Weddings have become too big and flashy
realwales
Posts: 3,110 Forum Member
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I'm at an age (30) where I get invited to a lot of weddings. I think they've become WAY too big and flashy, and the true meaning of them has been lost.
I've seen footage of my parents' wedding in 1976 on some primitive home video technology. They had a wedding at the city's main registry office, attended by family and a small number of close family friends. Then, they returned to my grandmother's house for pictures outside, then a buffet in her front room, and they put the record player on for signing and dancing. The following day, they went on honeymoon for a week or two at some British seaside town (I'm not sure which one).
Nowadays, it seems as though I'm expected to go on an incredibly stupid 'stag do' with a group of people I hardly ever see and in some cases don't know at all. I'm expected to take part in some 'activity' I have no interest in, then dress in a stupid costume for silly antics on a drunken night out, which usually involves somebody going too far.
The weddings themselves are more like making the bride a Disney princess for the day than a meaningful ceremony in which the couple make a life-long commitment to each other. It's normally held in some out-of-the-way location that'll mean staying overnight in a hotel, or face a long journey home.
I don't know what it is - I suspect it's a combination of three things: 1. A 'wedding industry' has grown over the last 20 years or so with companies brainwashing couples into buying an expensive wedding package. 2. People are subtly trying to out-do their friends. 3. Celebrity culture/ celebrity magazines puts ideas into women's heads.
Look, anyone can put on a flashy wedding do. Making a life-long marriage work is far more important.
Rant over!
I've seen footage of my parents' wedding in 1976 on some primitive home video technology. They had a wedding at the city's main registry office, attended by family and a small number of close family friends. Then, they returned to my grandmother's house for pictures outside, then a buffet in her front room, and they put the record player on for signing and dancing. The following day, they went on honeymoon for a week or two at some British seaside town (I'm not sure which one).
Nowadays, it seems as though I'm expected to go on an incredibly stupid 'stag do' with a group of people I hardly ever see and in some cases don't know at all. I'm expected to take part in some 'activity' I have no interest in, then dress in a stupid costume for silly antics on a drunken night out, which usually involves somebody going too far.
The weddings themselves are more like making the bride a Disney princess for the day than a meaningful ceremony in which the couple make a life-long commitment to each other. It's normally held in some out-of-the-way location that'll mean staying overnight in a hotel, or face a long journey home.
I don't know what it is - I suspect it's a combination of three things: 1. A 'wedding industry' has grown over the last 20 years or so with companies brainwashing couples into buying an expensive wedding package. 2. People are subtly trying to out-do their friends. 3. Celebrity culture/ celebrity magazines puts ideas into women's heads.
Look, anyone can put on a flashy wedding do. Making a life-long marriage work is far more important.
Rant over!
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Comments
I know a couple who spent over £10k on their white wedding. Horse and carridge to bring the bride to the venue.
They split up in under a year.
My sister got married in Cyprus. It wasn't too bad for them as they just paid for themselves. All the guests though had to book and pay for a holiday to get over there though.
Saying that, it was a nice holiday :cool:
Maybe 1976 was a typo, it sounds like it by the "primitive" technology and the buffet in the 'front' room, (had to smile at the "signing" and dancing, were they all deaf?", or maybe your mother RE-MARRIED in 1976, otherwise, if you're 30, making you born in 1984, your mum was 8 when you were born!
Hold the front page!
What are you talking about? My mother was born in 1953, got married in 1976 and had me in 1983. I know about my parents' wedding day because I've seen the video. Have you got something wrong with you or are you just illiterate and innumerate?
Who knows, it could be very possible to have both a fairy tale wedding and live happily ever after. They're certainly not mutually exclusive concepts.
Agree!
statistics are likely saying you wont
You will love me then...I find weddings horrendous, drawn-out, turgid affairs and actually equate them on a par with funerals...in fact on the whole I actually prefer funerals.
The only wedding I ever enjoyed was a musician friend of mind who hired a castle for his wedding, it was a very laid back, kind of rock and roll affair, though still with the usual formalities...live music during the ceremony, great reception and the most beautiful scenery and surroundings.
Just make your excuses and give it a miss. You'll be doing yourself and the rest of the group a favour.
That sounds like my idea of a perfect wedding - apart from the light ale, that is!
Awww that sounds lovely.
I think they have. I knew of no 70s wedding that was anything like as extravagant and costly as some weddings now. A huge wedding industry has sprung up that simply did not exist 30 or 40 years ago.
Well, as Best Man speeches go, it is different.
lets elope and do it then
Thinking of it, it could be considered "flashy" since the best bit goes quite quickly and it dies* down again soon.
* Pun not intended.
** Pun intended.
Im a woman, I dont want to get married, although OH probably wouldnt mind. If we did, it would literally be a pop down the registry office and the a nice meal with friends and family. I see great big do.s of any type quite attention seeking actually.
You old romantic you. I've never heard the wedding night described like that
Plenty of people who had simple weddings in the past got divorced; plenty of people who have big weddins don't.
It's a matter of personal choice what kind of wedding a couple has. I mean you're not being asked to pay for someone else's wedding are you?