“Here Comes the Bride”: The Making of a “Modern Traditional” Wedding in Western Culture

Abstract

Against the trend of increasing divorce rates and the acceptability of alternatives to established family formations, Canadians continue to marry and to remarry. Given the apparent success of feminism over the past few decades and a rise in consciousness about gender equality, researchers are perplexed over the persistence of traditional family practices. This paper explores one component of these practices: the traditional white wedding. Through interviews with a small nonrandom sample of 13 brides and grooms, Currie explores why traditional wedding ceremonies remain popular, and examines the role which they play in reproducing patriarchal marital relations. In this study she contrasts the symbolism of getting married to the practice of wedding planning. In doing so, she highlights weddings as primarily women’s work, occurring through consumption. Explaining how weddings assume this specific form, the author explores the importance of mass culture, perpetuated in part by bridal magazines. Ironically, although weddings entail up to a year of planning and preparatory work, the transient nature of celebrations helps to make weddings appealing. As one day of indulgence, weddings did not require participants to feel that they were compromising their expectations for egalitarian marital relations, despite the fact the work of making the work of making weddings happen was based on an unequal division of labour.