UK verses US weddings.
Sep 3rd 2008, 7:15 am
#16
BE Forum Addict
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2003
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Posts: 4,525
Re: UK verses US weddings.
Hen party (in the US) it seems you need to buy a gift, lingere etc.
And of course a your expected to buy a gift if attending the wedding.
Sep 3rd 2008, 7:19 am
#17
BE Forum Addict
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2003
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Posts: 4,525
Re: UK verses US weddings.
My sister, however, had no qualms about giving her daughter a bridal shower and asking all my sister's friends and co-workers even though they were not going to be asked to the wedding and reception. Very very tacky in my opinion. (The ultimate cost of the wedding alone was 40K)
Sep 3rd 2008, 7:39 am
#18
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2008
Location: Lexington, KY
Posts: 50
Re: UK verses US weddings.
I've also noticed here that guests invited to a wedding are there all day here, where as in the UK you have day guests (most important/closest) and night/reception only guests (the rest). I guess this is both done for intimacy with your loved ones at the church and for expense purposes here. By the time your had everyone all day in the US, and put on a paid bar, well that can be $$$$$.
I've been a best man in the UK, twice, and once here and those were the main differences I noticed. Me? I got married in the church at the end of the road by my wife's uncle with two random witnesses (no other family there at all). Marraige wasn't important to us, more a necessary evil to firm up my paperwork. We used the money we saved ourselves, and our parents, to set up our life togehter, buy a house and start a family. I would have enjoyed the big day, but I guess I've had enough of them, vicariously as best man, to fluff it.
Sep 4th 2008, 8:43 am
#19
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 535
Re: UK verses US weddings.
I think I've had the opposite experiences to most people - weddings I went to in UK were £20k+ with 120 guests, but here low key civil service with dinner at a restaurant afterwards with about 20 people.
Sep 5th 2008, 2:06 pm
#20
Just Joined
Joined: Jul 2008
Location: Naperville, Illinois
Posts: 18
Re: UK verses US weddings.
weddings are in general a pisstake ...
i've been to MANY in the UK and 2 in the US... both the US ones cost approx 20x the UK ones and had MANY elements that can only really be considered outlandish and showy... personally i don't see whats so great about landing either yourself or your parents in a whole bunch of debt... but its a personal choice and different people have different expectations of their wedding day.
I praise my wife however, as she did our wedding like a true bargain shopper... everything came out perfectly and we came in under $10k (she'd have the exact numbers).
i've been to MANY in the UK and 2 in the US... both the US ones cost approx 20x the UK ones and had MANY elements that can only really be considered outlandish and showy... personally i don't see whats so great about landing either yourself or your parents in a whole bunch of debt... but its a personal choice and different people have different expectations of their wedding day.
I praise my wife however, as she did our wedding like a true bargain shopper... everything came out perfectly and we came in under $10k (she'd have the exact numbers).
It was actually more like 9k, and $2300 of that was plane tickets for his parents from the UK.... the 9k covered, my dress, his tux, wedding clothes for his parents, tuxes for our kids, the hall, the food, the booze, the dj, and the hotel where we stayed with our 2 kids and andy's parents.... I am a SUPER SHOPPER
As far as milking it.... yea some people do.... and a lot of it truly is regional.... and for people inviting you to a shower and then not to the wedding...well... that's just tacky.... with the exception of... if it's like a work thing... where someone on your team is getting married... and the work peeps decide to throw her a little shower.... that's different than someone putting you on a list specifically and then you being shafted come the big day.
Sep 5th 2008, 4:15 pm
#21
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 22,105
Re: UK verses US weddings.
Being part of a sorority, I've been to my fair share of US weddings. In this neck of the woods, it would be extremely rude to invite someone to your bridal shower, and not invite them to your wedding. Unless you know they will not be available to attend because they told you already (i.e. they're out of the country).
I've never been to a UK wedding, so don't have a clue there. From what I've gathered on here, over the years, it's not common to have a registry in the UK. Though I've often wondered then, how do people know what to get you, or what you need? If I've been living on own for awhile, before getting married, there are some things I obviously wouldn't need, as opposed to someone fresh from the parents' house. So I can see why a couple leaving home for the first time may register for so many more items. I look at a wedding as a way for them to begin gathering all the essentials they will need for starting a life together.
So I don't know if we are milking to the hilt, or if you Brits aren't milking it enough!
I've never been to a UK wedding, so don't have a clue there. From what I've gathered on here, over the years, it's not common to have a registry in the UK. Though I've often wondered then, how do people know what to get you, or what you need? If I've been living on own for awhile, before getting married, there are some things I obviously wouldn't need, as opposed to someone fresh from the parents' house. So I can see why a couple leaving home for the first time may register for so many more items. I look at a wedding as a way for them to begin gathering all the essentials they will need for starting a life together.
So I don't know if we are milking to the hilt, or if you Brits aren't milking it enough!
Sep 6th 2008, 12:15 am
#23
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 4,820
Re: UK verses US weddings.
I was totally confused by our wedding and so was the best man 
Mind you the poor guy had arrived from England just 4 hours before the whole thing started
.......... We had a ceremony in a church with a crazy preacher who insists the world will end very soon and 'Filthy reds from China will die first'
And a reception (if you can call it that) at a mountain type hick bar with us having no idea what to do, the best man didn't even get a chance to make a speech .. just as well cos he was a geordie and no f**ker would have understood a word
Everyone got drunk and we came home late afternoon.... That night however was great ( I don't mean just the nookie) a few of us went to a night club in Glens Falls and had a grand time 
Mind you the poor guy had arrived from England just 4 hours before the whole thing started
.......... We had a ceremony in a church with a crazy preacher who insists the world will end very soon and 'Filthy reds from China will die first'And a reception (if you can call it that) at a mountain type hick bar with us having no idea what to do, the best man didn't even get a chance to make a speech .. just as well cos he was a geordie and no f**ker would have understood a word
Everyone got drunk and we came home late afternoon.... That night however was great
( I don't mean just the nookie) a few of us went to a night club in Glens Falls and had a grand time
Last edited by Patrick Hasler; Sep 6th 2008 at 12:17 am.
Sep 6th 2008, 2:14 am
#24
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2008
Location: Lexington, KY
Posts: 50
Re: UK verses US weddings.
I was totally confused by our wedding and so was the best man
Mind you the poor guy had arrived from England just 4 hours before the whole thing started .......... We had a ceremony in a church with a crazy preacher who insists the world will end very soon and 'Filthy reds from China will die first'
And a reception (if you can call it that) at a mountain type hick bar with us having no idea what to do, the best man didn't even get a chance to make a speech .. just as well cos he was a geordie and no f**ker would have understood a word
Everyone got drunk and we came home late afternoon.... That night however was great ( I don't mean just the nookie) a few of us went to a night club in Glens Falls and had a grand time
Mind you the poor guy had arrived from England just 4 hours before the whole thing started
.......... We had a ceremony in a church with a crazy preacher who insists the world will end very soon and 'Filthy reds from China will die first'And a reception (if you can call it that) at a mountain type hick bar with us having no idea what to do, the best man didn't even get a chance to make a speech .. just as well cos he was a geordie and no f**ker would have understood a word
Everyone got drunk and we came home late afternoon.... That night however was great
( I don't mean just the nookie) a few of us went to a night club in Glens Falls and had a grand time
