I remember the first time I went to a wedding here in England and the invitation said ‘Wedding Breakfast’. I totally thought it was a breakfast (meal that you have in the morning) so didn’t specify that I was vegetarian because I didn’t think I’d be attending the ‘Wedding Breakfast’ which I thought was to take place the following morning. I was so embarrased when I had to request a vegetarian option when I realised we were being served dinner! Which was the wedding breakfast! Oh my goodness, how confusing.

But what would it be like to actually have a wedding here? We got married in America and then had a wedding blessing here in the UK afterwards, so it wasn’t a traditional wedding – more like a celebration of our marriage with family and friends. Jen, a Canadian friend, recently got married and she found there were a lot of cultural differences even though Britain and Canada can be quite similar in many ways! This is her experience:

As Canada is a commonwealth country, I am always shocked at how different it is living here than in my own country!

I recently married my British Fiancée (in England) after being engaged for 2 years. I am actually amazed we got married as our cultural differences about marriage were getting in the way! (mainly point number 1 below!) When we finally decided to take a leap of faith we realised that with all our children and custody agreements, there were only a few days that we could actually have them all there. In the end, we decided to plan a wedding in a short 3 month period and on a very limited budget! I learned A LOT planning this wedding and personally can’t believe I was able to pull it off in such a short period of time…Here are some of the differences …..

  • My husband was insistent that I change my name (this is what really put me off marriage in the first place). I have no idea why it is so important to British men to have their wife take their name … My ex-husband didn’t flinch when I hyphenated my last name and I am sure would have been quite fine if I kept only my maiden name as well.
  • Vendors have 2 sets of prices – one for weddings and one for all other events ! For the same product service you are charged sometimes up to 10 times the price… and this seems to be acceptable! Vendors don’t even try to hide it .. I asked a band for a quote and it jumped from £300 to £900 just because it was a wedding! If this occurs in Canada, I am not aware of it!
  • When I mentioned we didn’t need a seating plan for our 30 guests (who were family and the closest of friends) both my husband and the wedding co-ordinator’s mouths dropped! It seemed to me that they could not fathom that the closest people to us could not just sit down in an orderly fashion as adults! It was a bit fun for me flaunting my casual attitude while they just stared at me in complete disbelief!
  • Visiting the registrar was an experience for me as well! It was so interesting to me that we had to be interviewed separately… What is the point…. Can anyone explain ? And what is the significance of my father’s profession? In Canada – we don’t have registrars, so this was a completely new experience for me.

It was a great wedding and we had a beautiful day – it was also unseasonably warm AND it didn’t rain! My kids looked wonderfully British in their wedding outfits with their waistcoats (we call vests) and the cravats!

Photos by Jo Wise Photography
British wedding
British Canadian WeddingJenDisco

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