For those who believe they've found everlasting love, an American company is offering to pay $10,000 towards their dream wedding. 
 
 However, there is a catch: If the couples get divorced they have to pay all of the money back (that's roughly £6,650) - with interest. 
 
 According to CEO Scott Avy, the site is very much like a "casino for marriage", where couples can "bet" on their relationship. But dating experts have likened it to "bribing" people to stay together. 
 
 The SwanLuv wedding website offers to pay couples a loan, which only those who divorce will have to pay back. 
 
 It is set to start handing out the loans to couples by February 2016, just in time for Valentine's Day. 
 
 In order to qualify for the loan, couples who apply now must get married within two years time. Those who appear to have a stronger relationship (based on a computer algorithm) are offered higher interest rates on the sum they pay back if they get divorced. 
 
 For those who end up on the rocky road to divorce, the company will offer free marriage counselling to try and help them work things out. 
 
 But if all else fails, couples could end up paying thousands back to the website. 
 
 Dating experts have warned that the loan is going to put added pressure on couples to stay together no matter what the future holds - because if they don't, they might end up in serious debt. 
 
 Relationship counsellor Michael Kallenbach said: "This might seem very attractive to many people who want to plan a dream wedding, but I am not so sure it's a good idea, as the pressure it will place on couples to stay together is enormous. 
 
 "It's almost trying to bribe couples to stay together because of money - and that is not a good thing." 
 
 Meanwhile dating expert James Preece warned of the dangers of signing up. He told HuffPost UK Lifestyle: "Nobody enters a marriage thinking they will ever break up, so it can be tempting to take the gamble of a free wedding. Sadly, many relationships don't last for reasons that are impossible to predict. 
 
 "My biggest worry with this is that couples may rush into marriage purely to get a freebie. If you aren't ready then it's more likely to fail, saddling yourself with bigger problems and debts in the future. 
 
 "The only winner here is the company itself. Not only do they get the PR from paying for the event, but endless new stories for years to come when marriages fail." 
 
 SwanLuv's CEO told GeekWire that couples are given the chance to gamble on themselves and it's their choice whether they take the loan. 
 
 He added that most people will have a long, hard think about it and he expects many will decide not to take the money. However others will. 
 
 He said: "It really depends on where you are in your relationship. I’m betting on my relationship I’ve established with my soulmate. It’s going to be a no-brainer for the ones it makes sense for." 
 
 The company is in the process of adding other stipulations to users' contracts. For example, there is now a clause which makes one person responsible for paying the debt if a marriage ends because of abuse. 
 
 Would you gamble on your marriage? Let us know in the comments below. 
 
 
 
 Best Wedding Photos of 2015 ||||| A new Seattle startup says it’s about to offer a way for couples to gamble on whether or not they really found everlasting love. 
 
 The premise is simple: you apply if you’re about to get married and think your partnership is built to last. SwanLuv looks at your relationship, forms its own opinions, and then selects certain couples for a loan up to $10,000. 
 
 If you and your spouse live happily ever after, you never have to pay back the money. But if you someday get divorced, you have to pay back the original amount — plus interest. 
 
 SwanLuv CEO Scott Avy says it’s like a casino for marriages. His company will look at the statistics, survey potential couples and give higher interest rates to the stronger relationships in order to “protect ourselves as a company.” 
 
 He says he doesn’t hope any marriage ends in divorce, but the fact is that some will. 
 
 “It comes back to statistics,” Avy said. “We’ll have the right odds so we’ll be OK. But they won’t be so crazy that no one wants to do it.” 
 
 For the couples, Avy said it gives them a chance to gamble on themselves, instead of a roll of the dice. He added that many couples will probably decide not to take the loan. But even that could raise an important question: “Should we be getting married if we’re not willing to sign up?” 
 
 “It really depends on where you are in your relationship,” Avy said. “I’m betting on my relationship I’ve established with my soulmate. … It’s going to be a no-brainer for the ones it makes sense for.” 
 
 Avy added there will be a few other stipulations in the contract, like a clause that makes one person responsible for the entire debt if a marriage ends because of abuse. They’re also working on a way to offer their couples free marriage counseling, just to help them beat the odds. 
 
 SwanLuv’s two co-founders are the only people working for the company right now, but Avy says they’re already talking to a big group of angel investors who seem interested in helping scale the business. He declined to comment on whether or not the six-month-old startup has raised any outside funding yet. 
 
 This isn’t Avy’s first time in the startup trenches. His LinkedIn page shows this is the fourth business he’s founded, along with mobile app development company Attack Touch, app analytics company Yslides and SnapDare, which is a combination of Snapchat and truth or dare. 
 
 SwanLuv is certainly an unusual — and potentially controversial — business model, but Avy said the math adds up. 
 
 SwanLuv is taking applications now and hopes to begin making its first payments this February, once it has time to finish raising outside funding. It may take years for the company to see returns, but Avy said eventually couples will start to break up and he’s confident SwanLuv will become profitable. 
 
 When asked about criticisms for essentially gambling on peoples’ lives, Avy said he understands that point of view but he’s only heard positive feedback so far. 
 
