We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to share what they find weird about American weddings from a non-American perspective. Here are the fascinating results:
1. "Spending a year's salary on the wedding."
2. "American weddings finish really early! I’m from Ireland, and it would be unheard of for the party to finish before 6 or 7 a.m."
3. "The size of the wedding party! It’s nice to include the special people in your life to participate in the ceremony, but I’ve only heard about how chaotic bridesmaids and groomsmen can be."
4. "The garter thing. Creepy, misogynistic, and hella embarrassing in front of family."
5. "The fact that you can bring along a date — sometimes a first date, or someone the family hasn’t met yet? As if it were as casual as going to a bar for drinks!"
6. "Bridesmaids paying for their own dresses. In the UK, it is customary for the bride to pay. Explains the photos with huge bridal parties! I always thought the brides who had eight bridesmaids were mega rich!"
7. "When people bring actual gifts like blenders and dishes instead of an envelope with cash. Like, hello the bride and groom can’t pay for your meal and all the alcohol you drank with a blender. That’s so weird to me. Isn’t that what a bridal shower is for?"
8. "That there are absolutely no pre-wedding ceremonies. (No, the rehearsal dinner doesn't count!) So many cultures have ceremonies that involve blessings and preparations made by each family with the couple, so the whole mood sets in a week before the actual day."
9. "I find it weird that there's the option of serving food like you're in a restaurant. I mean, non-buffet weddings — I don't know how to explain it! I live in Greece, and at every wedding I've gone to, there's always a buffet."
10. "The weirdest thing for me is that in movies, newlyweds often leave the party early to start into their honeymoon. ... Not only do you miss YOUR party that you paid a lot of money for, but you also miss the opportunity to spend more time with loved ones who [want to] share special moments with you."
11. "The importance of color-matching the bridesmaids' dresses. Why does anyone care? The wedding venue can be matched, sure, but doing the same to people so they 'look better in photos' sounds super iffy."
12. "The idea that an open bar with a strictly limited drink selection to keep costs down (no hard liquor/spirits) is essential, and that having a cash bar is tacky."
13. "OMG. That thing where they shmoosh cake into each other's faces! Never understood it."
14. "When the bridal party and groomsmen get introduced into the dining hall, and they do a little comedy sketch. My sister got married to an American man in a castle in England, and the groomsman I had to walk in with wanted me to dance and then knight him. Wasn’t for me!"
15. "The bride being walked down the aisle by a male family member. That's annoying but strangely becoming popular among younger brides in my country. My dad and mom walked together down the aisle when they got married."
16. "Whenever I've seen programmes with American weddings, the whole cocktail hour always baffles me — they have sooooo much food, then go and eat dinner. Is that real? Do you eat so much and then go eat?"
17. "The rehearsal dinner seems unnecessary when you’ve already got a full wedding day planned. Just seems like another dinner you have to pay for."
18. "It seems so — for lack of a better word — plain? I've never been to an American wedding, but from what I’ve seen, everything is very prim and neat and so much monochrome and white."
19. "Americans seem to have engagement parties, wedding showers, bachelor and bachelorette parties, and rehearsal dinners before the actual wedding. ... That’s a lot of parties to celebrate the same event."
20. "[The wedding] being 'the bride's day' or a day that must be perfect! It should be about love, the couple, and their unbreakable bond!"
21. "The. First. Dance. Particularly if it's choreographed."
