Netflix's Marriage or Mortgage is a wild ride of emotional twists and turns, and Alex and Precious' episode is no exception. The show follows engaged couples who are facing the difficult choice of spending their hard earned savings (roughly $30k) on a wedding or on a down payment on a house. While Sophie's Choice may be too strong a comparison, the show is definitely dark in the way it shines a bright light on the financial reality most Americans face today. The days of paying for a wedding, a house, and still having some money left over for savings are gone as gone gets.
Though the show has a terribly sad side, it is surprisingly fun and sweet. The hosts, Nichole Holmes and Sarah Miller, are certainly part of the upbeat fun, but the real secret to the show's success lies in the couples themselves. Each couple has an incredibly emotional story accompanying their decision-making process. Precious and Alex's story is no different.
Alex caught Precious' eye while he was making memories out on the field as a D-1 football star. Nine years later, Precious describes Alex as "the round edges to [her] square," and she wants a big, fun wedding to celebrate their love and so that she could see Alex cry as she walked down the aisle. Who could blame her? As wedding planner Sarah Miller knows, memories like that can carry a couple through the difficult valleys over the course of their relationship. But Alex, well, Alex is more practical and believes, like Nichole Holmes, that buying a house is simply a better financial investment, and thus, a better choice.
While both Precious and Alex claimed to wear the pants in the family, there were very good reasons to both have a wedding and to buy a house. They'd been engaged since December 25, 2018, and Precious had already purchased a dress. A romantic, traditional wedding, complete with sit-down dinner and a ranch dressing fountain was extremely important to Precious. But they were also living in a too small apartment without laundry which forced them to go to Alex's mother's nearby home once or twice a week. While Precious and future mother-in-law Dorothy did get along, the constant interaction with Dorothy was too much for Precious.
Precious and Alex needed space to be their own family unit, especially since they wanted to start a family. Starting a family wasn't going to be easy for them. Because of Precious' fertility problems, the couple was going to need IVF to get pregnant. Fears of not being able to give Alex a family weighed heavily on Precious.
Though Nichole did her best to win the couple over by staging a nursery in their dream home, Precious and Alex decided to spend the money on bringing their families together to celebrate their love with a wedding in the end. Sarah was able to offer them everything they could have wanted and more, including a sit-down plated dinner for the price of a buffet, and, of course, the ranch dressing fountain of Precious' dreams.
Due to COVID-19, the couple had to downsize their wedding by a lot. Despite reducing the guest list to just 24, they were still able to have their dream day, ranch fountain included, in July 2020. Since then, it looks as though the couple has moved into a slightly bigger place as well! They've begun the IVF process but aren't pregnant just yet. In other news, Precious has gotten seriously into Pure Barre and just completed her 500th class. She's also received the COVID-19 vaccine. Seems like this Marriage or Mortgage couple is living the dream.
Marriage or Mortgage is now streaming on Netflix
Source: The Cinemaholic