 “They’re signing up for it,” he said. “We’re not forcing them. It’s all by choice.” ||||| 
 
 Should you place a bet on eternal love? (istock) 
 
 A new startup in Seattle will fund your wedding. Up to $10,000. Even the nacho cheese fondue fountain. The catch: If your union crumbles, at six months or 25 years, you must pay them back — with interest. 
 
 Swanluv will review your relationship and set an interest rate based on your compatibility. Co-founder Scott Avy won’t reveal the couple-selection criteria or the interest range. He said simply that the number “won’t be too crazy.” 
 
 But Swanluv, he said, won’t directly profit from heartbreak. Cash from divorces — and there will be divorces — will cover someone else’s future nuptials. Avy said he plans to sell advertisements to generate revenue, although he wouldn't say what kind or to whom. 
 
 Swanluv’s sustained growth, as the business model apparently stands now, depends on a whole lot of lovers breaking up. 
 
 The idea came to Avy when a recently engaged roommate complained about wedding costs. He thought: Why should money stand in the way of love? “Swans, they mate for life,” said Avy, a product manager at Expedia by day. “That’s what we’re trying to get behind, everlasting marriage.” 
 
 People, however, don’t always mate for life. People also have mortgages, child support, divorce attorney fees — does Swanluv really want to slap them with a failed marriage bill? 
 
 “We’re not forcing anyone to sign up,” Avy said. “The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. I’ve gotten hundreds of emails telling me how meaningful this is.” 
 
 He wouldn’t say whether Swanluv has attracted investors, or how many couples will receive a check once the company officially launches in February. The contracts, he added, include a clause that charges only one partner if abuse ends a marriage. 
 
 Swanluv’s offer comes as the cost of walking down the aisle surges. A survey of 16,000 brides by XO Group, which owns TheKnot.com, found that the average cost of a wedding (sans honeymoon) was $31,213. 
 
 The share of never-married adults in the United States, meanwhile, has reached a historic peak, according to the Pew Research Center. One in five adults today older than 25 have never been married, compared with one in 10 during the 1960s. 
 
 Economists say millennials are more likely than previous generations to put off marriage, thanks, in part, to student loan debt. More than a quarter of the respondents in the Pew survey of never-married adults said they’re not financially prepared for the milestone. 
 
 Over the past 30 years, both marriage and divorce rates have steadily declined. Researchers have long sought to understand what makes some marriages last while others implode. Evidence suggests age, location, education, financial health and previous partnerships may influence a relationship’s strength. 
 
 Perhaps the strongest indicator of everlasting love is your number of ex-spouses. The likelihood of divorces surges with each marriage, according to Census Bureau statistics. Roughly 40 percent of first marriages in the United States end in divorce, while nearly two-thirds of second marriages and three-quarters of third marriages dissolve. 
 
 When you move in together may also play a role. Couples who share a home, unmarried or married, before the age of 23 are much more likely to later split than those who wait until they’re 28, according to research from the nonpartisan Council on Contemporary Families. 
 
 Nicholas Wolfinger, a sociologist at the University of Utah, argues marital timing is important, labeling teens and those older than 30 as particularly high divorce risks. His analysis of data from the National Survey of Family Growth found the chances of breaking up shrink each year from your teens into your late 20s and starts rising again in your 30s. After 32, he wrote, the odds of splitting increase by 5 percent each year. 
 
 Your diploma(s) might also hint at your romantic future. Over half of marriages of people who didn’t complete high school end in divorce, compared to 30 percent of marriages of college graduates, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 
 
 Your financial history may predict your success in love, too. A report from the Federal Reserve Board suggests people with higher credit scores are more likely to form a committed relationship, even when controlling for education and income. 
 
 And love longevity tends to vary by location. The South and West had the most marriages in 2012 (with rates of roughly 19 per 1,000 people), the most recent Census data shows, but the regions also tied for the lead in divorces (10 per 1,000). 
 
 Alaska, Maine, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Nevada saw the highest divorce rates. Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York saw the lowest. Researchers said couples on the East Coast wait longer to wed, which may curb the marital turbulence.
– Looking for someone to pay for your nuptials? If you're certain your marriage will last for eternity (or at least until that death clause kicks in), a Seattle startup has some cash for you. SwanLuv will be open for business by February, and it will give eligible couples up to $10K for their wedding day—but if the marriage goes down the tubes, that money has to be paid back, with interest, the Washington Post reports. This "casino for marriages," as SwanLuv co-founder Scott Avy compares it to on GeekWire, will come up with an interest rate based on an undisclosed set of compatibility criteria—Avy tells the Post the number "won't be too crazy"—and money eventually brought in by any doomed unions will be put toward paying for future weddings. Avy adds that only one party will have to pay if a marriage ends due to abuse. Of course, the company is trying to put more of a positive spin on it. "Swans … mate for life," Avy tells the Post. "That's what we're trying to get behind, everlasting marriage." But skeptics just don't think signing up for such a scheme will end well—and that's not even counting those who have to endure a crumbling marriage plus additional debt. "It's almost trying to bribe couples to stay together because of money—and that is not a good thing," a relationship counselor tells Huffington Post UK. "The only winner here is the company itself," a dating expert adds. Avy deflects criticism by noting that no one's arm is being twisted. "They’re signing up for it," he tells GeekWire. "We're not forcing them." (Here's one way to beat SwanLuv's system and keep your marriage steady.)