Divorce party

A divorce party, also called a divorce ceremony, celebrates the end of a marriage or civil union and may involve one or both members of the separating couple. It has been described as the final frontier in the wedding industry complex.

The tone varies: some parties announce newfound singledom, featuring divorce cakes, wedding ring coffins, just-divorced banners, and divorce rings, while co-hosted parties often aim at healing rifts among family and friends and acknowledge the good in the marriage. Las Vegas is widely considered the divorce party capital of the United States. Italian sociologist Laura Arosio argued that the breakdown of marriage via legal separation and divorce is beginning to be regarded as a life-course transition, and that the divorce party can be interpreted as an emerging rite of passage with phases of separation, transition, and re-incorporation.