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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think some weddings are basically just corporate mixers for the bride’s dad?

32 replies

ChairmanOfTheBride · 05/12/2025 16:04

There’s a certain type of wedding - very formal, very expensive, very “prestigious”, where the whole vibe feels less like a celebration of love and more like a networking event for the bride’s father. Rows of suits who clearly know each other from boardrooms, not birthdays. Speeches that mention “strategic partnerships” more than childhood memories. Bridesmaids posting for LinkedIn-worthy photo ops. You know the type. I’m not saying every big wedding is like this but AIBU to think some weddings are really just corporate mixers in disguise, with the bride as the event host and daddy’s legacy centre stage?

OP posts:
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CoralPombear · 05/12/2025 17:25

I’d have liked a wedding like this if dad was paying of course. Sad

CatherinedeBourgh · 05/12/2025 17:24

Yes, I've seen a number of those, although I can spot them a mile off and tend to avoid them like the plague.

I saw the wedding of someone I used to know in a magazine, there was a multiple page spread and only 2 photos of the bride, a double spread from above showing the massive train (so you couldn't see the bride's face, only her very expensive dress) and a tiny photo of her with her bridesmaids. All the other photos were of celebs/vips her father's age. I found it utterly depressing, and explained a lot about the huge confidence issues she had had when I'd known her.

RedHotMess · 05/12/2025 17:18

Sorry to break this to you OP but your entire premise is absolute pishwallops.

HTH.

saraclara · 05/12/2025 17:15

SixthWorstOption · 05/12/2025 16:08

I feel like this is one of those "meanwhile, in a parallel universe..." type threads!

Yep. I know that by Mumsnet standards I'm a relative povvo, but really?

NerrSnerr · 05/12/2025 17:06

Just thinking of the weddings I have been to. My own dad is a teacher and step dad was a fireman. From everyone else we have, policemen, more firemen and teachers, a pig farmer, a school caretaker, a couple of civil servants and a manager of a garage. I am very far removed from the circles you move in.

Didshejustsaythatoutloud · 05/12/2025 17:04

🤣 not in any weddings i have attended.

EligibleTern · 05/12/2025 17:00

Is this yet another one of the AI "just wondering about this dynamic, which feels less like this and more like that" posts? Usually about romantic relationships, but they've been branching out recently.

RecordBreakers · 05/12/2025 16:57

You've "been to a few weddings like this ??

Who are you mixing with?
I've never come across a wedding like this in many decades of attending weddings of all sorts of people we know from different areas of our lives.

Bigearringsbigsmile · 05/12/2025 16:35

No . Your description bears no relation to any wedding I've ever been to in my 50 years on earth.

SeaAndStars · 05/12/2025 16:32

I had a little laugh at "You know the type."

Um no, I very much don't know the type. The wedding type I'm familiar with is brown food in village halls, the bride arriving in her uncles vintage jag and aunties dancing to Whitney's classics.

Original poster
ChairmanOfTheBride · 05/12/2025 16:31

OopOop · 05/12/2025 16:25

Same. I’ve been to £100k + weddings paid for by very rich parents but they’ve all been predominantly about the bride and groom and their friends and family. No noticeable business talk.
Are you talking about the UK OP?

Show quote history

Yes, I’m talking about the UK. And I agree, most big weddings are centred on the couple and their families. I’ve just been to a couple where the atmosphere leaned oddly corporate and it stood out to me because it’s not the norm. Was just curious if anyone else had noticed that dynamic at all.

OP posts:
Original poster
ChairmanOfTheBride · 05/12/2025 16:29

UnhappyHobbit · 05/12/2025 16:23

Are you American? I can imagine that kind of thing there but I don’t come across it in my circle.

No, I’m not American and same, it’s not the norm in my circles either. I’ve just been to a few weddings where the vibe felt unusually business-like, which made me wonder if others had seen that dynamic too.

OP posts:
OopOop · 05/12/2025 16:25

cupfinalchaos · 05/12/2025 16:20

No. I’ve been to weddings this year at London’s top venues and whilst the ‘big boys’ will always talk business when they can, it’s really only the reception that’s quiet enough to have any kind of conversation and it really is more family oriented and social than business!

Same. I’ve been to £100k + weddings paid for by very rich parents but they’ve all been predominantly about the bride and groom and their friends and family. No noticeable business talk.
Are you talking about the UK OP?

NoKidsSendDogs · 05/12/2025 16:24

I had what most would describe as a very expensive wedding and it was nothing like this.

UnhappyHobbit · 05/12/2025 16:23

Are you American? I can imagine that kind of thing there but I don’t come across it in my circle.

BauhausOfEliott · 05/12/2025 16:23

Are you only going to huge American old-money weddings in Connecticut or something, because this describes literally no wedding I've ever been to in all my 49 years on this planet.

uhtredofbattenberg · 05/12/2025 16:21

No I don't know the type...

Never been to a wedding remotely like this

cupfinalchaos · 05/12/2025 16:20

No. I’ve been to weddings this year at London’s top venues and whilst the ‘big boys’ will always talk business when they can, it’s really only the reception that’s quiet enough to have any kind of conversation and it really is more family oriented and social than business!

pondscaters · 05/12/2025 16:19

You May very well be right, but I wouldn’t know because I wouldn’t get invited to such events.

Beserkering · 05/12/2025 16:19

I’m mainly just interested the buffet and maximising the free drink opportunities at weddings. I don’t notice a lot else.

Mikart · 05/12/2025 16:15

Only if daddy is paying

SixthWorstOption · 05/12/2025 16:15

In idle moments I sometimes wonder about the royal weddings - eg Will and Kate. They had hundreds of people there and I bet they personally knew about 5% of the guests!

Original poster
ChairmanOfTheBride · 05/12/2025 16:13

TeenToTwenties · 05/12/2025 16:07

Have you been to many weddings like that OP?

Not loads but a few, and they really stood out because the atmosphere was so different from the usual warm, personal vibe. It just struck me how corporate some of them felt, which is why I wondered if others had noticed the same thing.

OP posts:
mumofoneAloneandwell · 05/12/2025 16:11

How do I make friends with such people 👀😄

Snorlaxo · 05/12/2025 16:10

At least dad probably paid for the day and stuff afterwards like the honeymoon so that his contacts think he’s successful.

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