of inquiries from people - both women and men - wishing to celebrate the end of their wedlock.


So in 2012 she launched a new company - The Divorce Party Planner - and the business has boomed ever since, a situation mirrored at similar firms in Vegas and across the US.


In addition to the visits to shooting ranges, a popular option called "Glocked and Loaded", Ms Rhodes arranges for divorce parties to get entry to nightclubs, get tables at restaurants, play rounds of golf... or visit strip shows.


She also organise skydives for people who want to "jump right back into being single".


Some of Ms Rhodes' customers celebrate with a skydive Ms Rhodes says that the cost of the set packages - which also have names such as "Barely Survived", "Self Sufficient", and "I Got It All" - typically range from $1,000 to $4,800 (£600 to £3,000).


However, prices can skyrocket if someone really, really wants to celebrate getting divorced...


'Free at last'


For those of us who might wish to throw a more modest and sedate party to mark the end of a marriage, ordering a "divorce cake" could be the way forward.


At one bakery in Florida, Elite Cake Creations in Cooper City, near Miami, they are now getting three to four requests for divorce cakes each month.


Owner Beatriz Otero, says she once made a cake for a male client who asked for it in the shape of a golf bag, with a sign on it that read "free at last, going golfing".


Most requests, however, are for a picture of a bride dragging a groom by the leg, with a sign that says "take him to the trash".


Other cakes may feature grooms being eaten by an alligator, or dismembered in a Jacuzzi.


Ms Otero says: "For one of my customers we did her wedding cake, then five years later we were doing her divorce cake.


"Relationships are hard. My way of helping them is making a sour situation a little bit sweeter."


An Elite Cake Creations' divorce cake for 10 people typically costs about $70, with the customer being able to choose from more than 150 different flavour and fillings combinations.


'Acknowledging loss'


While entrepreneurial small firms across the US are happily making money from the increase in the number of people celebrating a divorce, why has the phenomenon grown so strongly in recent years? And is it a good thing?


As its name suggests, Divorce Hotel checks couples into hotels so they can agree their divorce terms Psychologist Robin Deutsch, director of the Centre of Excellence for Children, Families and the Law, at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, says it is a development which should be welcomed.


"The growth of the divorce [celebration] industry speaks to the fact that people want to acknowledge loss through ritual," she says.


"Many people find release through it - I had one couple in my office who said their vows backwards.


"I think it gives them a sense of hope and closure, it's a positive thing.


"People do what they feel they need to do to move on. What they do, what kind of ritual they have, that's their choice."


Hotel weekends


In the Netherlands, one company is hoping to help more couples celebrate their divorce - together.


The business in question is called Divorce Hotel, and here is how it works.


For a flat fee of about 4,000 euros ($5,000; £3,000), couples going through a divorce check into a hotel on a Friday. They then meet with a solicitor who acts as a mediator over the weekend, before checking out on Sunday - divorced.


The company is brainchild of former marketing man turned entrepreneur Jim Halfens, who thinks that going through a divorce should be quick, and not too expensive.


He came up with the idea after seeing a friend go through a tough divorce, and after time working for a legal firm.


Rather than owning hotels, Divorce Hotel has partnered up with six such establishments across the Netherlands, and one in New York. Mr Halfens now plans to expand to other countries.


"We are convinced that when couples decide to divorce they want to do it in a positive and decent way, not fight for years," he says.


After signing the divorce papers on the Sunday, Mr Halfens - who claims that the company has a 95% success rate - says that many couples drink champagne together to celebrate.


Yet for those divorces which are significantly more acrimonious, there is always the option of ultimately shooting up your wedding dress or tuxedo in Las Vegas.




国外离婚庆祝业生意红火


在结束了一段充满伤痛的婚姻之后，温迪·刘易斯（Wendy Lewis）打算采取一种特殊方式来庆祝——用机关枪打烂自己的婚纱。


为了完成庆祝礼，刚离婚的美国女子温迪带着她的几名女性朋友——和婚纱——前往拉斯维加斯（Las Vegas）度过这个漫长的周末。


刚到那里，这场射击之旅就已经被一家小公司安排好了，这家公司是离婚派对策划行业中的佼佼者。离婚派对策划是拉斯维加斯发展最快的行业之一。


既然拉斯维加斯之旅会发生什么，想必要待在拉斯维加斯才知道，上述公司51岁的策划人格琳·达罗兹（Glynda Rhodes）很乐意给我们讲讲这个故事。


"刘易斯女士之前从没拿过枪，但她还是把自己的婚纱带进了射击场，并挂了起来。"她说。


"如果你看到她打完婚纱之后的表情，你就能体会到她那怒气全消的畅快心情了。"


罗兹（Rhodes）女士多年来一直从事拉斯维加斯当地活动策划的工作。她过去常常在大群的单身男女青年间组织派对。这群涌入城市的美国青年都希望借此机会庆祝最后的单身生活。


