The happiest day of my life?

Has anyone else been confused by a woman who is planning a wedding to be the happiest day of their life? I mean, really? In 2005, the average of a woman getting married in Canada is 31*. The average woman will live to 82*. So that means that you will have 51 more years of not having any day as potentially happy as your wedding day? And what about the 31 years leading up to your marriage? No days in there that might in fact have been at least as happy as on your wedding day? There is nothing that has the potential of your wedding day on the happiness scale?

I have never understood that mentality. I have never understood expecting your wedding to be the happiest day of your life. Ever. It just gives me the message that a woman getting married outranks every other potential or real accomplishment in her life.

I considered my graduations to be very important and happy days in my life, celebrations of years of hard work. I remember a great day at Canada's Wonderland in 1996. Wade & I had a really fun couple of days in London in April 2005, when he came to visit me after I had lived in England for 4 months. I hope to have days like this after I get married.

And while I'm sure the wedding is going to be up there on the list of happiest days ... I don't expect it to be the single happiest day of my life.

Please comment on this post.
For those who are married: was your wedding the happiest day of your life? Or is it a tie with other great days?
For those who are not married: do you expect your wedding day to be the single happiest day in your life? Why or why not?
I'd like to know what others think about a wedding being the happiest day in your life.


*The statistics above are on the CBC's websites:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/marriage/
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/01/14/death-stats.html
In both cases, the CBC's source is Stats Canada 2005.