(Closed) Canadian vs American weddings

• bakerella
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: September 2010

@SarahSmilesDec28: No way! I love the East coast! I’m dying to get invited to a REAL east coast wedding. The time I’ve spent out there has been my favourite vacations of my life!!! I think a wedding out east would be the best one I’ve ever been to 🙂

• florence
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: August 2012

I know that in some places in Manitoba and Saskatchewan they have “wedding socials” which is basically a luncheon that the couple holds to raise money for their wedding.  Around here there’s a mix of open bar/drink tickets.  

Unless the couple is particularly kooky, I can’t think of anything unique to “Canadian” weddings that would shock you or anything.

• florence
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: August 2012

@BoiledPNut: You probably won’t have to pay for non-alcoholic drinks.

• bakerella
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: September 2010

@BoiledPNut: Coffee, tea, soda (all non-alcoholic drinks) should be no cost to you even with a cash bar I think. I’ve only been to 2 cash bar weddings and I think all the non-alcoholic beverages were free…

@FMM: I read that as singing not signing, LOL! We actually signed our wedding certificate before the ceremony because we didn’t want to deal with having a table and chairs at the ceremony site. No singing required. Although my bridesmaid did sing me down the aisle…………

• janie-janie
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: February 2010

I’ve been to a couple of Canadian weddings, and the only differences were the culture of the couple’s ethnicity- not Canadian related. the bride at one wedding was Phillipino, so she had Philipino traditions. 

I think there are really no Canadian related differences I can think of. 

one tiny thing: I went to a canadian bachelorette party, and I was the only one who brought a naughty joke gift (nobody else brought any gifts at all- not even the MOH). I felt like the other girls looked at me kind of strange, but that could have been all in my head. those girls were kind of hoity-toity, so maybe they were just put off by the raunchiness of the gift I got.

• janie-janie
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: February 2010

oh, there is one thing: at some point during the reception, the bride and groom put on goalie face masks and then the wedding party chucks flowers and cake at them with hockey sticks.  and then later they celebrate with shots of maple syrup. 

just kidding. my husband is Canadian, so we have tons of these ridiculous jokes between us.

• bakerella
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: September 2010

@janie-janie: Hmmmm true. We don’t do gifts at bachelorette parties here. We just do them at showers. I didn’t know that was a thing to do at an American bachelorette party! And totally true about the cultual influence! We’re big on celebrating culture up here! I missed a Croatian wedding last summer that looked amazing judging by the photos/video I saw after! She had flag bearers!!!

• bakerella
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: September 2010

@janie-janie: LOL! I read that and thought “What hell kind of wedding has she gone to?!”

Seriously though, I gotta run, the dogs are hungry and we have to mush to get my snow shoes restrung 😉

• dynamic_duo
• 10 years ago

@janie-janie:  LMAO! that’s why i went to Jamaica, i am not into hockey and it was the only way to get away from this hard core Canadian tradition. i was also afraid of riots breaking out.    😉

• mrsbruff2b
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: June 2012

I don’t think there is a difference, though I do know Stag & Does are more common for Canadian couples. 

• mrsflanagan2be
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: August 2013

I am on the East Coast and we definately do not have open bars.   Because of generous parents, we tried to find a venue with an All Inclusive package with alcohol included and we had no luck.  We could only pay for the actual drink poured and it was the same price as if the guest bought it themselves, no discounts.  Because we are both from Irish/Scottish Catholic families (i.e.  extremely large families), we decided that we could not justify the expense of an open bar. 

As for gifts, every bachelorette party that I have been to includes gifts, dirty sex toys are encouraged, at least in my circle of friends!

As for signing the certificate in the ceremony, this is done at every wedding that Ive ever been to at least.  Funny story on this one.  My Fiance and his ex-wife secretly got married in the courts in February for immigration purposes with a big church wedding planned in August. In August, a nosey Aunt noticed that they didnt sign the certificate and went “investigating”.  Turns out, the brides family knew about the earlier ceremony, while Fiance didnt tell any of his family for fear nobody would attend the church one.  So needless to say, we are DEFINATELY signing it in our wedding. I have enough drama, no need for anymore!

Having been to many weddings across the country, the biggest difference I can tell is the order of the reception.  It’s not like some USA weddings where the B&G enter and go straight to their first dance.  And it’s EXTREMELY common that you invite some people to just the dance. This is done alot, especially with the couple’s hockey teams, ball team friends,etc.

@bakerella  – If you have nothing to do in August 2013, you are more than welcome at my wedding!   The more the merrier!

• MrsGolden2Bee
• 10 years ago

OK yes on cash bars. I’ve NEVER been to an open bar wedding, omg. We don’t even have to put “Cash Bar” on the reception cards here cause everyone just brings cash and every place has an ATM, hahaha.

One big difference I have noticed from being on the Bee though is the LENGTH of receptions. The US receptions seems to be around 4 maaaaybe 5 hours. While Canadian weddings are more like 6-8. NOT including after parties. Ours will be an 8 hour reception as we will have the place until 2 am.

By The Way  I’m West Coast

• sunny1
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: November 1999

The lake I am getting married beside… when you look across it, you are looking at America, even though we’ll be standing in Alberta. We’re not -that- far away. 😛

I think my wedding will be extremely different in many, many ways than a wedding my cousin had last year, even though they’re both in Canada. Honestly, the reason for the huge differences is that they are extremely catholic and we are not. They had a dry wedding, we’re having an open bar. We’re having a fifteen minute ceremony, they had a church wedding. They had no bridal shower, and I’m having a big one. It’s the same in America… no two weddings have the same rules or guidelines. In my opinion, what the wedding will be like is a lot more dependent on the kind of people, if it’s a religious ceremony or not… that sort of thing. I hope you have a great time over here, though, eh! 🙂

Also… I hate hockey.

• pinkdaisies
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: July 2012

On the west coast….I’ve been to weddings with open bars and where it was open bar between certain times, otherwise it was cash.  A difference that I seem to see is that there may not be as many buffets at American weddings (just judging from posts here) and there is definitely no per person drink cost and we have to pay the outrageous amounts that the venue charges (mine is charging $5.25 per drink and premium and super premium cost more).