至今，美国人半数以上的婚姻都以离婚收场，这其中也包括罗兹女士本人。而她也开始收到越来越多人的询问，男女都有，这些人希望庆祝一下自己已经结束的婚姻。


因此，2012年罗兹女士成立了一家公司——"离婚派对策划人"（The Divorce Party Planner）。公司业绩蒸蒸日上，同样的情况也发生在城里其他相同类型的公司，甚至在全美都有所体现。


除了射击之旅，还有一个大受欢迎的选择——"Glocked and Loaded"。罗兹女士安排的派对项目有夜店狂欢、餐厅聚餐、打高尔夫……或者观看脱衣舞表演。


针对那些想"重新跳进单身圈"的人，她还组织了跳伞活动。


一些罗兹女士的客户正在用跳伞庆祝的顾客


罗兹女士说，套餐分为"初步重生"（Barely Survived）"自我满足"（Self Sufficient）"得到一切"（I Got It All）等，花费从1000美元到4800美元不等（约600到3000英镑）。


然而，如果有人非常非常迫切地想要庆祝离婚，价格就会猛涨了。


"终于自由了"


对于那些希望用较为安静的方式纪念婚姻结束的人来说，订做"离婚蛋糕"是一种备受推崇的方式。


佛罗里达州（Florida）的库珀市（Cooper）有一家名叫"精英蛋糕"（Elite Cake Creations）的面包店，就位于迈阿密（Miami）附近，这家店现在每个月会接到3—4个离婚蛋糕订单。


店长比阿特丽丝·奥特罗（Beatriz Otero）说道，她曾为一位女性顾客做了一个高尔夫球袋形状的蛋糕，上面还写着"终于自由了，打高尔夫去"。


而大部分顾客则要求蛋糕上有新娘拖拽新郎腿的图案，就好像在说"把他丢进垃圾桶里"。


还有一些蛋糕很有特色，比如新郎被短吻鳄吃掉、新郎被肢解在浴缸里等。


奥特罗女士说："有一位顾客，我们为她做了结婚蛋糕，而五年后为她做离婚蛋糕的又是我们。


"走到这一步都不容易。我能做的就是帮助他们在辛酸中加入一丁点的甜蜜。"


"精英蛋糕"店的离婚蛋糕是10人份，通常大约花费70美元。顾客可以在150种不同的口味和馅料组合中自由选择。


"承认婚姻失败"


遍布全美的创业公司纷纷从不断增加的庆祝离婚的人口中赚到钱，可是，为何近些年来离婚势头愈演愈烈？这是一种好的现象吗？


"儿童、家庭和法律卓越中心"（the Centre of Excellence for Children, Families and the Law）主任，麻省专业心理学学院的专家罗宾·卢伊奇（Robin Deutch）认为，这只是一种应该得到认可的发展前景。


"离婚（庆祝）业的蓬勃发展反映了一个现实，人们希望通过用仪式承认婚姻的失败。"她说。


"很多人都从中获得了解脱。——我有过一位合法的配偶，但那都是过去的事了。


"我认为这给了他们希望和婚姻终结的如释重负感。这是一件积极的事情。


"人们做着自己认为需要做的事情。无论做什么，采用怎样的方式，这都是他们的选择。"


旅馆周末


在荷兰，有一家公司能够帮助离婚后的夫妻二人共同举行庆祝。


上面介绍的这个公司叫"离婚旅馆"（Divorce Hotel），它的工作流程如下：


花费大约4000欧元（约5000美元；3000英镑），离婚夫妇就可以在周五凭借离婚证进入旅馆。然后他们会见到一位律师，也就是此次周末活动的调解人，一直到周日结账退房前。


这家公司是吉姆·哈尔芬斯（Jim Halfens）智慧的结晶，他曾经做过营销，现在已经转型成创业者。在他看来，离婚庆祝的进程应该快速，同时还不能太贵。


在目睹了一位朋友痛苦艰难的离婚历程后，吉姆突发奇想，有了这个主意。然后他又在一家法律公司干了一段时间。


"离婚旅馆"不仅仅是酒店而已，它已经和6家相同的机构结为同盟，遍布全荷兰，其中还有一家在纽约。目前，哈尔芬斯先生正筹备着在其他国家开分店。


"我们确信，当一对夫妻打算离婚时，彼此都想采取一种积极又得体的方式，而不是长年累月的不停争执。"他说。


这位声称公司有95%成功率的哈尔芬斯先生说道，周日签订了离婚协议之后，很多夫妻还一起用香槟来庆祝。


不过，对那些为离婚争执得不可开交的夫妻来说，他们还是可以选择去拉斯维加斯的射击场打穿自己的婚纱或燕尾服。











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