2lazytogetup wrote: » that 'aunt' sounds like a wreck the head; hovering around tills, getting in peoples way, pretending to be nice to students, and to save a few euro. imagine the embarrasement as she tells the till operator to put those points on her card.
johndaman66 wrote: » I think your typical Irish and typical UK wedding are two very different things. The idea of dropping €25 - €30k on a wedding would likely be an absolute alien concept to your average UK citizen I would think. My brother married an English girl in the UK about 2 years ago. Registry office wedding and only 6 guests including myself and my sister, Brides parents and her sister with her boyfriend. The brides father bought the dinner for us all. Nothing overly fancy but nice all the same. We went to a pub after and had 3 rounds of drinks, I bought one round, my sister bought the next and as I recall myself and sister bought the third round between us. The newly wed couple didn't put their hand in their pocket for the day. Their only real costs were the registry office, hire of what I would call a tatty enough looking suit and what looked to be a bargain basement wedding dress if it was bought but most likely a hand me down. Shoes I think she already owned and no hair or makeup done. They would have done very very well from my mothers side of the family in particular with gifts of money despite the fact that none of them were invited let alone went to it. I thought it particularly lousy letting myself and sister getting the round of drinks in after giving them at least £300 each which they would of got in advance of the wedding day. My sister was not even in a job at the time while the married couple both have decent enough jobs. I noticed the cards from her friends and family all tended to be those silly light cartoony ones that you would probably pick up 4 for £1 over there. Brother used to be relatively generous but he has become starved over time just like his wife since they met.
ohnonotgmail wrote: » Weddings in England are a nightmare in general. They don't do them properly at all. My brother is getting married again over there next year and I'm dreading it.
El_Duderino 09 wrote: » Just do it the way the English do - when in Rome... The English don’t waste money in general the way Irish people do. Their weddings tend to be much smaller scale. They often give £20-£40 for a couple for a gift. These things vary depending on social class, of course. But generally speaking the English have a different way of doing weddings.
ohnonotgmail wrote: » there is "not wasting money" and "being feckin miserable". the english fall into the latter category,
El_Duderino 09 wrote: » From the Irish culture perspective. And there’s going-all-out and there’s wasting money. An Irish wedding would fall into the latter category, from the English perspective.
ohnonotgmail wrote: » oddly enough I am giving an opinion from an irish culture perspective. how very strange of me.
El_Duderino 09 wrote: » When in Rome...
El_Duderino 09 wrote: » Yeah. And it’s not really valid to pass judgement on a wedding in a different culture. The English don’t tend to do rounds. If an Irish person expects them to do rounds, and they don’t, then it’s foolish to keep buying rounds. Likewise, going to an English wedding and giving £200 (10 times the going rate because it’s the Irish custom) is foolish. It’s similar to giving €2000 at an Irish wedding instead of €200. When in Rome...
Dodge wrote: » If you want to use that logic, English people are notoriously stingy when visiting here. They certainly don’t believe the ‘when in Rome’ mantra...
the purple tin wrote: » I've never heard of a wedding reception in a pub - unless it has been hired out for the occasion and closed to the public. Did they just clink a glass with a fork and stand up and do the speeches? Everyone else in the place going WTF
El_Duderino 09 wrote: » If there were just 8 of them, it would have been odd to rent out a function room. The English do weddings on a smaller scale. 6 guests is a very small scale, but reception in a pub would probably be most appropriate for 8 people. Why would they need get everyone’s attention to do a speech to an audience of 7 people? Wouldn’t they just say what they wanted to say if they were even doing formal speeches?
the purple tin wrote: » Hire the room above the pub or go back to somebodys house and have the reception there. Doing wedding speeches in a pub sounds weird. Could be a good comedy sketch maybe.
El_Duderino 09 wrote: » If there were just 8 of them, it would have been odd to rent out a function room. The English do weddings on a smaller scale. 6 guests is a very small scale, but reception in a pub would probably be most appropriate for 8 people. Why would they need get everyone’s attention to do a speech to an audience of 7 people? Wouldn’t they just say what they wanted to say to the guests around the table if they were even doing formal speeches?
El_Duderino 09 wrote: » This is what I mean by it not being valid to impose our standards on their culture.
the purple tin wrote: » I don't know if you can speak for an entire country either even if you are English. I've been to weddings in England and Scotland years ago and they were pretty much identical to here. Function room in hotel, band or DJ, cake, drinking and dancing til late.
Deleted User wrote: » When it comes to weddings, I'm all for a small group and not wasting money on stuff that's not essential - wear jeans and t-shirt if you want and have a picnic in a field....BUT, what is always essential when you invite people to a celebration is food and drinks for your guests - you can't be a stinge with that part of a wedding
galway_lad wrote: » I worked the bar for one of these in Ireland in the 2000s. An Eastern European couple. The bar was not closed. They did their first dance and the whole pub clapped, then they just stuck to their area to the side. I think it's easy to get mixed up with nationalities and stereotypes and limited exposure. Last Feb was out for a working lunch/pint-session with some Dutch visitors. Round one in, fine. I went up for the next. Since it was expensed and all that, and I was going to the jacks I didn't even blink to ask if people wanted another. Of course they did. I land back with the drinks, one of the Dutch lads says he's ok (with the little bit he had left) so quickly grabs the glass brings it to the bar and looks for a refund! There was a bit of agro and they fobbed him off with a couple of quid, which he then pocketed!
a_squirrelman wrote: » Jaysus, I'd have asked him for that cash, cheeky monkey.
galway_lad wrote: » But since I was expensing the whole affair that would have made me the stinge Dangerous waters.