Do you enjoy attending a wedding?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes or no, why or why not?

Also, how many have you attended? Mostly family or friends? Travel or not?

If I like them, have something pretty to wear, will have people to socialize with and no travel is involved.

[Anonymous]

I love them all.

[Anonymous]

When I was in my 20s, yes. Now that I’m in my 40s, I’m wedding-ed out for the most part.

[Anonymous]

I love going to weddings where I'm not involved or heavily invested. It's just a fun party where I get to dress up, dance with my husband, and talk to a few interesting strangers I never have to see again. I'm childfree and can travel easily. I'd probably feel differently if I was paying a sitter to watch a kid or had more PTO constraints.

Being in weddings - very different. I'm grateful to be part of someone I love's special day. But it's not fun. It's a job.

[Anonymous]

Not one bit. I like the cocktail hour, but once you sit down, have a notoriously bad dinner and get through all of the speeches and dances, I’m ready to go home.

[Anonymous]

When I was in my 20s, yes. Starting in my 40s, not really. Expensive and I don't really drink that much so hate being around sloppy drunks getting free drinks.

[Anonymous]

I enjoy them if they have any of the following: good food, good company, and/or good dancing.

There are a few that I attended that lacked all 3; they were tedious.

[Anonymous]

I love weddings but have a small family and a small group of close friends, so don't go to many, one every few years. I suspect that if I had to participate in multiple weddings a year, they would get old fast.

[Anonymous]

I LOVE weddings. I like celebrating my friends and family, catching up with people I don't see often, and cutting a rug on the dance floor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was in my 20s, yes. Now that I’m in my 40s, I’m wedding-ed out for the most part.

+1

This is how I feel. Weddings were amazing, surrounded by close friends and late into the wee hours fun in my 20's - the wedding, then reception, the after party, then after-after party, then after-after-after party and hired buses to accommodate all the guests. Great friends, great times. I think we had at least two weddings a month for a few years straight. Memorable, in a good way!

In my 40's, DH is from a cliquish family, and that kind of left me with a different view of weddings. Nothing like unwittingly walking into a situation where people are super judgy, pile it on, and think that because they are older than you (even though you are all adults now, and maybe even regretfully employed some of them!) they are somehow better than you, among other things. What used to be happy celebrations, just isn't as much fun with some people. Makes me thankful for all the other times.

[Anonymous]

Yes - plus hearing all the gossip, ie the bridesmaid slept with the groom in college, the groomsman was once married to one of the bridesmaids and now going out with another, the brides family took out a third mortgage to pay for the wedding, the groom is a bridezilla, the bride is pregnant. Etc

[Anonymous]

Yes, otherwise we wouldn't go. DH and I like music, good food, dancing, our friends, etc. I've probably been to about 15 of them?

[Anonymous]

Yes, always! Love dressing up, love seeing what the couple has planned, all the happiness. It's a party! DH is kind of a buzzkill with traveling for family weddings and that does take it down a notch, but he manages to pull through for the event itself so I manage to forgive him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I enjoy attending well-hosted weddings and am happy to travel if it's not too inconvenient or expensive. Probably 1-2 a year at this point (age 40).

This is what I was going to say. A well-hosted wedding is fun AF! A potluck, cash bar, catholic gap etc weddings are less so.

Exactly, and I wanted to add that "well-hosted" doesn't necessarily mean opulent or expensive. The last wedding I attended was a backyard wedding with BBQ catering and it was lots of fun.

[Anonymous]

Some of the time. I prefer the less formal ones, with guests of all ages, from grandparents to chat with to little kids on the dance floor. I tend to dislike the ones that are organized as pageants, with requirements for the guests, multiple gift-grabs, and inconvenient-for-me locations.

For the most part, I’d rather choose my own adventures— vs using time and money on someone else’s dream wedding. If I budget for an outfit, I’d rather do so with my own preferences in mind — not someone else’s color schemes. Assigned seating can be fine — or awful.

The best wedding that I attended was held at the bride’s house. The ceremony was in the backyard, the food was awesome, the conversations memorable. My next favorite was much more formal, and much larger, but great care was taken to arrange things for the comfort of the guests, as well as truly reflecting the interests and relationships of the bride and groom.

TLDR: Mostly: No. Upon reflection, though, I have enjoyed a few.